Lucille Fay LeSueur was born on the 23rd March 1904 in San Antonio, Texas, of British, Swedish and French ancestry through her mother, and died on the 10th May 1977 in New York City, New York. As Joan Crawford, she was known world-wide as an actress, probably best recognized for appearing in the films “Mildred Pierce” (1945), for which she won Oscar, and “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” (1962). She was also known for being a dancer and showgirl. Her career was active from 1925 to 1972.
Have you ever wondered how rich was Joan Crawford? Sources have estimated that the overall amount of Joan’s net worth was $20 million, earned through her successful career in the entertainment industry. Another source came from selling her autobiographical book entitled “A portrait Of Joan”, and another book named “My Way Of Life”.
Joan Crawford Net Worth $20 Million
Before she was born, her parents Thomas LeSueur – of whom little is known – and Anna Bell Johnson separated, thus Joan was raised by her mother. She attended private schools in Kansas, and by the time she was teenager she was already dancing and performing in big Midwestern and East Coast cities. Soon after, she moved to Hollywood to start pursuing professional career.
Emerging on the Hollywood scene, Joan began her career as a child dancer, and during the 1930s she became one of Hollywood’s top starts. Thanks to that, she later later earned appearances in Broadway shows such as “Innocent Eyes” in 1924, but soon after the first appearances on Broadway, Joan signed a contract with the Metro Goldwin Meyer, and ever since then, her career was in a constant rise until 1972, and her last appearance.
Before the 1930s, she was cast in films such as “The Circle” (1925), “Sally, Irene And Mary” (1925), “The Taxi Dancer” (1927), “Across To Singapore” (1928), “Rose-Marie” (1928), and “Dream Of Love” (1928), among many others which added a lot to her overall net worth. With the beginning of 1930s, Joan’s name became more known in the Hollywood, and she was sought by the more notable producers of those years; however, she was nicknamed “Box Office Poison”, as her films began to lose money. She appeared in such films as “Rain” (1932), “Today We Live” (1933), “Dance, Fools, Dance” (1931), “The Gorgeous Hussy” (1936), “Dancing Lady” (1933), “Mannequin” (1937), and “The Women” (1939). Anyway, her fame came back in the 1940s, leaving MGM and signing with Warner Brothers. In 1945, she won the Oscar Award for Best Actress, for the film “Mildred Pierce”, in which she starred with Jack Carson and Zachary Scott.
To speak further of her accomplishments in the film industry, some other notable roles were in such films as “Humoresque” (1946), “Possessed” (1947), “Flamingo Road” (1949), “The Damned Don’t Cry!” (1950), “Goodbye, My Fancy” (1951), and “Sudden Fear” (1952). During the 1950s, Joan appeared in a number of low-budget films such as “Female On The Beach” (1956), “Queen Bee” (1955), and “Autumn Leaves” (1956). In the 1960s, with her fame restored she was cast alongside Bette Davis in the film “What Ever Happened To Baby Jane” (1962), however, it was only for a moment, as after that she was only featured in a number of cameo roles, with her last film appearance in “Trog” (1970). However, she left screens for good with a role in the TV series “The Sixth Sense” in 1972.
Overall, Joan was a successful actress, having appeared in more than 100 film and TV titles, and she also won numerous prestigious nominations and awards, including nominations for Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her work on “Sudden Fear”, and she was awarded her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.
Regarding her personal life, Joan Crawford was married four times. Her first marriage was with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. from 1929 to 1933. Two years after, she married Franchot Tone, but they divorced in 1939. Phillip Terry was her third husband from 1942 to 1946, and the last one was Alfred Steele from 1955 to 1959, when he died. She had four children; her daughter Christina Crawford, is also an actress and writer.
