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1[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/joan_crawford_1949.jpeg]]
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3->''"If you've earned a position, be proud of it. Don't hide it. I want to be recognized. When I hear people say, 'There's Joan Crawford!', I turn around and say, 'Hi! How are you?'"''
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5Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay [=LeSueur=]; March 23, 190?[[note]]Biographers aren't certain what year she was born, with 1904, 1905, 1906 and 1908 being used in various biographies. Hollywood stars enjoyed dropping a few years off of their official ages, and her birth records are believed lost. Crawford herself claimed she was born in 1908, which is the year used on her tombstone. Her daughter, Christina, however, says in her memoir ''Mommie Dearest'' that her grandmother told her Crawford was actually born in 1904. There's a problem with this date because the birth of Crawford's older brother, actor Hal [=LeSueur=], in September 1903 is generally undisputed and would place her birth only seven months later. The 1910 U.S. Census lists her (under Lucille Cassin, her stepfather's last name) as five years old, implying 1905, but there are numerous errors with spelling and the ages of her family members in the record. Crawford used 1906 when she registered for college in 1922. One [[http://www.theconcludingchapterofcrawford.com/debunking_birthyear fan site]] did a deep dive into various documents, yearbooks and correspondance and concluded that 1906 is most likely.[[/note]] – May 10, 1977) was an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward-winning American actress who rose to stardom during UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfHollywood, and was well known both for her commanding screen presence and for her sordid offscreen love life.
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7Crawford was born in San Antonio, Texas, and worked to overcome her upbringing in a broken home (where her mother constantly remarried and she never met her birth father). At the age of 12, she enrolled in Rockingham Academy in Kansas City, and claimed she was beaten by a headmaster who made her work more than study. As a young adult, [=LeSueur=] began performing in dance contests and chorus lines, and was approached by a producer in Detroit who gave her more work in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, which eventually led to her getting the chance to screen-test for a role with an [[Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer MGM]] film. Subsequently, [=LeSueur=] was given a contract to work for MGM, and arrived in California in 1925.
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9From that point on, she appeared in a number of silent films over the next three years. At the same time, MGM held a contest to select a new StageName for her -- the winning entry was Joan Crawford. Newly rechristened, Crawford garnered larger and larger roles until her [[StarMakingRole breakout role]] as Diana Medford in the 1928 film ''Film/OurDancingDaughters''. From that point on, Crawford went on to become a superstar, and was known for her [[TheFlapper flapperesque]] personality traits (later transitioning into a sophisticated persona) and commanding screen presence.
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11During her peak, Crawford was also involved in several high-profile marriages and affairs. She first began a RomanceOnTheSet with Creator/ClarkGable on the set of 1931's ''Possessed'' (and continued it, even after MGM told her to stop). At the same time, she married the actor Creator/DouglasFairbanksJr (the son of [[Creator/DouglasFairbanks Hollywood royalty]]) and divorced him four years later amid accusations of verbal and mental abuse. She married another actor, Franchot Tone, in 1935, but the relationship was rocky, due to Crawford trying use her own profile to boost her husband's career, something Tone felt notably awkward about, as he was not interested in being a star, merely wanting to just be an actor, and the fact that they tried for children twice, but both attempts ended in miscarriage. Tone allegedly began drinking and became physically abusive towards her, and she would file for divorce in 1939. Two further marriages followed (to actor Phillip Terry and soft-drink company executive Alfred Steele), and it was during this time that she chose to adopt several children after being informed that she wouldn't be able to bear children. Her and Tone later rekindled their friendship, and when Tone was diagnosed with with lung cancer, Crawford would be the one who cared for him in his final years as the cancer turned terminal, and she would also be the one who supervised his funeral arrangements when he eventually passed away in 1968.
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13From 1925 to 1937, Crawford starred in a minimum of three films a year, and amassed a total of over 200 roles by the time she died from a heart attack in 1977. Most modern audiences, however, likely know of Crawford through her portrayal in [[Literature/MommieDearest the 1978 book]] and 1981 film ''Mommie Dearest''. The book, which was written by her adopted daughter Christina, characterized Crawford as an alcoholic and sometimes mentally unbalanced mother who beat her children for minor things, had them do gardening chores in the middle of the night and was easily prone to angry outbursts. This account was later denied by her two younger children and many of her co-stars, but supported by several other stars who had known Crawford.
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15Crawford is portrayed by Creator/JessicaLange in the 2017 Creator/{{FX|Networks}} series ''Series/{{Feud}}: Bette and Joan'', which depicts her rocky relationship with the aforementioned Creator/BetteDavis during the filming of ''What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?'' in 1962.
