Joan Crawford (March 23, c. 1904 – May 10, 1977) was an American actress who starred in numerous motion pictures throughout a lengthy career that spanned nearly five decades.
She made her film debut in Lady of the Night (1925), as a body double for film star Norma Shearer. She appeared in several other films before she made her major breakthrough playing Lon Chaney's love interest in the 1927 horror film, The Unknown. Her major success in Our Dancing Daughters (1928) made her a popular flapper of the late 1920s. Her first sound film, Untamed (1929), was a critical and box office success.
Crawford would become a highly popular actress throughout the 1930s, as a leading lady for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. She starred in a series of "rags-to-riches" films that were extremely popular during the Depression-era, most especially with women. Her popularity rivaled fellow MGM actresses, including Greta Garbo, Norma Shearer, and Jean Harlow. She appeared in eight movies with Clark Gable, including romantic drama Possessed (1931), musical film Dancing Lady (1933), romantic comedy Love on the Run (1936), and romantic drama Strange Cargo (1940) among others. In 1937, she was proclaimed the first "Queen of the Movies" by Life magazine, but her popularity soon waned. In May 1938, after her films The Bride Wore Red (1937) and Mannequin (1938) proved to be expensive failures, Crawford—along with Greta Garbo, Katharine Hepburn, Fred Astaire, and Kay Francis and many others—was labeled "Box Office Poison", an actor whose "box office draw is nil".
Crawford managed to make a comeback in the comedy The Women (1939) opposite an all-star female cast. On July 1, 1943, Crawford left MGM and signed an exclusive contract with Warner Brothers, where she became a rival of Bette Davis. After a slow start with the studio, she received critical and commercial acclaim for her performance in drama Mildred Pierce (1945). The film earned her an Academy Award for Best Actress. From 1946 to 1952, Crawford appeared in a series of critical and box office successes, including musical drama Humoresque (1946), film noires Possessed (1947, for which she received an second Academy Award nomination), Flamingo Road (1949), drama The Damned Don't Cry! (1950), and romantic comedy Goodbye, My Fancy (1951) among others. She received a third and final Academy Award nomination for her performance in the thriller Sudden Fear (1952).
In 1953, Crawford starred in the musical Torch Song, her final film role for MGM. During the latter half of the 1950s, Crawford starred in a series of B movies, including romantic dramas Female on the Beach (1955) and Autumn Leaves (1956). In 1962, Crawford was teamed with Bette Davis in a film adaptation of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? The thriller film was a box office hit and briefly revived Crawford's career. Her final film performance was in the British science-fiction film, Trog (1970).
Feature films
Silent films
‡ denotes lost film
Sound features
Miscellaneous
Short films
| Year |
# |
Title |
Role |
Production Company |
| 1925 |
1 |
MGM Studio Tour |
Herself[2] |
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| 1925 |
2 |
Miss MGM |
Miss MGM[1] |
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| 1929 |
3 |
Hollywood Snapshots #11 |
Herself |
Columbia Pictures |
| 1931 |
4 |
The Slippery Pearls |
Herself |
Masquers Club of Hollywood |
| 1932 |
5 |
Screen Snapshots |
Herself |
Columbia Pictures |
| 1947 |
6 |
The Jimmy Fund |
Herself |
|
| 1958 |
7 |
Hollywood Mothers and Fathers |
Herself |
|
| 1972 |
8 |
The Dreamer |
Herself |
MDA Association |
| 1973 |
9 |
A Very Special Child |
Herself |
MDA Association |
Unfinished films
Television guest performances
| Date |
# |
Series Title |
Episode Title |
Role |
Network |
