Despite the fact that she’s an Oscar winner, and has starred in numerous box-office successes, and is considered one of the most iconic actresses of Hollywood’ Golden Age, a lot of people remember Joan Crawford for a movie she didn’t actually star in: Mommie Dearest (1981), based on the scathing tell-all written by her adopted daughter Christina (No wire hangers!). Although it received tons of awards for being a “horrible” film, it was a commercial box-office success, grossing almost double its budget. But aside from being a purportedly bad mom, Joan was an enormously talented actress, who starred in what some consider to be some of the most classics films ever made, including her role as Blanche Hudson in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) with Bette Davis and the title role of Mildred Pierce Beragon in Mildred Pierce (1945), for which she won her Best Actress Oscar. The Texas native also received two Oscar nominations, for her part as Louise Graham in Possessed (1947) and Myra Hudson in Suden Fear (1952). All told, the statuesque beauty wit sculptured cheekbones, broad shoulders, and full mouth appeared in over 80 feature films, earning her star status with the film Our Dancing Daughters (1928). She has worked with legendary directors like George Cukor, Michael Curtiz, Nicholas Ray, and Charles Walters, and co-starred with actors and actresses like Eve Arden, Rosalind Russell, John Barrymore, Lon Chaney, Doris Day, Cliff Robertson, Lorne Greene, The Andrews Sisters, Jack Benny, Spencer Tracy, and she did several movies with Clark Gable. Not all of her movies were hits, and she starred in a in several second-rate horror films, too. While Joan has never been naked in any of her on-screen moments, she has shown scandalous skin and her outlined figure in wardrobe that could have been considered quite scandalous for the era. Based on that alone, along with the sensuality she oooooozed on the silver screen, Playboy magazine named her number 84 out of the 100 Sexiest Women of the 20th Century in 1999. Joan died of a heart attack in New York City in May 1977, at the age of 71.
