Possessed: The Life of Joan Crawford

by Donald Spoto

Overview

Joan Crawford was one of the most incandescent film stars of all time, yet she was also one of the most misunderstood. In this brilliantly
researched, thoughtful, and intimate biography, bestselling author Donald Spoto goes beyond the popular caricature—the abusive, unstable mother portrayed in her adopted daughter Christina Crawford’s memoir, Mommie Dearest—to give us a three-dimensional portrait of a very human woman, her dazzling career, and her extraordinarily dramatic life and times.

Based on new archival information and exclusive interviews, and written with Spoto’s keen eye for detail, Possessed offers a fascinating portrait of a courageous, highly sexed, and ambitious woman
whose strength and drive made her a forerunner in the fledgling film business. From her hardscrabble childhood in Texas to her early days as a dancer in post–World War I New York to her rise to stardom,
Spoto traces Crawford’s fifty years of memorable performances in classics like Rain, The Women, Mildred Pierce, and Sudden Fear, which are as startling and vivid today as when they were filmed.

In Possessed, Spoto goes behind the myths to examine the rise and fall of the studio system; Crawford’s four marriages; her passionate thirty year, on-and-off-again affair with Clark Gable; her friendships and rivalries with other stars; her powerful desire to become a mother; the truth behind the scathing stories in her daughter Christina’s memoir; and her final years as a widow battling cancer. Spoto explores Crawford’s achievements as an actress, her work with Hollywood’s great directors (Frank Borzage, George Cukor, Otto Preminger) and actors (Henry Fonda, James Stewart, Spencer Tracy, John Barrymore), and later, her role as a highly effective executive on the board of directors of Pepsi-Cola.

Illuminating and entertaining, Possessed is the definitive biography of this remarkable woman and true legend of film.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062020208
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	01/17/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	354
Sales rank:	290,150
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

A prolific and respected biographer and theologian, Donald Spoto is the author of twenty published books, among them bestselling biographies of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Alfred Hitchcock, Tennessee Williams, and Ingrid Bergman. His books have been translated into more than twenty languages. Donald Spoto earned his Ph.D. in theology at Fordham University. After years as a theology professor, he turned to fulltime writing. The Hidden Jesus: A New Life, published in 1999, was hailed by the Los Angeles Times as "offering a mature faith fit for the new millennium." His successful biography of Saint Francis was published in 2002. Spoto lectures worldwide on important topics such as theology, the arts, and social issues.

Table of Contents

Introduction xiii

1 A Prairie Bernhardt (1906-1924) 1

2 The Flapper, Flapping (1925) 33

3 Enter the Prince (1926-1929) 66

4 Enter the King (1929-1930) 102

5 Virtuous Vices (1931-1932) 134

6 Mrs. Tone (1932-1937) 16

7 Joan, Julie, Susan-and God (1937-1940) 209

8 A Trilogy of Transformations (1941-1942) 246

9 Oscar (1943-1947) 279

10 Children! Children! (1947-1951) 316

11 Carrying a Torch Song (1952-1955) 357

12 Some of the Best of Everything (1955-1962) 387

13 "Miss Crawford Is a Star!" (1962-1970) 427

14 Fade-Chit (1971-1977) 462

Acknowledgments 487

Notes 491

Bibliography 515

Editorial Reviews

Author of more than 20 celebrity biographies, Spoto (High Society: The Life of Grace Kelly) begins his latest by sharing a response from Joan Crawford to a fan letter he wrote when he was ten. Though much has been written about Crawford, who died in 1977, Spoto justifies his contribution by writing, "because no other movie star—with the possible exception of Marilyn Monroe—has been so underappreciated, misrepresented by rumor, innuendo, fabrication, unfounded allegation and rank distortion." Does Mommie Dearest ring a bell? So it seems Spoto wants to thank Crawford for her kindness to him as a boy by setting the record straight and clearing her name. He relies on the Joan Crawford papers, scrapbooks, letters, and ephemera housed at the New York Public Library, as well as what has already been written. VERDICT What sets this biography apart from previous titles? Where other biographers made sensational statements about Crawford as fact, Spoto makes assertions based on his research as to what would and would not have been likely or possible. This is a balanced and readable account of a possibly misunderstood and maligned star. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 6/15/10.]—Rosellen Brewer, Sno-Isle Libs., Marysville, WA

Library Journal

Having already offered in-depth biographical portraits of classic entertainment professionals such as Grace Kelly and Alfred Hitchcock, author Donald Spoto provides a worshipful examination of the life and career of actress Joan Crawford. Christina Delaine’s precise and dramatic narration serves to raise the level of the well-written but mundane content. Crawford’s career is examined—including her grandest and worst films—but too often with seemingly endless lists of such items as cast members and other screen credit components. This work is more a volume of film commentary than a biography. Delaine’s thoughtful performance saves the listening experience. W.A.G. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

OCTOBER 2020 - AudioFile

Having already offered in-depth biographical portraits of classic entertainment professionals such as Grace Kelly and Alfred Hitchcock, author Donald Spoto provides a worshipful examination of the life and career of actress Joan Crawford. Christina Delaine’s precise and dramatic narration serves to raise the level of the well-written but mundane content. Crawford’s career is examined—including her grandest and worst films—but too often with seemingly endless lists of such items as cast members and other screen credit components. This work is more a volume of film commentary than a biography. Delaine’s thoughtful performance saves the listening experience. W.A.G. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

OCTOBER 2020 - AudioFile

Hollywood biography machine Spoto (High Society: The Life of Grace Kelly, 2010, etc.) presents the life and career of screen queen Joan Crawford (1905–1977), a movie star whose iconic status owed as much to the actress's sheer willpower as to her perfect bone structure and improbably large, expressive eyes.

Crawford, in marked contrast to her rival Greta Garbo, employed a maniacal determination and inhuman work ethic to earn and maintain her place in Hollywood's firmament of stars. Born into poverty, uneducated and profoundly insecure, Lucille LeSueur parlayed a successful dancing career on Broadway into a movie work, acquiring the name Joan Crawford in a magazine contest held to christen MGM's newest contract player. Spoto deftly analyzes Crawford's changing persona through her long career, from plucky flapper to suffering matron to leering grotesque, and recounts her failed marriages, numerous affairs and alcoholism with great sympathy. In fact, this perhaps overly reverential treatment is a bit of a letdown, as Crawford's outsize diva histrionics, promiscuity and alleged abuse of her adopted children are key components of her continuing fascination for film audiences. Spoto discounts or explains away Crawford's less-than-salubrious reputation, and the result feels a bit whitewashed. Crawford's daughter Christina's infamous autobiography Mommie Dearest (1978), and the subsequent film, cemented the public image of Crawford, perhaps unfairly, as an unhinged martinet, obsessed with order and cleanliness. Spoto works hard to refute Mommie Dearest's damning portrait of the actress, but Crawford's housekeeping mania, strict discipline and emotional instability are widely acknowledged. Christina's brother Christopher, who corroborated her account, is described by the author as a troublemaker who was constantly running away from home, which begs a fairly obvious question. Still, the book is useful for its diligent consideration of Crawford's films and legacy.

A worthy but toothless consideration of one of Hollywood's most distinctive performers.

Kirkus Reviews