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17Having appeared in many films for both Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer and Creator/WarnerBros, the latter now owns the rights to the films she made for the former in addition to the ones she did for the latter.
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19As a final note, as the product of a broken home herself, while she personally deplored Creator/MarilynMonroe's erratic and unprofessional behavior, she understood the root cause behind it, and after Monroe's suicide, was reportedly furious when reflecting on how Marilyn had fallen through the cracks of society and no one had been there to catch her.
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21----
22!! Joan Crawford films with pages on TV Tropes:
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24* ''Film/LadyOfTheNight'' (1925, film debut, bit part)
25* ''Film/{{The Circle|1925}}'' (1925)
26* ''Film/TheBoob'' (1926)
27* ''Film/SpringFever'' (1927)
28* ''Film/TheUnknown'' (1927)
29* ''Film/AcrossToSingapore'' (1928)
30* ''Film/OurDancingDaughters'' (1928)
31* ''Film/TheHollywoodRevueOf1929'' (1929) (she sings a song!)
32* ''Film/OurModernMaidens'' (1929)
33* ''Film/OurBlushingBrides'' (1930)
34* ''Film/{{Paid}}'' (1930)
35* ''Film/{{Possessed|1931}}'' (1931) (she sings another song!)
36* ''Film/GrandHotel'' (1932)
37* ''[[Film/SadieThompson Rain]]'' (1932)
38* ''Film/ForsakingAllOthers'' (1934)
39* ''Film/SadieMckee'' (1934)
40* ''Film/TheLastOfMrsCheney'' (1937)
41* ''Film/SusanAndGod'' (1939)
42* ''Theatre/TheWomen'' (1939)
43* ''Film/StrangeCargo'' (1940)
44* ''Film/AWomansFace'' (1941)
45* ''Literature/MildredPierce'' (1945)
46* ''Film/HarrietCraig'' (1950)
47* ''Film/{{Torch Song|1953}}'' (1953)
48* ''Film/JohnnyGuitar'' (1954)
49* ''Film/WhatEverHappenedToBabyJane'' (1962)
50* ''Film/StraitJacket'' (1964)
51* ''Film/ISawWhatYouDid'' (1965)
52* ''Film/{{Berserk}}'' (1967)
53* ''Film/{{Trog}}'' (1970)
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55----
56!! Tropes embodied by Crawford's works include:
57* ActorAllusion: [[invoked]]
58** In ''Rain'', Joan's character, Sadie Thompson, says that she's from Kansas (the same place Crawford grew up).
59** In ''Harriet Craig'' Harriet (Joan) gives a rant about how she was left poor and forced to drop out of a school and work in a laundry at the age of 14 when her father abandoned the family. This was more or less what happened in RealLife to Joan Crawford.
60* AdamWesting: In ''It's A Great Feeling'', Joan plays a character who makes a point of repeatedly slapping the main characters -- the same thing she does in most of her films from the 1940s and 1950s.
61* AllStarCast: Several times. [[invoked]]
62** With virtually everyone under contract to MGM in ''Film/TheHollywoodRevueOf1929''.
63** With Creator/LaurelAndHardy, Creator/BusterKeaton and many others in ''The Stolen Jools'', a short film which raised money for National Variety Artists' tuberculosis sanitarium.
64** With Creator/GretaGarbo, John and Lionel Barrymore and Creator/WallaceBeery in 1932's ''Grand Hotel'', which starred the most famous MGM stars of the 30's.
65** With Creator/NormaShearer, Creator/JoanFontaine and Creator/RosalindRussell (among others) in 1939's ''Theatre/TheWomen''.
66** With Creator/BetteDavis, Robert Hutton, Jack Carson and almost every other Creator/WarnerBros star of the 1940s in ''Hollywood Canteen''.
67* AsHerself:
68** In ''Hollywood Canteen'', a story about two soldiers on sick leave who visit a local canteen featuring lots of celebrities.
69** In ''The Stolen Jools'', when a pair of detectives looking for a set of stolen jewels visit her for information.
70* CanadaEh: The 1928 film adaptation of ''Rose-Marie,'' where she plays a French-Canadian woman who moves to the Rockies and falls in love with a miner...and yes, it has all the stereotypes you'd expect from a play of this era.
