WV News: Wright to open ’26-27 Joan Crawford Lecture Series
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Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford was an American actress. She began 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 roles, Crawford launched a publicity campaign and built an image as a nationally known flapper by the end of the 1920s. By the 1930s…
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business · American actress (1904?–1977) · actor · film actor · television actor · businessperson · dancer · model · also Joan Crawford, Lucille Fay LeSueur, Lucille LeSueur, Lucille Le Sear, Crawford
Born 23 March 1905 · Died 10 May 1977 · Q40475
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d always admired veterans of the silent days. And I never had the courage to inform her I was actually a year younger than she was. On every Crawford picture, she had a younger cast member to berate and on this one, when she had to slap pretty little Lucy Marlow, she did so with such fury it could be heard all over the sound stage. Fay Wray, as quoted in Classic Film Stars: Interviews from Hollywood
- Quote
I never go outside unless I look like Joan Crawford the movie star. If you want to see the girl next door, go next door.
77%Wikiquote (en)Source
2026· 10 entries
bocaratonobserver.com: Island City Stage presents Who Killed Joan Crawford? by Michael Leeds
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IMDb: New Book on MGM Classic ‘The Women’ Reveals Extent of Joan Crawford and Norma Shearer’s Feud (Exclusive Excerpt)
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The Hollywood Reporter: New Book Reveals Extent of Joan Crawford and Norma Shearer Feud
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Windy City Times: THEATER Handbag sends Joan Crawford on encore trip to ‘Hell’
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Bay Area Reporter: ‘Hag-stravaganza’ – Drag tribute night screens Joan Crawford ‘s ‘Strait-Jacket’ at the Great Star Theater
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broadwayworld.com: WHO KILLED JOAN CRAWFORD? to Open Island City Stage's 15th Season
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BroadwayWorld: JOAN CRAWFORD GOES TO HELL Extends at Hell In A Handbag
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Yahoo: Joan Crawford Was Hurt by Press' Critical Comments About Her Aging After 1974 Appearance, Entertainment Historian Reveals
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BroadwayWorld: Island City Stage presents Who Killed Joan Crawford? by Michael Leeds at Island City Stage
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2025· 5 entries
New York Post: Mia Farrow recalls abruptly leaving ‘strange’ Joan Crawford’s apartment: ‘I was scared’
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Yahoo: Joan Crawford Left a 'Scary' Impression on Mia Farrow: 'I Got a Strange Vibe from Her'
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collider: Joan Crawford Flaunted Her Razor-Sharp Edge in This Underrated, Twisty Noir That’s All Killer, No Filler
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Collider: Joan Crawford Flaunted Her Razor-Sharp Edge in This Underrated, Twisty Noir That’s All Killer, No Filler
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AOL: Joan Crawford's Children: All About Her Daughters and Son
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2023· 1 entry
Collider: How William Castle Cemented Joan Crawford as a Camp Horror Movie Goddess
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2022· 4 entries
The Cheat Sheet: Joan Crawford Had Teeth Removed To Highlight Her Cheekbones
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The Cheat Sheet: Joan Crawford’s Beauty Routine Involved 1 Condiment as a Hair Mask
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Snopes rated the claim “A vintage ad for orange juice from the 1970s featured the slogan from actress Joan Crawford, "I enjoy seven inches every morning."” False.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
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Snopes.com rated the claim “A vintage ad for orange juice from the 1970s featured the slogan from actress Joan Crawford, "I enjoy seven inches every morning."” False.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
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1999· 1 entry
Crawford was voted the tenth-greatest female star of the classic American cinema by the American Film Institute
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1989· 1 entry
“d always admired veterans of the silent days. And I never had the courage to inform her I was actually a year younger than she was. On every Crawford picture, she had a younger cast member to berate and on this one, when she had to slap pretty little Lucy Marlow, she did so with such fury it could be heard all over the sound stage. Fay Wray, as quoted in Classic Film Stars: Interviews from Hollywood”
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1977· 24 entries
And her cremated ashes were placed in a crypt at Ferncliff Cemetery and Mausoleum, Hartsdale, Westchester County, New York, next to her fourth and last husband Alfred Steele
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And died in her apartment in Lenox Hill, New York City
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Died 1977-05-10.
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Crawford had given away her Shih Tzu, Princess Lotus Blossom, because she was too weak to continue to care for her
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“Love is a fire. But whether it is going to warm your hearth or burn down your house, you can never tell.”
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“I never go outside unless I look like Joan Crawford the movie star. If you want to see the girl next door, go next door.”
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“I think that the most important thing a woman can have - next to talent, of course - is her hairdresser.”
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“You have to be self-reliant and strong to survive in this town. Otherwise you will be destroyed.”
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“I believe in the dollar. Everything I earn, I spend!”
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“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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“I have always known what I wanted, and that was beauty... in every form.”
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“If you have an ounce of common sense and one good friend you don't need an analyst.”
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“Women's Lib? Poor little things. They always look so unhappy. Have you noticed how bitter their faces are?”
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“It has been said that on screen I personified the American woman.”
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“Learn to breathe, learn to speak, but first..learn to feel.”
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“L'amore è fuoco. Ma non sai se scalderà il cuore o brucerà la tua casa.”
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“Quan interpretes papers de dones boges sempre et retires amb honors.”
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“Sono sempre stata un ladra di copioni.”
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“Joan Crawford mai mor en les seves pel·lícules i mai perd el seu home per ningú.”
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“I was always a script stealer.”
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“Vas demanar per Joan Crawford. Vas aconseguir Joan Crawford. I Joan Crawford sempre surt la primera a la carpa.”
