Lucille LeSueur

Lucille LeSueur never met her father, who abandoned her mother Anna Bell Johnson in San Antonio, Texas while she was pregnant. Anna later married Henry Cassin, who operated a theater in Lawton, Oklahoma. Little Lucille, whose nickname was Billie, grew up believing Cassin was her father and she was called Billie Cassin.

After Cassin was accused of embezzlement, the family moved to St. Louis. When Billie was in the third grade her mother left Cassin and took up with (and possibly married, the record is unclear) a man named Henry Hough. By some accounts Billie was abused by Cassin, Hough, or both of them. Whatever the truth of those claims, there is no doubt that Billie had a challenging and difficult childhood and that she developed a rebellious personality. Around age 14 she was enrolled in a boarding school for “difficult” girls, where she later claimed she was treated essentially as a maid and beaten nearly every day.

In 1923 Billie landed a job as a dancer in a traveling chorus. By then her brother had told her the truth about her father, and when she signed her contract, she identified herself as “Lucille LeSueur.”

The chorus show soon went bust, and with only two dollars to her name, she traveled to Chicago and was able to land another dancing job, eventually making it to Broadway. There the 5’3” freckled redhead impressed an MGM talent scout, and on Christmas Day 1924 she received a telegram offering her a five-year contract at $75 per week. At about 17 years old (her exact year of birth remains unclear), Lucille “Billie” LeSueur left for Hollywood, where she was destined to make a big splash.

After appearing in five silent films, an MGM executive decided she needed a better name (remarking that “LeSueur” sounded too much like “sewer”). So the studio announced a “Name the Star” contest, inviting the public to suggest a new name. “Joan Arden” was the winning entry, but when they discovered that name was already being used, they replaced “Arden” with “Crawford.” Joan Crawford, it was.

With a powerful work ethic and a determination to succeed, Joan transitioned from silent films (where she usually played a flapper) to talkies, becoming a star and excelling in roles as working-class girls climbing the ladder of success. When her popularity began to wane, she transitioned to “older women” roles and revived her career, going on to some of her greatest achievements, including an Academy Award for best actress in 1946. She appeared in ninety films over the course of her nearly five-decade career.

But, of course, an explosive memoir by one of her children has cast a huge shadow over Joan Crawford’s life and career.

Each of Joan’s four marriages lasted about four years, the first three ending in divorce and the last, to Pepsi CEO Alfred Steele, ending with his death. Joan had no biological children, but adopted four—Christina, Christopher, Cathy, and Cindy.

Less than two years after her mother’s death, Christina published a memoir titled “Mommie Dearest” describing Joan Crawford as an egotistical, alcoholic, and abusive mother. Christopher supported his sister's claims, but many of Joan’s friends and colleagues blasted the book, denying its allegations and defending Crawford’s character. Joan’s youngest children, Cathy and Cindy, also vehemently denied Christina’s allegations, as did Joan’s first husband Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. But Christina adamantly defended her claims, and her book became not only a best-seller but a major Hollywood film.

Whether Joan Crawford was an abusive mother remains in dispute, but her impressive legacy as an actress remains. “I came from nothing,” she said near the end of her life, “but Hollywood took me from nothing and gave me everything good that I’ve learnt and that I have.”

Joan Crawford, born Lucille Faye LeSeuer, died in New York City at about age 70, on May 10, 1977, forty-six years ago today.