71* CelebrityEndorsement: Crawford's final marriage was to Alfred Steele, the former chairman of Pepsi Co., and she accepted an offer to become the director of the board upon his death in 1959. This led to an early form of the Cola Wars when, after Crawford appeared in many advertisements endorsing the beverage, Creator/BetteDavis started to support Coke -- and would constantly rag on Crawford for her association with a rival brand.
72* CreatorBacklash: [[invoked]] Hated the name ''Crawford'', thinking it sounded too much like "crawfish". Alternately, the studio hated her birth surname because it sounded too much like "sewer".
73* DawsonCasting: [[invoked]] Quite possibly the most extreme case of this trope. In 1968 in the soap opera ''The Secret Storm'', the 60-something Crawford played the role of a ''28-year old'' (a role that was originally intended for her daughter).
74* EvilCripple: Blanche in ''Film/WhatEverHappenedToBabyJane''
75* HateSink: She is depicted as such by her daughter Christina in her memoir ''Literature/MommieDearest'' and the film adaptation. However, people are starting to see through the latter.
76* HollywoodHypeMachine: In 1926, Crawford was named as a WAMPAS Baby Star (listing actors on the cusp of stardom), and received increasingly larger roles as a result.
77* MissingEpisode: [[invoked]] Several of Crawford's early works, including several silent films from the mid-1920s, are considered lost.
78* MoneyDearBoy: [[invoked]]
79** Especially in her later films, which were a far cry from the days when she earned thousands per week as an in-demand actor.
80--->''They were all terrible, even the few I thought might be good. I made them because I needed the money or because I was bored or both. I hope they have been exhibited and withdrawn and are never heard from again.''
81** Crawford referred to her experience working on ''This Woman Is Dangerous'' regarding this:
82--->''I must have been awfully hungry. The kids were in school [and] the house had a mortgage. And so I did this awful picture that had a shoddy story, a cliche script and no direction to speak of...I suppose I could have made it better, but it was one of those times when I was so disgusted with everything that I just shrugged and went along with it.''
83* MsFanservice: Judging by many films roles in which Joan's characters were in their underwear or a swimsuit, then definitely.
84* OldShame: [[invoked]]
85** She also thought ''Trog'' (the last film she starred in) was a complete piece of shit:
86--->''If I weren't a Christian Scientist, and I saw ''Trog'' advertised on a marquee across the street, I think I'd contemplate suicide.''
87** She also apologized to her fans for the film ''Rain'', which was critically panned at the time.
88* PlayingAgainstType: [[invoked]]
89** As a facially-disfigured woman who turns to blackmail in ''A Woman's Face''.
90** A mild version with Mildred in ''Mildred Pierce''. Despite the gradual independence of the character, she became one in order to please her ungrateful eldest daughter.
91* ProductPlacement: After she got a seat on the board of directors for Pepsi, she ensured that product placement of it would show up in all her films, beginning with ''The Story of Esther Costello'' in 1957.[[note]]There's a big Pepsi poster in the airport when Margaret first brings Esther to America. It's right behind Margaret, up high on the wall so you get a good look.[[/note]]
92* RetroactiveRecognition: [[invoked]] She showed up as an extra in the original ''[[Film/BenHur1925 Ben-Hur]]'' movie in 1925, years before she became famous.
93* SexySecretary: As Flaemmchen in ''Film/GrandHotel''.
94* SheAlsoDid:
95** She also served as the model for a few early Disney shorts, when Walt was experimenting with animation.
96** She was also responsible for the "It's A Small World" ride at Disneyland. She approached Walt at the 1964 World Fair with the idea of creating a ride dedicated to the children of the world. Two years later the ride opened in the park, with Crawford in attendance.
97* StarMakingRole: [[invoked]] ''Film/OurDancingDaughters'', which proved that Crawford could make the jump from silent films to "talkies".
98* TheTease: In her flapper acting days, her characters were definitely this. With the use of DoubleEntendre and mischievous gazes at others, Joan had fun leading men into hilarious flirtatious scenes. In one scene in ''Our Dancing Daughters'', her character Diana says to a man named Ben that her (supposed) InnocentBlueEyes are yearning for something from him... [[spoiler:[[BaitAndSwitch one of his cigarettes]],]] to his dismay. Diana can't hide her smug grin as she puts one into her mouth.
99* ThoseTwoActors: [[invoked]]
100** With Creator/ClarkGable in eight films, leading to them briefly dating.
101** With Creator/RobertMontgomery in about three or four films. They remained close friends until her death.
