Director

Joan Crawford

Acting

Career Snapshot

Explained

These indicators come from TMDB. They are relative signals, not review ratings.

Directed credits

Emerging

Beginning to build directing work.

TMDB popularity

2.4

Moderate attention

TMDB internal trend index. Higher usually means more searches and page activity now.

Directed movies: 1Directed series: 0All crew credits: 3

TMDB ID: 31550

IMDb ID: nm0001076

Known for: Acting

Born: March 23, 1906

Died: May 10, 1977

Age: 71

Place of birth: San Antonio, Texas, USA

Gender: Female

Adult content flag: No

Career span: 1925 - 2017

Years active: 93

Average TMDB rating: 6.65

Wikidata: Q40475

Also known as

Lucille Fay LeSueur • Lucille Le Sueur • Billie Cassin • Lucille Fay Le Sueur

Frequent jobs

Director (1)Additional Writing (1)Producer (1)

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Biography

Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; March 23, 1906 – May 10, 1977) was an American actress. She started her career 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 launched a publicity campaign and built an image as a nationally known flapper by the end of the 1920s. By 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. 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.