If there's one face that epitomizes the golden years of Hollywood, it's Joan Crawford. One of the most in-demand actresses of the 1930s, '40s, and '50s, and one of her most charismatic, she is remembered both for what she did on and off the screen.
Lucila Fay Le Sueur, born in Texas at the turn of the 20th century, knew that she had to reinvent herself if she wanted to succeed. She would leave her name behind and go down in history as Joan Crawford, a strong-willed, competitive woman who would not take no for an answer. This personality earned him a good handful of roles, lovers, both male and female, and enemies.
Winner of an Oscar for the adaptation of the novel of the same name by James M. Cain, Mildred Pierce, was nominated two more times for Love that kills and High Fear and will be remembered for the roles of strong women with characters that she used to interpret A character who wouldn't stay on set when they yelled "cut!" and that caused him to have more than one scuffle with her fellow professionals.
The most notorious of her with Norma Shearer, for whom she had unflattering adjectives after she stole the leading role in Alma Libre and with whom she would take it out on her after doing the same to her in Women, and with Bette Davis. Her enmity will be taken to television by Ryan Murphy and, in the cinema, her contempt was reflected in What Happened to Baby Jane? where they agreed to work together despite not being able to see each other even in painting.
To give you an idea of the affection they had for each other, in the scene where Bette has to drag Joan, she decided to put weights in her pockets so that Davis would hurt her back. Bette, for her part, only had nice words for her co-star, saying things like how Joan had slept with every star at MGM, except for the bitch Lassie.
But not everything in Joan Crawford's life was working. If there was a party in Hollywood, she was there like clockwork, many other times, it was her and her "Sewing Circle," Hollywood's group of gays and women, who would put on the revelry. At one of these parties that she was a regular at, she would meet Marilyn Monroe, they would chat a bit, and she would invite her to come to her house for a day, one thing led to another, and when they realized they no longer had clothes on.
Marilyn's thing with Joan was something merely sporadic, not by the will of the second, but of the first. But the blonde temptation would not be the only one who gave Crawford love, the list of her bedmates is long and, among them, we find Alice Delamar, Barbara Stanwyck, Martha Raye, Dorothy Arzner, or Claudette Colbert. Crawford would have liked to have included the actress she most admired, Greta Garbo, as well, but she resisted her womanhood. He coincided with her on the set of Gran Hotel, without actually sharing any scene. About her encounter, she said, "If I was ever a lesbian, it was at that moment." Are you absolutely sure you weren't at any other time, Joan? Look, you are not fooling us.
Joan Crawford would marry four times and you would have several adopted children. He would retire in 1970, after starring in Trog, but he would continue to make people talk with the publication, at the end of the decade, of the book Dear Mammy, written by Christina Crawford, one of his daughters, where she was accused of having been a cold mother. cruel and manipulative. To this day, she remains one of the most important actresses in the history of cinema.
