Joan Crawford

Crawford in 1949

Joan Crawford (March 23, 1905 - May 10, 1977) was an American actress. She was born in San Antonio, Texas. Her real name was Lucille Fay LeSueur. She began her career as a dancer. She moved to Hollywood in 1925. She worked in silent movies. She played hard-working young women who wanted love and romance. She made "talkies". too. She won the Best Actress Academy Award for Mildred Pierce in 1945. She made many more movies, but retired in 1970. She died in New York City.

Crawford won success with Letty Lynton (1932). The film is mostly remembered because of the "Letty Lynton dress". This dress was designed by Adrian. It was a white cotton organdy gown with large ruffled sleeves, puffed at the shoulder. It was with this gown that Crawford's broad shoulders began to be accentuated by costume. Macy's copied the dress in 1932, and it sold over 500,000 replicas in the United States.

Crawford was married four times. She became active in the Pepsi-Cola company. Her last husband Al Steele was an executive with Pepsi. Crawford adopted five children. One of the children wrote a biography called Mommie Dearest. This book said that Crawford abused her children. Crawford was voted the tenth greatest female star in the history of American movies by the American Film Institute.

Notes

• Leese, Elizabeth. (1991). Costume Design in the Movies. Dover Books. ISBN 0-486-26548-X.

Other websites

• The Best of Everything: A Joan Crawford Encyclopedia
• Joan Crawford at the Internet Movie Database
• Joan Crawford at the Internet Broadway Database
• Joan Crawford at the TCM Movie Database
• Excerpt of 2008 biography from Vanity Fair
• Joan Crawford at the Open Directory Project
• Joan Crawford at Find A Grave