#stardustmelody

[marciabrady]

“Never, before or since, have I known any other professional who expended more personal energy on self-improvement courses and on her relations with her fans and the press as did the girl known as Joan Crawford.” -Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

[katharinehxpburn]

Katharine Hepburn photographed by Ernest Bachrach (1937)

[marciabrady]

[marciabrady]

“She was born dirt poor to a mother who never wanted her, didn’t like her, was physically abusive to her. Her father left before she was born. She was mistreated her whole childhood, was involved in a sexual relationship with her stepfather from the time she was eleven, and was farmed out to schools supposedly to get an education but really as a little work horse. She said herself that she never got anything beyond a fifth-grade education. When she arrived in Hollywood she said that MGM was the only family she ever knew. They taught her how to speak in that very artificial mid-Atlantic accent that has nothing to do with her upbringing. She was determined to be a lady. When she married Douglas Fairbanks Jr., she used to study [his stepmother, screen star] Mary Pickford and how every fork was placed…she worked hard. She was ambitious. She wanted this. She worked at it, and when she achieved stardom, she protected that entity, that product- Joan Crawford- like a she-wolf. For Joan, [making it in Hollywood] really was survival for her. Coming up out of that terrible poverty and that kind of childhood, with no education…I think there was always that fear of falling back into poverty so she created this tremendous artifice.” -Jessica Lange

[marciabrady]

“She was serious about improving herself as an actress. She played the role with fierce determination, holding back nothing. As the bitchy shop-girl in The Women, she knew perfectly well that she would be surrounded by formidable competition from the rest of the all female cast, many of whom were playing funnier and certainly more sympathetic parts. Yet she made no appeals for audience sympathy: she was not one of those actresses who have to keep popping out from behind their characters, signaling, ‘Look- it’s sweet, lovable me, first pretending to be a tramp’.” -George Cukor

[marciabrady]

“Elizabeth invited me to a dinner party at her house on Beverly Estates Drive, which is a winding road above Beverly Hills. The house had been designed by architect George MacLean and had an indoor swimming pool. After dinner, Elizabeth and Montgomery Clift went for a swim. They laughed and giggled while making out in the water in front of us all. They were having a great time. Even though Monty had boyfriends as well as girlfriends, it was obvious that he and Elizabeth had been intimate. Elizabeth could seduce any man, gay or straight. She and Monty were great pals and very dear friends.” -Debbie Reynolds

[marciabrady]

“Joan Crawford seemed assured and confident, worldly and happy with her fame and fortune, and yet she was so unsure of herself that she was forced to ask an unknown from Pensacola for an assessment. To this day, I still hurt for her lack of confidence and insecurity.” -Taris Savell

[marciabrady]