102* TookTheBadFilmSeriously: [[invoked]] Crawford started to act like this towards the end of her career. After ''Film/WhatEverHappenedToBabyJane'', she starred in a string of B-horror films that included ''Strait Jacket'' (playing a psycho ex-wife), ''Film/{{Berserk}}'' (as a circus ring-mistress accused of murder), TV anthology shows, and her final film ''Film/{{Trog}}'', which had Crawford playing a researcher who discovers a man (running around in a ratty ape suit) that's supposed to be the missing link between man and ape - reportedly, she only did this final film as a favor to a director friend. However, she still acts as though she's doing ''Literature/MildredPierce'' or ''Theatre/TheWomen'', and indeed, eyewitnesses remember her promoting ''Trog'' as a piece exploring humanity towards nature. She would later admit how awful her horror films were.
103* UnlimitedWardrobe: She wore several dresses in her MGM films, and her dressing room in MGM was impressively large, with others comparing it to a studio's wardrobe department, to the point that it was reported that if a friend ever asked to borrow an item of clothing, Joan would go into her vast wardrobe to find exactly the right one for her.
104* UrbanLegendOfZelda: [[invoked]] Rumors have persisted for decades that Crawford starred in a porn film when she was a young woman, and that MGM obtained the master copies of the films and burned them to prevent anything from leaking out. At the time, she was feuding with MGM over her salary, and someone tried to extort money by claiming they had a film of her - which MGM viewed and said was not her. It has also been rumored that she took part in a "peepshow" vignette (where she danced naked) in 1923 to earn enough money to pay for a trip to Chicago - several near-topless photographs of her exist from this time period.
105* WhatCouldHaveBeen: [[invoked]]
106** Crawford was intended to star in a [[UnbuiltTrope reality show/anthology]] called ''The Joan Crawford Show'', but none of the networks she approached were interesting in pursuing the idea.
107** She was originally set to be the lead in ''Literature/FromHereToEternity'', but was canned by the studio after she demanded on having her costumes be designed by a certain tailor. The role went to Creator/DeborahKerr instead.
108* WhiteDwarfStarlet:
109** In ''Film/WhatEverHappenedToBabyJane'' she portrayed a subversion with Blanche, who had to retire from films due to the injury that crippled her but has apparently made her peace with not being famous. Though she's still happy that she's gotten a re-surge in popularity now that all her old films are being shown on television.
110** In real life, as Crawford got older, she parlayed her talents into increasingly ridiculous productions in order to regain some measure of stardom. Notably, she starred in a production intended for her adopted daughter (who was a good thirty years younger than her) in a bid to get her name back in the spotlight.
111* YouAreTheNewTrend: Crawford was notorious for wearing costumes in movies that began fashion trends or became SmallReferencePools for iconic clothing of the decade.
112** One dress she wore in a film ([[https://fashionsflashback.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/4903937224_e7b57defb3_b.jpg?w=321&h=412 the Letty Lynton dress]]) became a high demand across the clothing stores in the US (to the point of the dress having to be remade hundreds of times to sell to the public).
113** Joan was allegedly mocked in her youth for having big "unattractive" lips, but the large layer of lipstick she wore in her films became nicknamed "The Smear", which many women tried to imitate.
114** The [[ShouldersOfDoom shoulder pad look]] from ''Mildred Pierce'' was said to have began the shoulder pad look in women's clothing, despite director Michael Curtiz loathing the look for going against his image of the character. Also, Mildred's high heel shoes became popular too, being the first shoes to be nicknamed "fuck me" heels.
115----
116!!References in other works:
117* Music/BlueOysterCult wrote a song entitled ''[[Music/FireOfUnknownOrigin Joan Crawford Has Risen From The Grave]]'', which envisions her as a zombie that's risen from the dead to get revenge on Christina.
118* Played by Barrie Youngfellow in the 1980 film ''The Scarlett O'Hara War'', about the making of ''Film/GoneWithTheWind''.
119* The 1981 adaptation of ''Mommie Dearest'' starred Faye Dunaway in a [[ChewingTheScenery scene-chewing]] performance as Crawford. Notably, the film was advertised as a drama, but when audiences started laughing at Dunaway's performance, it was quickly rebranded as a comedy.
120* Music/CourtneyLove thanked Crawford in the liner notes of Hole's ''Celebrity Skin'' album.
121* In ''Vampyres of Hollywood'' (a book about Hollywood stars who were secretly vampires), Crawford is referred to as an out-of-control werewolf.
122* In the book ''I Am America (And So Can You)'', [[Series/TheColbertReport Stephen Colbert]] claims that Crawford was originally born with the name Shprintzel Anatevkawitz.

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