Joan Crawford’s final words as she berated nurses praying at deathbed

Talking Pictures: Joan Crawford discuss movie scene with rat

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Joan Crawford, the legendary actress who starred in flicks such as Goodbye, My Fancy and This Woman Is Dangerous, was on this day born 117 years ago. Her legacy remains huge within Hollywood, with Crawford nominated for three Academy Awards, including her 1945 win for Mildred Pierce. She became well known for her no-nonsense approach to the film industry, and it would seem even in the moments before her death, the Texas-born star was just as blunt.

Crawford died on May 10, 1977, following a fatal heart attack in her New York apartment. Though historically unknown, her age at the time of her death was 69 years old.

Just four days before Crawford’s passing, the actress reportedly gave away her beloved Shih Tzu, called Princess Lotus Blossom, amid concerns for her health.

As her health deteriorated, Crawford, whose last film appearance came as Dr Brocton in 1970’s Trog, nurses moved to be by her bedside.

Realising the star had little time left to live, the nurses began praying – much to the fury of Crawford, who was one of Hollywood’s most recognisable faces, so much so that she even appeared in the artwork of The Rolling Stones’ 1972 album Exile on Main St.

During her time in Hollywood, Crawford’s legacy sparkled but she was not without her feuds. Among her rival stars to reportedly take a disliking to her was Bette Davis, the legendary actress who is one of only two stars to earn five consecutive Academy Award nominations.

The pair may have starred together in the psychological thriller What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, in which the actresses appeared opposite one another as a disabled member of Hollywood’s elite and her sadistic sister, but their friendship was anything but close.

Davis was nominated for Best Actress at the Oscars when it was released, though she missed out to Anne Bancroft in The Miracle Worker.

But for the stars themselves, their time together was difficult, with a feud that can be traced back to the mid-Thirties, when Davis fell in love with her Dangerous co-star Franchot Tone.

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Unsurprisingly, Tone would wed Crawford, the second of her four marriages, before their divorce in 1939.

The feud reportedly deepened when Davis refused the leading role in Milfred Pierce, paving the way for Crawford to collect the Best Actress gong at the Oscars.

To demonstrate their dislike, even in Crawford’s death Davis could not resist a final dig at her rival.

As she was told about Crawford’s death by heart attack 46 years ago, Davis reportedly told the Los Angeles Times: “You should never say bad things about the dead, only good. Joan Crawford is dead… good!”

When Crawford’s third marriage ended in 1946, the star reportedly never thought she’d marry again as it was “very difficult for an actress, a busy one, to have a happy” union.

She noted that a “career, particularly if you are a star, demands your time, your energy, everything”, and that was something you could not do when wedded.

But nine years after Mildred Pierce, Crawford did find love – this time in the form of Alfred Steele, an American soft drink businessman who was the CEO of Pepsi until his death in 1959.

Crawford described how she was “utterly lonely” before meeting Steele, adding: “I can’t tell you how many nights after I put the children to bed I’ve stayed up alone, all alone. I am a woman with a woman’s need, a husband.”

Three months after Steele’s divorce, the couple eloped to Las Vegas, sealing their vows with a borrowed ring.

But tragedy struck when just before her husband’s 58th birthday, she found Steele dead after trying to call him for breakfast.

Andrew Barnet, the son of Pepsi president Herbert Barnet, said that Steele “had been the company’s showman who travelled the world promoting Pepsi”.

He added that “Pepsi needed Joan” after Steele’s death because his successor “wasn’t the showman type, he needed Joan after Steele’s death”.

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