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“[Sui suoi figli] Stanno entrando in un mondo che non è facile, un mondo dove se non sei autosufficiente e forte, puoi essere distrutto.”
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“They're going into a world that isn't easy, a world where unless you are self-sufficient and strong, you can be destroyed.”
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“Joan Crawford? Il primo caso di sifilide di Hollywood. (Bette Davis)”
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1976· 1 entry
Crawford bequeathed $77,500 to each of her two youngest children, Cindy and Cathy, and $35,000 to her longtime friend and secretary Betty Barker, and smaller bequests to a few other people
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1974· 1 entry
At a book party she hosted for her old friend Rosalind Russell at New York's Rainbow Room
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1973· 1 entry
Crawford retired from Pepsi's board of directors upon her official age of 65
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1970· 4 entries
Won Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award (1970).
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Crawford was presented with the Cecil B
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Crawford retired from the screen
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Also spoke at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, where she had been a student for two months in 1922
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1968· 1 entry
Crawford arranged for him to be cremated and his ashes scattered at Muskoka Lakes, Canada
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1966· 1 entry
Crawford estimated that she traveled over 100,000 miles (160,000 km) a year for the company
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1965· 1 entry
Played Amy Nelson in I Saw What You Did, another William Castle vehicle
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1964· 1 entry
Crawford starred as Lucy Harbin in William Castle's horror mystery Strait-Jacket (1964)
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1963· 1 entry
Crawford received Pepsi's sixth annual "Pally Award", which was in the shape of a bronze Pepsi bottle
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1961· 1 entry
Took them to meet Crawford in Miami, Florida
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1959· 4 entries
Crawford was elected as the first female to the board of directors and later took on the role of goodwill ambassador
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Made a pilot for The Joan Crawford Show
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Crawford was elected to fill his vacancy on the board of directors, retiring in 1973
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Crawford was elected to fill his vacancy on the board of directors but was forced to retire in 1973
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1955· 1 entry
Became involved with the Pepsi-Cola Company, through her marriage to company president Alfred Steele
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1954· 1 entry
Starred in Johnny Guitar, a cult classic directed by Nicholas Ray, co-starring Sterling Hayden and Mercedes McCambridge
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1950· 1 entry
Starred in the film noir The Damned Don't Cry and in the melodrama Harriet Craig
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1947· 2 entries
And required hospital supervision for several weeks
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Crawford adopted two fraternal twin daughters and named them Catherine "Cathy" and Cynthia "Cindy"
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1946· 3 entries
Awarded Academy Award for Best Actress for Mildred Pierce (1946).
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Crawford filed for divorce on "grounds of cruelty"
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Crawford changed that child's name to Christopher Crawford
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1945· 1 entry
Crawford and Terry separated
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1944· 1 entry
When Rebecca learned of the child (who was unrelated to her son), she claimed he was also her child, leading to her arrest and her being placed in a psychiatric hospital
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1942· 3 entries
The couple married 10 minutes after midnight at the home of Crawford's lawyer, Neil McCarthy, by Judge Flynn, six weeks after their first date in San Fernando Valley
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Crawford and Terry adopted another boy, whom they named Phillip Terry Jr
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Began volunteering at the Hollywood Canteen in Los Angeles to entertain and serve service members
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1941· 1 entry
Prior to changing his name to David Gary Deatherage) whom they named Christopher
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1940· 1 entry
On Arch Oboler's Lights Out; The Word on Everyman's Theater (1941); Chained on the Lux Radio Theater, and Norman Corwin's Document A/777 (1948)
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1939· 1 entry
With her role as home-wrecker Crystal Allen in The Women, opposite her professional nemesis, Norma Shearer
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1938· 2 entries
Crawford—along with Greta Garbo, Mae West, Edward Arnold, Marlene Dietrich, Katharine Hepburn, and Kay Francis—was dubbed "Box Office Poison" in an advertisement in the Hollywood Reporter
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Crawford, Adolphe Menjou, and Jackie Cooper were on the organization's stamp committee, whose goal was to raise money from used stamps
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1937· 2 entries
Crawford was proclaimed the first "Queen of the Movies" by Life magazine
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Did, as the New York Times stated, "restore Crawford to her throne as queen of the working girls"
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1935· 1 entry
Crawford married Franchot Tone, a stage actor from New York who planned to use his film earnings to finance his theatre group
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1933· 1 entry
Crawford donated her large doll collection, which she had been collecting since the 1920s, to a children's hospital
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1932· 1 entry
The publishing of the first "Top Ten Money-Making Stars Poll" placed Crawford third in popularity at the box office, behind only Marie Dressler and Janet Gaynor
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1931· 1 entry
MGM cast Crawford in five films
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1929· 1 entry
Crawford eloped with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr
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1928· 1 entry
Crawford starred opposite Ramón Novarro in Across to Singapore, but it was her role as Diana Medford in Our Dancing Daughters (1928) that catapulted her to stardom
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1927· 1 entry
Appeared alongside her close friend William Haines in Spring Fever, which was the first of three movies that the two made together
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1926· 1 entry
“How can I compete with Norma? She sleeps with the boss!”
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1925· 1 entry
As the body double for Norma Shearer, MGM's most popular female star
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1924· 2 entries
That Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) had offered Crawford a contract at $75 a week
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And lived together for several months, although this supposed marriage was never mentioned in later life by Crawford
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1922· 1 entry
Registered at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, giving her year of birth as 1906
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1909· 1 entry
While working as a sales associate at Simpson's, Crawford's mother married Henry J
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1905· 1 entry
Born 1905-03-23.
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