American Legends: The Life of Joan Crawford

ISBN: 9781492259947
$6.99
*Includes pictures of Crawford and important people, places, and scenes.
*Includes Crawford's' own quotes about her upbringing, films and relationships.
*Includes a Bibliography for further reading.
*Includes a Table of Contents.

"I never go outside unless I look like Joan Crawford the movie star. If you want to see the girl next door, go next door." – Joan Crawford

A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history’s most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? In Charles River Editors’ American Legends series, readers can get caught up to speed on the lives of America’s most important men and women in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known.

The life of Joan Crawford is one of the most famous Hollywood rags-to-riches tales. While it is common to think of Hollywood as a land offering great opportunity to hard-working actresses, the Horatio Alger myth rarely applies in reality, but it applied almost perfectly to Joan Crawford. Crawford grew up in relative poverty, with both of her childhood father figures abandoning the family before she became a teenager, and she relied on undying ambition in order to progress through the ranks of the show business circuit and then the Hollywood studio system. This drive to succeed continued throughout her entire career, and Crawford’s public battles with both studios (MGM in particular) and other stars (first Norma Shearer and later Bette Davis) were borne out of an unmatched competitive streak.
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