Although there are hundreds of actresses and actors who are or were once considered movie stars, only 50 of them are included in the American Film Institute's list of the greatest legends of the American screen. Among them is Joan Crawford, whose biography this article is devoted to.
Childhood
The real name of actress Joan Crawford is Lucille Fay Lesieur. The year of her birth is unknown, but there is evidence to suggest that this happened between 1904 and 1908.
The girl was born in the small town of San Antonio, located in Texas. She was the third child of Thomas Lesure, a laundry worker, and Anna Bell Johnson. At the time of Joan's birth, the couple, who already had a daughter, Daisy, and a son, Gal, had already divorced, so the children were raised by the same mother.
When Lucille was still a baby, Anna moved to Lawton, Oklahoma. There she married Henry J. Cassin. The man ran the town's opera house and staged performances at home. He treated his wife's children so well that the future movie starfor a long time she did not even suspect that Henry was not her biological father.
Study
Joan Crawford, whose photo once graced the covers of the most famous magazines of the 30s and 40s, grew up in a bohemian environment. Although her stepfather did not allow her to play on stage, she often attended rehearsals, interacted with the troupe and danced.
Lucille's dream of becoming a ballerina was shattered very early, as one day, trying to escape from piano lesson, the girl jumped off the porch and badly injured her leg. She had 3 surgeries and was out of school for a year and a half.
To top off all misfortunes, Henry Kassin was accused of embezzlement. Although the stepfather of the future actress was acquitted in court, the family was forced to move to Kansas City. There, the couple became managers of a small economy class hotel, and Lucille was sent to a Catholic boarding school. Constant financial troubles led to a divorce. As a result, Anna began to work as a laundry. She begged the boarding school to let Lucille work off her studies by helping the cooks and cleaning the school premises.
Youth
After graduating from boarding school, the girl entered Rockingham Academy. But since she still had no money, Joan Crawford was forced to combine her studies with the work of a servant. Because of this, the future actress lived at the academy all week, returning home only for the weekend. During this period, the girl met trumpeter Ray Sterling, with whom she had a brief romance.
In 1922year, under the patronage of her class teacher Joan Crawford, she transferred to the women's Stevens College in Columbia, Missouri. But even there she had to work out her studies. Soon the girl realized the futility of her attempts to break into people with the help of education, and dropped out of school. She returned to Kansas City and began working in random places. However, luck nevertheless smiled at the poor thing, and in 1923 Joan won the competition of amateur pop singers in Kansas City. The victory inspired her confidence in her abilities, and the future movie star left to perform in clubs in Chicago.
Career start
In Chicago, the girl took the stage name Lucille Lesur Crawford and began to dance in travel revues. In Detroit, producer Jacob J. Schubert saw her. In 1924, he staged the play "Innocent Eyes" on Broadway and invited Joan Crawford there. While working on this production, the girl met saxophonist James Welton, and they allegedly got married. The young people lived together for only a few months, and after their breakup, Crawford left for Los Angeles.
Hollywood debut
Apparently, the daughter of a washerwoman from Texas was born under a lucky star, so in Hollywood she was almost immediately offered a role in the film "Beauties". The girl signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn Pictures and took the pseudonym "Joan Crawford". In a short period of time, she managed to receive critical acclaim, which included her in the list of the most promising young actresses of 1926.
Among her best debut works can beAttribute the paintings "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp" and the film "Unknown" directed by Tod Browning.
Success in silent movies
The fact that actress Joan Crawford will soon become one of the brightest stars in Hollywood became clear after the girl played a major role in the film Our Dancing Daughters. However, the silent film era is over. This led to the collapse of the careers of many actors who could not give up the manner of acting through facial expressions and gestures.
Joan Crawford turned out to have a strong and expressive voice that perfectly complemented her "picture".
A new era of cinema
The first sound film with the participation of Crawford was the picture "Handy" (1929). In it, the actress not only successfully performed the role entrusted to her, but also sang several songs.
In 1929, Joan married an actor, and later one of the heroes of World War II, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. This happy, at first, marriage lasted only 4 years, as the spouse became aware of Crawford's affair with actor Clark Gable. Nevertheless, in the 1930s, Joan's career developed quite successfully, and she managed to become one of the leading actresses of the MGM studio. Crawford's most famous paintings from this period include the films:
- "The Stolen Jewels".
- Love on the Run.
- Grand Hotel.
- "Sadie McKee".
- "Only without ladies", etc.
In addition, the appearance of the actress became the prototype for creating the image of the Evil Queen for the famous animated filmSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs (The W alt Disney Company).
In the 40s
At the start of World War II, many American actors and actresses were raising funds for the army. During one of these trips, Carol Lombard crashed. Then Joan Crawford, whose films Americans of all ages watched with pleasure, agreed to star instead of her in the film Everyone Kisses the Bride. The actress transferred her entire fee to the Red Cross and even fired her agent, as he withheld part of this amount.
In 1943, Joan Crawford refused to renew her contract with MGM and moved to Warner Bros. It was this company that made the film "Mildred Pierce", for the main role in which the actress received her only Oscar in 1945. This success took her to the very top of the cinematic Olympus.
In addition, in the next few years, she was nominated twice more for the highest film award of the American Film Academy.
Creative Crisis
In the early 1950s, Joan Crawford, whose filmography at that time already included about fifty roles, began to act in films less and less. Age was to blame, as well as the emergence of new stars, with whom the 50-year-old actress was difficult to compete.
However, this did not prevent Crawford from a very successful marriage to Alfred Steele, who at that time served as chairman of the board of directors of PepsiCo. She lived with him for only 3 years. After widowing, Joan took the post of head of the press service of the company of the deceased spouse and only occasionally starred intelevision and film.
Joan Crawford and Bette Davis
The conflict of these two ladies, who are the same age and winner of the Oscar, entered all the annals of Hollywood history. It began back in the 1930s, when the girls could not share the gentleman. The situation worsened when Joan moved to Warner Bros. - to the film company, which her opponent considered almost her own fiefdom. It is difficult to count the number of barbs that the film stars let loose at each other in every interview. However, in 1962 they had to play conflicting sisters in the film What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? Subsequently, many members of the film crew recalled with horror what happened on the set, ranging from gross insults to physical assault.
Although both actresses hoped to win Oscars for their roles, only rival Joan was nominated. Crawford was in despair, which turned into delight when the golden figurine "floated" from Davis to another actress.
Once again, these cinematic furies had to meet on the set of the film "Hush … hush, sweet Charlotte." Bette was so rude that Joan had to pull out of the role just a week into filming.
Recent years
Finishing in Crawford's career on the big screen was the picture "Trog", which premiered in 1970. In 1974, after one of the public appearances with actress Rosalind Russell, Joan came across a newspaper with a photo from this event. The actress was horrified, as if seeing herself from the outside. She made the decision not to appear again.to the public and refused to be filmed on television.
The actress died in 1977 from a heart attack. At the same time, she suffered from cancer for the last few years of her life.
Joan Crawford's children - Cindy and Kathy - received $77,500 each from their mother's will, which at that time was considered a fairly large inheritance.
The adopted daughter of the actress, who considered herself deprived, published a book of memoirs in which she accused her of all mortal sins. Although the objectivity of this woman's assessments was called into question, her work became a bestseller in the United States and was even filmed, entrusting the role of Joan Faye Dunaway.
Now you know some details of the biography of actress Joan Crawford. Many of her paintings are forgotten, although they are of great artistic value, so they are worth seeing, if only in order to have an idea of \u200b\u200bthe values that the American middle class had 40-50 years ago.
