A Portrait of Joan

It starts with a telegram. MGM wires young Lucille LeSueur to tell her that she’s been placed under contract at a princely $75 a week, and is expected to report immediately to Hollywood, California. A fresh-faced 17-year-old with big eyes and an air of elegance, she would go on to become one of the greatest stars in Hollywood history: the fabulous Joan Crawford.


Through four marriages, countless cocktail parties and more than one hundred appearances in film and television, Joan lived the life of a legend from the first day she stepped onto the back lot. After becoming famous in the silent era, by 1938 she was dubbed “Box Office Poison,” and her career was considered over—but Crawford never quit. Over the next forty years, she clawed her way back to the top, and in this engaging autobiography, she tells her story—her way.