Big Break in 'Our Dancing Daughters'After a short time at Stephens College, Crawford left to pursue a dancing career, a pastime to which she'd dedicated herself. She eventually danced in the Broadway show Innocent Eyes, and in 1925 started to work onscreen for MGM.
From working on the silent screen, Crawford learned a subtler mode of performance than she had picked up dancing on Broadway. Her dance training helped her too, but the best piece of advice she received came from her then father-in-law Douglas Fairbanks Sr: “Feelings are for silent pictures – thoughts are for talkies.”
She said on air ''My mother was a very warm person. She was always there when we needed her. She was a working mother, but she always had time for us, and as far as Mommie Dearest, it's a great work of fiction. Christina must have been in another household.
Crawford had a heart attack on May 10, 1977, and died in her apartment in Lenox Hill, New York City. Her age was reported as 69. On May 6, 1977, Crawford had given away her Shih Tzu, Princess Lotus Blossom, because she was too weak to continue to care for her.
What happened to Joan Crawford's daughter Christina?
In 1981, the best-selling book was made into a blockbuster movie. Christina shortly thereafter suffered a major stroke from which she recovered. A couple of years later, she and David divorced. Since then, she has lived in Northern Idaho, operated a bed-and-breakfast, and continued writing.
Both Christopher and Christina successfully contested Joan's will, according to The Guardian. He also told the Los Angeles Times that he'd received $1500 from waiving his rights to Christina's book, Mommie Dearest and the 1981 film based on the book. Christopher died of cancer in 2006 at the age of 62.
Contrary to popular belief, Joan did not publicly endorse any political candidate or party. There is evidence that she was personal friends with both Democratic and Republican politicians. Additionally, there is documentation that Joan privately supported Richard Nixon's presidential campaign in 1960, 1968 and 1972.
In addition to changing her name (through a public content, no less), he also also enlisted famed Hollywood makeup artist Max Factor to give her a look. He created Crawford's signature lip with one simple move: wiping lipstick across the top line of her overdrawn lip, a technique he called “the smear.”
The legend is that, because Joan Crawford had very broad shoulders, costume designer Gilbert Adrian decided to exaggerate them, instead of trying to distract us with styling tricks, and incidentally started the fashion for padded shoulders on women.
One of the reasons Joan Crawford looked so different in the 1930s from the 1920s was that she had her front teeth capped, which made her lips look fuller, her teeth longer and whiter, and helped give her a "femme fatale" smile.
Notable personalities who used Tann's services included actress Joan Crawford (twin daughters, Cathy and Cynthia were adopted through the agency while daughter Christina Crawford and son Christopher were adopted through other agencies).
Davis's net worth at the time of her death was $2 Million after adjusting for taxes and inflation. According to her last will and testament, Bette's estate was worth $1 Million. The bulk of the estate was left to her adopted son, Michael Merrill. The other beneficiary was her close friend and assistant Kathryn Sermack.
As Charlotte Chandler writes in her biography of Crawford, Not the Girl Next Door, Crawford was unable to have kids, so she adopted five: a girl, Christina, in 1940; a boy, Christopher, in 1942, who was reclaimed by his birth mother soon after; a second boy, also named Christopher, in 1943; and twin girls, Catherine ( ...
“I felt like there was a certain either thriftiness or nostalgia there on her part,” she says. Crawford's actual house is still standing, but the production had to find a different home to serve as the exterior.
Veteran movie star Faye Dunaway regrets signing on to play Joan Crawford in 1981 classic Mommie Dearest, because the role gave film fans the “wrong impression” of her. The film, in which the actress chilled as an abusive mum, was a huge hit but Faye insists if she could turn back time she would have passed on the role.
On May 10, 1977, Joan Crawford died from a heart attack at her New York City apartment. At the time, outlets reported Bette's response to her colleague's death as they quoted her: "You should never say bad things about the dead, only good… Joan Crawford is dead? Good."
"You're right. It's time. I love you all." We always knew Michael Landon as the loving father on "Little House on the Prairie," and it seems in real life he was just as much a family man.
A sign that Joan herself recognized that her life was almost over came on May 8, when she gave away her beloved pet Shih Tzu. Two days later, on the morning of May 10, Joan Crawford died. Only her housekeeper and a longtime female fan were present.
