Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; March 23, 1906 – May 10, 1977) was an American actress. She started her career as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway. Crawford was signed to a motion picture contract by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1925. Initially frustrated by the size and quality of her parts, Crawford launched a publicity campaign and built an image as a nationally known flapper by the end of the 1920s. By the 1930s, Crawford's fame rivaled MGM colleagues Norma Shearer and Greta Garbo. Crawford often played hardworking young women who find romance and financial success. These "rags-to-riches" stories were well received by Depression-era audiences and were popular with women. Crawford became one of Hollywood's most prominent movie stars and one of the highest paid women in the United States, but her films began losing money. By the end of the 1930s, she was labeled "box office poison". After an absence of nearly two years from the screen, Crawford staged a comeback by starring in Mildred Pierce (1945), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. In 1955, she became involved with the Pepsi-Cola Company, through her marriage to company president Alfred Steele. After his death in 1959, Crawford was elected to fill his vacancy on the board of directors but was forcibly retired in 1973. She continued acting in film and television regularly through the 1960s, when her performances became fewer; after the release of the horror film Trog in 1970, Crawford retired from the screen. Following a public appearance in 1974, after which unflattering photographs were published, Crawford withdrew from public life. She became more and more reclusive until her death in 1977.
Filmography · 180
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1962 · Self
Great Performances
1971 · Self
The Lucy Show
1962 · Joan Crawford
The Virginian
1962 · Stephanie White
The Merv Griffin Show
1962 · Self
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
1956 · Stella Faring
What's My Line?
1950 · Self
Route 66
1960 · Morgan Harper
The Oscars
1953 · Self
The Colgate Comedy Hour
1950 · Self
The Name of the Game
1968 · Committee Member (uncr...
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
1964 · Amanda True
Startime
1959 · Self
The Sixth Sense
1972 · Joan Fairchild
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
1962 · Blanche Hudson
Grand Hotel
1932 · Flämmchen
General Electric Theater
1953 · Ann Howard
The Women
1939 · Crystal Allen
Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story
2025 · Self (archive footage)
Mildred Pierce
1945 · Mildred Pierce
The Oscar
1966 · Joan Crawford
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
1982 · (in "Humoresque") (arc...
That's Entertainment!
1974 · (archive footage) (unc...
That's Entertainment! III
1994 · (archive footage)
Johnny Guitar
1954 · Vienna
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
1925 · Chariot Race Spectator...
Tramp, Tramp, Tramp
1926 · Betty Burton
Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte
1964 · Miriam Deering in Car...
Lykke og krone
1962
Possessed
1931 · Marian Martin aka 'Mrs...
That's Entertainment, Part II
1976 · (archive footage)
A Woman's Face
1941 · Anna Holm
Tell Us She Was One of You: The Hollywood Blacklist and 'Johnny Guitar'
2016 · Self (archive footage)
Night Gallery
1969 · Miss Menlo
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
1975 · Self (archive footage)
Strait-Jacket
1964 · Lucy Harbin
The Best of Everything
1959 · Amanda Farrow
Letty Lynton
1932 · Letty Lynton
Possessed
1947 · Louise Howell
The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies
1995 · Self (archive footage)
Stardust: The Bette Davis Story
2006 · Self (archive footage)...
A Star Is Born World Premiere
1954 · Self
Forsaking All Others
1934 · Mary Clay
The Damned Don't Cry
1950 · Ethel Whitehead
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
1983 · Self (archive footage)...
Johnny Guitar: A Western Like No Other
2016 · Self (archive footage)
Dancing Lady
1933 · Janie Barlow
Oops, Those Hollywood Bloopers!
1982 · Self (archive footage)
Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces
2000 · Self (archive footage...
Daisy Kenyon
1947 · Daisy Kenyon
Zwischen Glück und Krone
1959
Our Modern Maidens
1929 · Billie Brown
Brigitte Bardot: The Icon of France
2009
Going Hollywood: The '30s
1984 · (archive footage)
Hollywood: The Dream Factory
1972 · Self (archive footage)
When Ladies Meet
1941 · Mary 'Minnie' Howard
The Big Parade of Comedy
1964 · Bobby (archive footage...
Sudden Fear
1952 · Myra Hudson Blaine
Joan Crawford: Always the Star
1996 · Self (archive footage)
The Unknown
1927 · Nanon Zanzi
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year
2009 · Self (archive footage)
Above Suspicion
1943 · Frances Myles
They All Kissed the Bride
1942 · Margaret Johanna 'M.J....
Chained
1934 · Diane Lovering
Trog
1970 · Dr. Brockton
Female on the Beach
1955 · Lynn Markham
The Hollywood Revue of 1929
1929 · Self
I Saw What You Did
1965 · Amy Nelson
Rain
1932 · Sadie Thompson
From the Ends of the Earth
1939 · Self
The Gorgeous Hussy
1936 · Margaret "Peggy" O'Nea...
Screen Snapshots Series 18, No. 8
1939 · Joan Crawford
The Karate Killers
1967 · Amanda True
The Boob
1926 · Jane
Queen Bee
1955 · Eva Phillips
42nd Street: From Book to Screen to Stage
2006 · Self (archive footage)
Sally, Irene and Mary
1925 · Irene O'Dare
Complicated Women
2003 · Self (archive footage)
Hollywood: Style Center of the World
1940 · Self
Hollywood Canteen
1944 · Self
Gay! Gay! Hollywood
1994
Berserk!
