Joan Crawford (born
Lucille Fay LeSueur; (March 23, 1905 - May 10, 1977)
was an
American actress of
film,
television and
theatre. Starting 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 began a campaign of self-publicity and became nationally known as a
flapper by the end of the 1920s. In 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 and 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.
Today TCM celebrated Joan's 104th birthady with a marathon of of her movies including Award winning classics and some of her final campy and psycho-biddy flicks. It was a grand day of tweeting for TCManiacs following. Scroll down to see some of my favorite tweets...
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