Crawford, Joan

Crawford, Joan
orig. Lucille Fay LeSueur

born March 23, 1908, San Antonio, Texas, U.S.
died May 10, 1977, New York, N.Y.

U.S. film actress.

She was a dancer in a Broadway chorus line when she won her first Hollywood contract in the mid 1920s. After portraying flappers in such films as Our Dancing Daughters (1928), she played opportunistic girls in such Depression-era dramas as Grand Hotel (1932) and The Women (1939). With her dark eyebrows, padded shoulders, and hysterical intensity, she reinvented herself as a suffering heroine in Mildred Pierce (1945, Academy Award) and in psychological melodramas including Possessed (1947) and Sudden Fear (1952). Her later films included Queen Bee (1955) and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962).

Joan Crawford, с 1934.

Courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art Film Stills Archive, New York City

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▪ American actress
original name  Lucille Fay LeSueur 
born March 23, 1908, San Antonio, Texas, U.S.
died May 10, 1977, New York, N.Y.
 American motion-picture actress who made her initial impact as a vivacious Jazz Age flapper but later matured into a star of psychological melodramas. She developed a glamorous screen image, appearing often as a sumptuously gowned, fur-draped, successful career woman.

      Crawford danced in nightclubs under the name Billie Cassin, and by 1924 she was dancing in Broadway musicals. On the screen from 1925, she danced her way through such popular films as Our Dancing Daughters (1928), Dance, Fools, Dance (1931), and Dancing Lady (1933). Among her early successes as a dramatic actress were The Women (1939), Susan and God (1940), Strange Cargo (1940), and A Woman's Face (1941).

      A major turning point in Crawford's career was her performance in Mildred Pierce (1945), for which she won an Academy Award. The story of an emotional and ambitious woman who rises from waitress to owner of a restaurant chain, it was followed by such high-quality pictures as Humoresque (1947), Sudden Fear (1952), and The Story of Esther Costello (1957). Later successful roles were in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) and The Caretakers (1963).

      Crawford was married to the actors Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. (1929–33), Franchot Tone (1935–39), and Phillip Terry (1942–46) and to Alfred Steele, the chairman of the Pepsi-Cola Company. After his death in 1959 she became a director of the company and in that role hired her friend Dorothy Arzner (Arzner, Dorothy) to film several Pepsi commercials. Crawford's adopted daughter Christina published Mommie Dearest (1978), an account of the harsh childhood that Christina and an adopted brother had at their mother's hands, and a film version was produced in 1981.

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • CRAWFORD, Joan — (1905–1977)    Nominated three times for the best actress Academy Award, winning the award outright in 1946, Joan Crawford was one of Hollywood’s greatest stars. In life she defined what American culture considered ultimate glamour. In death,… …   Westerns in Cinema

  • Crawford, Joan — • КРО УФОРД (Crawford) Джоан (наст. имя и фам. Люсиль Ле Сюэр, Le Sueur) (23.3.1908, по др. данным, 1904 10.5.1977)    амер. актриса. С 17 лет выступала как танцовщица. С 1925 в Голливуде. Начиная с ф. Оплачено (1930), передавала устремлённость… …   Кино: Энциклопедический словарь

  • Crawford, Joan — orig. Lucille Fay LeSueur (23 mar. 1908, San Antonio, Texas, EE.UU.–10 may. 1977, Nueva York, N.Y.). Actriz de cine estadounidense. A mediados de la década de 1920 era corista en Broadway, a la vez que obtuvo su primer contrato en Hollywood.… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Crawford,Joan — Craw·ford (krôʹfərd), Joan. Originally Lucille Le Sueur. 1908 1977. American actress noted for her portrayals of tough minded, ambitious women in films such as The Women (1939) and Mildred Pierce (1945), for which she won an Academy Award. * * * …   Universalium

  • Crawford, Joan — pseud. di Le Sueur, Lucille Fay …   Sinonimi e Contrari. Terza edizione

  • Joan Crawford — Joan Crawford, 1948, Foto von Yousuf Karsh Joan Crawford [ˌdʒɔʊn ˈkɹɔːfəd] (* 23. März 1905 in San Antonio, Texas, als Lucille Fay LeSueur; † 10. Mai 1977 in New York City) …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Joan Crawford — en una imagen de estudio Nombre real Lucille Fay Le Sueur Nacimiento 23 de marzo de 1905 …   Wikipedia Español

  • Joan Crawford — For other people named Joan Crawford, see Joan Crawford (disambiguation). Joan Crawford Crawford photographed in 1948 Born Lucille Fay LeSueur March 23, 1905( …   Wikipedia

  • Joan Crawford — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Crawford. Joan Crawford …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Joan Crawford — noun United States film actress (1908 1977) • Syn: ↑Crawford • Instance Hypernyms: ↑actress * * * Joan Crawford [Joan Crawford] …   Useful english dictionary

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