Lucille Fay LeSueur, later known as Joan Crawford, was born on March 23, 1906, in San Antonio, Texas, to Anna Belle Johnson and Thomas E. LeSueur, a laundry laborer. Her parents had separated by the time she was born, and by her teenage years, she had already had three stepfathers.
Crawford worked various menial jobs, but she was a talented dancer, which led her to enter several contests, eventually landing a spot in a chorus line. She danced in big cities across the Midwest and East Coast before moving to Hollywood in 1928.
Crawford's early film career was marked by small parts, but she landed her breakthrough role as Diana Medford in Our Dancing Daughters (1928),which elevated her to star status. She continued to thrive in the 1930s, starring in films such as Grand Hotel (1932),Sadie McKee (1934),No More Ladies (1935),and Love on the Run (1936).
However, by the early 1940s, MGM was no longer giving her plum roles, and she left the studio for Warner Bros. Her role in Mildred Pierce (1945) earned her an Academy Award for Best Actress, and she continued to choose her roles carefully, earning two more nominations for Possessed (1947) and Sudden Fear (1952).
Crawford's career slowed in the 1950s, but she made a comeback in 1962 with the critically acclaimed film What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962),co-starring with Bette Davis. Her final film appearance was in the flop Trog (1970).
After her death on May 10, 1977, at the age of 71, her adopted daughter Christina wrote a tell-all book, "Mommie Dearest", which portrayed Crawford in a negative light. The book was adapted into a film in 1981, starring Faye Dunaway. Crawford is buried in Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York, alongside fellow MGM star Judy Garland.
