Joan Crawford: The Ultimate Movie Star Page #11

...that they don't appreciate

that somebody can be older...

...and know even more than they knew

when they were younger.

But you're supposed to look pretty,

l guess, all the way to the grave.

And it ain't necessarily so.

Trog!

A movie called Trog was her last film.

lf it wasn't, it should've been.

Please, Trog.

Let me have the child.

l want you to give me the child!

Please.

lt's unfortunate that actors can't

dictate the last act of their lives...

...and certainly, Joan's was not

one she would have chosen.

She had done a great job for Pepsi.

She was treated very shabbily...

...and just sort of

discarded by them.

She was very critical of somebody who

later became chairman of the board...

...and he got rid of her.

Forced to economize, Crawford

moved to a smaller New York flat.

She would take the mink coat...

...we'd arrive at 21, and she'd

drop it on the ground and drag it...

...and say, ''Lets show them how

a legend makes an entrance. ''

She invited me to lunch, and at

that table was Doug Fairbanks...

...Franchot Tone and Phil Terry...

...three ex-husbands.

And l kept thinking,

''l can't believe this setup. ''

She was scared. She was

definitely scared of getting older.

She was jealous of me...

...but mostly she was scared...

...of not being able to perform

as the great movie star.

ln the newspaper...

...was this photograph of her and

Rosalind Russell from the worst angle.

She said, ''lf that's the way l look,

they'll never see me again. ''

And no one ever did.

ln her building on an elevator,

somebody turned to her and said:

''Weren't you Joan Crawford?''

lf you go for many years,

people know you, people cheer you...

...pictures of you everywhere,

and people wanna get your autograph.

lf that stops, you can imagine

how that affects you.

Joan even ceased to perform

as the spokesperson...

...for some of her favorite charities.

lt's the money you give

so that cancer victims can live.

l don't think she ever

told anybody she had cancer.

She wouldn't let regular nurses in,

because she was afraid...

...they would take her to the hospital.

Joan spent most of her time

tearing up her old pictures.

She was clipping up

and sending stuff through a shredder.

So she didn't want

anything left about her...

...for anyone to read that

was none of their business.

You just had the feeling

that she was preparing...

...to send Princess off somewhere.

She was getting ready.

The woman that cared for her came in

and realized that she was dying.

And she knelt by the bed

and started praying for her out loud.

Crawford raised up her head...

...and said that, ''Don't you dare

ask God to help me. '' And she died.

Joan Crawford passed away

on May 10, 1977.

At her memorial service, director

George Cukor remembered the legend...

...saying, ''She was the perfect image

of the movie star...

...and as such, largely the creation

of her own indomitable will.

She had, of course, very remarkable

material to work with...

...a quick, native intelligence,

tremendous animal vitality...

...a lovely figure,

and above all, her face...

... that extraordinary sculptural

construction of lines and plains.

It caught the light superbly, so that you

could photograph her from any angle.

The nearer the camera, the more tender

and yielding she became.

Her eyes glistening,

her lips avid in static acceptance.

The camera saw, I suspect...

...a side of her that no

flesh-and-blood lover ever saw. ''

Upon Crawford's death her will read:

''It is my intention to make no provision

herein for my son Christopher...

...or my daughter Christina, for reasons

which are well-known to them. ''

l was surprised at the mean-spiritedness

of the language.

After that l started to think...

...that the only person that could set the

record straight about my life was me.

And so that's what ended up

being the book Mommie Dearest.

Christina Crawford did achieve

a good end with her book.

She did really bring child abuse

to public consciousness...

...in a way that it never did...

...but it's a terrible tragedy

for her mother's image.

l don't know if her reputation

will ever recover from that terrible blow.

There is another Joan Crawford

that people should remember.

She achieved in a man's world

when it wasn't fashionable at all.

Some of her screen performances

are among the best of any woman...

...who has worked in Hollywood.

Much of that is forgotten now

and it shouldn't be.

Maybe in 50 years or so...

...her own saga

will be rather dusty and curious.

People probably won't even care

to look it up.

But the films last forever.

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