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Joan Crawford: Roles
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Fine Hollywood tearjerker with Joan Crawford (in her Oscar-winning role) as the waitress-turned-businesswoman who struggles to provide a good life for her children, only to have older daughter Ann Blyth repay her by having an affair with her stepfather. Michael Curtiz directs; with Zachary Scott, Jack Carson, Eve Arden. 111 min. Standard; Soundtrack: English Dolby Digital mono; Subtitles: English, Spanish, French; documentary; photo gallery; theatrical trailers.
Joan learned that achieving roles was not easy. Her self-discipline was legendary ... and she was very ambitious. Once signed to M-G-M, one of her first roles was as star Norma Shearer’s double in “Lady of the Night” (1925), which sparked a feud between the two actresses which carried on for decades. The studio felt that Crawford’s real name “Lucille LeSuer” was not the name of a star, so they held a Photoplay magazine contest to re-name her. “Joan Crawford” won, and it helped launch her into fame after she appeared in the film “Old Clothes” (1925), with child star Jackie Coogan.
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Crawford's other movie roles of the era include Lane Bellamy in Flamingo Road (1949), a dual role in the film noir The Damned Don't Cry (1950) and her performance in the title role of Harriet Craig (1950) at Columbia Pictures. After filming This Woman Is Dangerous (1952), Crawford asked to be released from her Warner Bros. contract. As she had done so before, Crawford triumphed as Myra Hudson in Sudden Fear (1952) at RKO, which was ... the movie that introduced her co-star, Jack Palance, to the screen and earned Crawford a third and final Oscar nomination for Best Actress.
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Crawford inherited the part of chorus girl Daisy Heath from Jean Harlow who died before she could play her. Crawford declined the role and was replaced by Rosalind Russell, who was sent to England to make the Citadel, and replaced by Margaret Sullavan.
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Joan was a workaholic and did all she could to promote her image. She answered all her fan mail personally. Joan considered her breakthrough film role to be "The Unknown" (1927) in which she starred opposite the legendary Lon Chaney Sr. He taught her how to do more than look attractive for the camera, but to depict her character's inner emotions outwardly in subtle and impressive ways.
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