| September 19, 1953 |
1 |
Revlon's Mirror Theater |
"Because I Love Him" |
Margaret Hughes |
CBS |
| October 31, 1954 |
2 |
General Electric Theater |
"The Road to Edinburgh" |
Mary Andrews |
CBS |
| March 23, 1958 |
3 |
General Electric Theater |
"Strange Witness" |
Ruth |
CBS |
| January 4, 1959 |
4 |
General Electric Theater |
"And One Was Loyal" |
Ann Howard |
CBS |
| December 3, 1959 |
5 |
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater |
"Rebel Range" |
Stella Faring |
CBS |
| January 12, 1961 |
6 |
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater |
"One Must Die" |
Sarah Davidson/Melanie Davidson |
CBS |
| October 4, 1963 |
7 |
Route 66 |
"Same Picture, Different Frame" |
Morgan Harper |
CBS |
| March 31, 1967 |
8 |
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. |
"The Five Daughters Affair", Part 1[6] |
Amanda True |
NBC |
| February 26, 1968 |
9 |
The Lucy Show |
"Lucy and Joan Crawford or The Lost Star" |
Herself |
CBS |
| Oct. 21, 1968 |
10 |
The Secret Storm |
[daytime soap opera] |
Joan Boreman Kane #2[7] |
CBS |
| Oct. 22, 1968 |
11 |
The Secret Storm |
[daytime soap opera] |
Joan Boreman Kane #2[7] |
CBS |
| Oct. 24, 1968 |
12 |
The Secret Storm |
[daytime soap opera] |
Joan Boreman Kane #2[7] |
CBS |
| Oct. 25, 1968 |
13 |
The Secret Storm |
[daytime soap opera] |
Joan Boreman Kane #2[7] |
CBS |
| January 21, 1970 |
14 |
The Virginian |
"The Nightmare" |
Stephanie White |
NBC |
| January 30, 1970 |
15 |
The Tim Conway Show |
"Pilot" |
Herself |
CBS |
| September 30, 1972 |
17 |
The Sixth Sense |
"Dear Joan: We're Going To Scare You To Death!" |
Joan Fairchild |
ABC |
Made for TV films
| Date |
# |
Series Title |
Episode Title |
Role |
Network |
| 1959 |
1 |
The Joan Crawford Show |
"Woman On The Run"[8] |
Susan Conrad |
Unaired |
| September 21, 1961 |
2 |
The Foxes[9] |
[made-for-TV Movie] |
Millicent Fox |
NBC |
| August 8, 1964 |
3 |
Della[10] |
[made-for-TV movie] |
Della Chappell |
Syndicated |
| November 6, 1969 |
4 |
Night Gallery[11] |
"Eyes" [made-for-TV Movie] |
Claudia Menlo |
NBC |
| November 8, 1969 |
5 |
Garbo |
Documentary |
Herself |
BBC |
| June 15, 1970 |
6 |
Journey to the Unknown[12] |
[made-for-TV Movie] |
Herself |
Syndicated |
| January 5, 1971 |
7 |
Journey to Murder[12] |
[made-for-TV Movie] |
Herself |
Syndicated |
| February 2, 1975 |
8 |
Easter Island |
Documentary |
Narrator |
PBS |
| March 18, 1975 |
9 |
Scare Her to Death![13] |
[made-for-TV Movie] |
Joan Fairchild |
ITV |
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 uncredited
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 credited as Lucille LeSueur
- ↑ With sound. In color. Singing, dancing, and part of an all-star cast performing the song "Singin' in the Rain".
- ↑ a.k.a. The Big Parade of Comedy
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 archival footage
- ↑ Different scenes were shot and turned into the theatrically released feature film The Karate Killers.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 temporary replacement for Christina Crawford
- ↑ Pilot for Unsold Series
- ↑ Pilot for unsold series
- ↑ Pilot for "Royal Bay" Unsold Series aka "Fatal Confinement"
- ↑ Pilot for "Night Gallery" series
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Culled from the series Journey to the Unknown
- ↑ Extended and slightly altered version of Sixth Sense episode
- Vincent Terrace, Experimental Television, Test Films, Pilots and Trial Series, 1925–1995. ISBN 0-7864-0178-8
- Lee Goldberg, Unsold Television Pilots, 1955–1988. ISBN 978-0-89950-373-8
- Joan Crawford Papers, Billy Rose Collection, Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts. http://www.nypl.org/archives/4282
- Bob Thomas, Joan Crawford. ISBN 0-297-77617-7
- Alexander Walker, Joan Crawford: The Ultimate Star. ISBN 0-06-015123-4
