Possessed the life of joan crawford

I believed that joan has done some very nice and generous things for other people and society. It ended forever her period in movies as an emptyheaded hedonist with a. She wasnt able to have children, but she adopted 5 children. Donald spoto crawford was one of the most incandescent film stars of all time, yet she was also one of the most misunderstood. New york times bestselling author donald spoto has already brilliantly ex. Crawford published her autobiography, a portrait of joan, cowritten with jane kesner ardmore, in 1962 through doubleday. In possessed joan crawford gives a strong and unsettling performance as a nurse who is obsessed with a former lover, david van heflin, and cant let go even after she marries the her employer raymond massey, who had hired her to take care of his mentally unstable wife.

In the first chapter in 1925, she is described as being 53 and 140 pounds, which she knew was too much for her small frame. Joan crawford was an american film and television actress who began her career as a dancer. The life of joan crawford, author donald spoto spends a good deal of time detailing crawfords life as an actress and defending her beauty, talent, and poise. In possessed, his subject is the inimitable joan crawford, one of the most electrifying divas of the golden age of american film. The life of joan crawford by donald spoto the times. A more new york times bestselling author donald spoto has already brilliantly explored the lives and careers of numerous hollywood stars and entertainment iconsgrace kelly, james dean, alfred hitchcock, and marilyn monroe, to name but a few. Film actress joan crawford was born lucille fay lesueur in san antonio, texas, on march 23, 1905 though some sources have reported her birth date as 1908.

I was a commodity, a piece of property i felt an overwhelming obligation to my career, and so i was an actress first, a wife second. Yolaine stout a suicidal neardeath experience and what it taught me about life duration. Spoto goes beyond the popular caricature to give us a threedimensional portrait of a very human woman, her dazzling career, and her extraordinarily dramatic life and times. Possessed is a 1947 american film noir psychological drama directed by curtis bernhardt, starring joan crawford, van heflin, and raymond massey in a tale about an unstable womans obsession with her exlover. The film is the story of marian martin, a factory worker who rises to the top as the mistress of a wealthy attorney.

It was billed as the life of joan crawford but in truth there wasnt a whole lot about joan s life and more about her films than her life. A more thorough, revealing, and sympathetic portrait of the often maligned movie starmost notably lambasted, perhaps, in the scandalous bestseller, mommy dearest possessed is a fascinating study of the real joan crawford, a remarkable actress, businesswoman, mother, and lover. The life of joan crawford by donald spoto by victoria segal. The life of joan crawford by donald spoto goodreads. However, formatting rules can vary widely between applications and fields of interest or study. Joan crawford was a complex, contradictory, driven human being, but not the alcoholic, sadistic monster depicted in the notorious book, mommie dearest, which appeared a year after her death.

Based on new archival information and exclusive interviews, possessed traces crawfords fifty years of memorable performances in such film classics as rain, the. Later, she proved to be a troubled mother and struggled to keep her children happy. Not in a factory that makes things that go in boxes, just the empty boxes themselves. Joan crawford, geboren als lucille fay lesueur san antonio texas, 23 maart 1904 new york, 10 mei 1977. Joan crawford seems to channel bette davis in this scene from the 1947 movie possessed.

An ambitious factory girl meets a handsome, wealthy lawyer, but hes interested in her as a mistress, not a wife. The life of joan crawford i found the book informative. Joan crawford amazing scene from possessed youtube. Spoto goes beyond the popular caricature to give us a threedimensional portrait of a. Possessed is a 1931 american precode drama film directed by clarence brown, starring joan crawford and clark gable, and released by metrogoldwynmayer. The essential biography explores the life and career of one of hollywoods great dames. Dancer, dramatic actress, businesswoman, corporate executive with pepsicola, joan crawford during her lifetime 1906 1977 was rarely out of the news.

Possessed allows joan to suffer royally and she does, pulling out all the schizophrenic stops to slam this one home. With the use of only recently opened archives and personal papers, donald spoto probes behind the lurid headlines to bring us joan crawford, the private person as well as the movie legend. Short but my favorite scene from this movie as davidheflinreacts in quite the familiar and typical fashion when hes fed up with louisemildereds character. Possessed, their third film together, released in october, was directed by clarence brown.

