Joan Crawford: January 2012

HT - 5.5

EYE COLOR - BLUE

MEASUREMENTS - 35.25.35

HAIR COLOR - RED

SHOE SIZE - 4C

Joan Crawford

Birth Name Lucille Fey Leseur

Nickname Billie Cassin, Cranberry

DOB March 23, 1905 at 10PM

DOD May 10, 1977

Cause of Death Heart Attack or Pancreatic Cancer

Profession Actress

Religion Christian Scientist

Married 5x

TRIVIA

Worked as an elevator operator at Harzfeld's department store in downtown Kansas City, Missouri.

Each time Crawford married, she changed the name of her Brentwood estate and installed all new toilet seats.

She was so dedicated to her fans that she always personally responded to her fan mail by typing them responses on blue paper and autographing it. A great deal of her spare time and weekends were spent doing this.

Was forced by MGM boss Louis B. Mayer to drop her real name Lucille LeSueur because it sounded too much like "sewer".

Her 1933 contract with MGM was so detailed and binding, it even had a clause in it indicating what time she was expected to be in bed each night.

She was named as 'the other woman' in at least two divorces.

It was recently learned from an excellent, detailed and objective TV biography of her (including information from Christina Crawford) that Joan Crawford's hatred of wire hangers derived from her poverty as a child and her experiences working with her mother in what must have been a grim job in a laundry.

Decided to adopt children after suffering a series of miscarriages with her husbands and being told by doctors that she would never be able to have a baby.

Drank excessively and smoked until she began practicing Christian Science, at which time she abruptly quit doing both.

During her later years, Crawford was drinking up to a quart of vodka a day.

She disliked her 'new' name and initially encouraged others to pronounce it Jo-Anne Crawford. In private, she liked to be referred to as Billie. Never liked the name "Crawford", saying to friend, actor William Haines that it sounded too much like "Crawfish". He replied that it was much better than "Cranberry," which became the nickname he used for Crawford for over 50 years.

She was a favorite model of Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks for their early experiments in animation ("The Hand Behind The Mouse," by Leslie Iwerks).

She was of French descent on her father's side, and Irish/Scottish/English descent on her mother's side.

Often wore shoulder pads.

Has once said that Clark Gable was the only man she had ever loved.

Personal Quotes Wore gardenias everywhere. "I had great bowls of gardenias all over my house. But unfortunately I’d have to throw them away about an hour after I’d put them on. They just turned brown. Nothing you can do about it. I just have too much body heat."

[In The Women (1939)] Norma Shearer made me change my costume sixteen times because every one was prettier than hers. I love to play bitches and she helped me in this part. Nobody can imitate me.

You can always see impersonations of Katharine Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe. But not me. Because I've always drawn on myself only.

(Crawford, criticizing Marilyn Monroe) Look, there's nothing wrong with my tits, but I don't go around throwing them in people's faces!

Send me flowers while I'm alive. They won't do me a damn bit of good after I'm dead.

Not that anyone cares,but there's a right and wrong way to clean a house.

Contracted by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Member of the Board of Pepsi

American Cancer Society

Endorsement of American Tobacco Company Lucky Strike cigarettes

Endorsement of Liggett Group Chesterfield cigarettes

Endorsement of R. J. Reynolds Camel cigarettes

Oscar for Best Actress 1946 for Mildred Pierce

Hollywood Walk of Fame 1750 Vine St.