1967 · Monica Rivers
It's a Great Feeling
1949 · Joan Crawford (uncredi...
The Casting Couch
1995
Flamingo Road
1949 · Lane Bellamy
The Romance of Celluloid
1937 · Self (archive footage)
Reunion in France
1942 · Michele de la Becque
Sadie McKee
1934 · Sadie
Lady of the Night
1925 · Body Double for Norma...
The Stolen Jools
1931 · Joan Crawford
I Live My Life
1935 · Kay Bentley
The Shining Hour
1938 · Olivia Riley Linden
At Home with Joan Crawford
1953 · Self
The Road to Edinburgh
1954 · Mary Andrews
Strange Cargo
1940 · Julie
Humoresque
1947 · Helen Wright
The Midshipman
1925 · Extra - Driver of Poli...
Across to Singapore
1928 · Priscilla Crowninshiel...
A Slave of Fashion
1925 · Mannequin (uncredited)
Our Blushing Brides
1930 · Geraldine 'Gerry' Marc...
The Law of the Range
1928 · Betty Dallas
Hollywood: The Selznick Years
1961 · Self - Janie Barlow (a...
Flappers, Speakeasies, and the Birth of Modern Culture
2010
Autumn Leaves
1956 · Millicent Wetherby
The Bride Wore Red
1937 · Anni Pavlovitch
Goodbye, My Fancy
1951 · Agatha Reed
West Point
1928 · Betty Channing
Della
1964 · Della Chappell
The Last of Mrs. Cheyney
1937 · Mrs. Fay Cheyney
The Caretakers
1963 · Lucretia Terry
This Woman Is Dangerous
1952 · Elizabeth Austin
Tim Conway: Timeless Comedy
2007 · Self (archive footage)
Twelve Miles Out
1927 · Jane
The Story of Esther Costello
1957 · Margaret Landi
We’re Switching to Hollywood
1931 · Self
Dance, Fools, Dance
1931 · Bonnie Jordan
The Green Fog
2018
Bardelys the Magnificent
1926 · Court Gossip (uncredit...
Torch Song
1953 · Jenny Stewart
Paid
1930 · Mary Turner
Susan and God
1940 · Susan Trexel
Journey to Murder
1971 · Host
Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood
2008 · Various Roles (archive...
The Ice Follies of 1939
1939 · Mary McKay
Pretty Ladies
1925 · Bobby
Garbo, by Joan Crawford
1969 · Self - Host / Narrator...
Mannequin
1938 · Jessie Cassidy
Bette and Joan: Blind Ambition
2006 · Self (archive footage)
Joan Crawford's Home Movies
1942 · Self
Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema
2007 · Self (archive footage)
Time, the Comedian
1925 · Art Student (as Lucill...
Harriet Craig
1950 · Harriet Craig
Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story
2007 · Self (archive)
The Circle
1925 · Young Lady Catherine
Johnny Guitar: A Feminist Western?
2016 · Self (archive footage)
Showbiz Ballyhoo
1982 · Self (archive footage)
A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound
1940 · Self
The Merry Widow
1926 · Ballroom Dancer (uncre...
This Modern Age
1931 · Valentine 'Val' Winter...
Montana Moon
1930 · Joan
Biography: Bette Davis — If Looks Could Kill
1994 · Self (archive footage)
Bette and Joan
2017 · Self (archive footage)
Joan Crawford: The Ultimate Movie Star
2002 · Self (archive footage)
The Understanding Heart
1927 · Monica Dale
Fast Workers
1933 · Ivy Stevens (Archive F...
This was the MARY
1968 · Self/Narrator
Spring Fever
1927 · Allie Monte
Untamed
1929 · Alice "Bingo" Dowling
Blow-Ups of 1946
1946 · Self
Journey to the Unknown
1969 · Self - Host
The Taxi Dancer
1927 · Joselyn Poe
Dream of Love
1928 · Adrienne Lecouvreur
Love on the Run
1936 · Sally Parker
Screen Snapshots: Series 16, No. 12
1937 · Self (uncredited)
Laughing Sinners
1931 · Ivy 'Bunny' Stevens
Winners Of The Wilderness
1927 · René Contrecoeur
Old Clothes
1925 · Mary Riley
Today We Live
1933 · Diana 'Ann' Boyce-Smit...
Strange Witness
1958 · Ruth Marshall
Fascination: Unauthorized Story of Marilyn Monroe
2012 · Self (archive footage)
No More Ladies
1935 · Marcia Townsend Warren
Screen Snapshots Series 10, No. 1
1930 · Self
Our Dancing Daughters
1928 · Diana 'Di' Medford
The Duke Steps Out
1929 · Susie
Battle-Axe: the Making of 'Strait-Jacket'
2002 · Self (archive footage)
1925 Studio Tour
1925 · Self
Proud Flesh
1925 · Party Guest (uncredite...
Paris
1926 · The Girl
Screen Snapshots Series 17, No. 6
1938 · Self
The Only Thing
1925 · Party Guest (uncredite...
And One Was Loyal
— · Ann Howard
Dear Joan: We're Going to Scare You to Death
1972 · Joan Fairchild
The Big Rock Candy Mountain
1969 · Self
Through Many Windows
1947 · Self - Narrator
How to Plan a Movie Murder
1964 · Self
One Must Die
1961
Rose-Marie
1928 · Rose-Marie
Four Walls
1928 · Frieda
Rebel Range
— · Stella Faring
The Damned Don't Cry: The Crawford Formula - Real and Reel
2005 · Self (archive)