Much beloved of drag queens thanks to her enduring fondness in later life for heavy eyebrows and lipstick, crawfords reputation was made. She made her film debut in lady of the night 1925 as a body double for film star norma shearer. She was married four times, once to the debonair douglas fairbanks jr, unaware that he had failed to discontinue his relationship with marlene dietrich. Although the same title was used for a crawford film 16 years earlier, the similarity is in name only. Miss crawford is a star in every sense of the word. The screenplay by ranald macdougall and silvia richards was based upon a story by rita weiman.

It was billed as the life of joan crawford but in truth there wasnt a whole lot about joans life and more about her films than her life. It was readable and interesting if youre interested in the films, how their made and why but if youre looking for a biography about joan crawford. I didnt always agree with how she handled some situations with her coworkers during her career. The life of joan crawford, author donald spoto spends a good deal of time detailing crawfords life as an actress and defending. A year after joan crawfords death in 1977, her adopted daughter christina published mommie dearest, a memoir that described crawford as. Crawford was one of the most incandescent film stars of all time, yet she was also one of the most misunderstood. In the introduction, joan crawford is described as being just over five feet in height.

Joan crawford was born lucille fay lesueur on march 23, 1906, in san antonio, texas, to anna belle johnson and thomas e. The life of joan crawford by donald spoto 2010, hardcover at the best online prices at ebay. Overview new york times bestselling author donald spoto has already brilliantly explored the lives and careers of numerous hollywood stars and entertainment iconsgrace kelly, james dean, alfred hitchcock, and marilyn monroe, to name but a few. When the picture starts, the whistle is blowing quitting time and all these employees stream out, joan included where does she work. Possessed the life of joan crawford pdf epub download. There were many important men in her life, not least clark gable, with whom she appeared in eight pictures and with whom she conducted a thirtyyear affair. Ive been protected by studio publicity men most of my life, so in some ways im a goddam image, not a person.

To this end, he tends to let us know at what precise moment in the film we can expect to first see joan in all her radiant glory. I worked almost constantly, and even when i wasnt working, there was that image thing of looking like a star, conducting myself like a star. With joan crawford, clark gable, wallace ford, richard skeets gallagher. The life of joan crawford by donald spoto, paperback. From joan crawfords early days as a flapper through to the grand guignol nightmare of what ever happened to baby jane. By the time she was born, her parents had separated, and by the time she was a teenager, shed had three stepfathers. A more thorough, revealing, and sympathetic portrait of the often maligned movie starmost notably lambasted. What that means is that i thought of joan who ive always been a fan of as a hardened actress playing strong women whod struggled through life. Her memoir of life with her abusive adoptive mother, the hollywood superstar joan crawford, was perhaps the first ever to document child abuse from the point of view of the child. In some ways, donald spotos possessed is the ultimate hollywood book about a young woman, poor, abandoned by her father, but determined at all costs to. I liked that it described about joans life in hollywood. Joan crawfords life was a battle against the world, and her personal issues. Joan crawford is at her best when shes possessed once. She was a leading film personality for more than fifty years, from her beginnings as a dancer in silent films of the 1920s, to her portrayals of workingclass shop girls in the depression thirties, to her oscarwinning performances in classic films such as mildred pierce.

New york times bestselling author donald spoto has already brilliantly explored the lives and careers of numerous hollywood stars and entertainment iconsgrace kelly, james dean, alfred hitchcock, and marilyn monroe, to name but a few. Not that the film was perfect an unrealistic happy ending and crawfords rendition of how long can it last delivered in three languages were low points but possessed also proved to be an important film in the progress of joans professional life. When david begins dating her new daughterinlaw, she is pushed over the edge. The joan crawford filmography lists the film appearances of american actress joan crawford, who starred in numerous feature films throughout a lengthy career that spanned nearly five decades. In some ways, donald spotos possessed is the ultimate hollywood book about a young woman, poor, abandoned by her father, but determined at all costs. Joan crawford was one of the most incandescent film stars of all time, yet she was also one of the most misunderstood. Donald spoto ive been protected by studio publicity men most of my life, so in some ways im a goddam image, not a person. Her terrific performances in michael curtizs mildred pierce 1945 and curtis bernhardts possessed in 1947 remain highlights in the.