The legendary actress Joan Crawford died today in 1977. While now best remembered through Faye Dunaway’s incredible interpretation of the actress (‘No wire hangers!’) in Mommie Dearest, we tend to forget that Crawford was a talented, Oscar winning actress, who had one of the longest and most successful careers in Hollywood. No mean feat, no matter what her adopted daughter later wrote.

Joan worked damned hard to maintain her career and independence and if she’d been a man, we’d remember her as fondly as Errol Flynn or Robert Mitchum. What is also impressive about Crawford was her ability to make the most of the roles offered, no matter how trashy the role. Her performance in Trog should have won her a medal for perseverance beyond the call of duty. 

In 1964, Joan Crawford starred in B-movie genius William Castle’s classic Strait-Jacket, where she gave a brilliantly bizarre performance. Here is Ms Crawford trying out her make-up for the role of suspected ax-murderer Lucy Harbin.