In this fascinating new biography of screen legend Joan Crawford,
Charlotte Chandler draws on exclusive and remarkably candid
interviews with Crawford herself and with others who knew her,
including first husband Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., and Crawford's
daughter Cathy. As a result, this biography is fresh and revealing,
a brand-new look at one of Hollywood's most acclaimed stars.
Joan Crawford was born Lucille LeSueur in San Antonio, Texas, in
1908 (as she always insisted, though other sources disagreed). Her
father abandoned the family, and her mother soon remarried; Lucille
was now known as Billie Cassin. Young Billie loved to dance and
achieved her early success in silent films playing a dancer. Her
breakthrough role came in "Our Dancing Daughters." Soon married to
Hollywood royalty, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. (who called her
"Billie"), she was a star in her own right, playing opposite John
Barrymore and a stellar cast in M-G-M's "Grand Hotel."
Crawford was cast opposite another young star, Clark Gable, in
several films. They would sometimes play lovers on screen -- and
off as well. After her marriage to Fairbanks broke up, Crawford
married actor Franchot Tone. That marriage soon began to show
strains, and Crawford was sometimes seen riding with Spencer Tracy,
who gave her a horse she named Secret. Crawford left M-G-M for
Warners, and around the time she married her third husband, Phillip
Terry, she won her Oscar for best actress (one of three times she
was nominated) in "Mildred Pierce." But by the 1950s the film roles
dried up. Crawford and Terry had divorced, and Crawford married her
fourth husband, Pepsi-Cola executive Alfred Steele. In 1962, she
and longtime cinematic rival Bette Davis staged a brief comeback in
the macabre but commercial What "Ever Happened to Baby Jane?"
Following Steele's death, Crawford became a director of Pepsi- Cola
while she continued raising her four adopted children. Although her
daughter Christina would publish the scathing memoir "Mommie
Dearest" after Crawford's death, Chandler offers a contrasting
portrait of Crawford, drawing in part on reminiscences of younger
daughter Cathy among others.
"Not the Girl Next Door" is perhaps Charlotte Chandler's finest
Hollywood biography yet, an intimate portrait of a great star who
was beautiful, talented, glamorous, and surprisingly
vulnerable.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
