JOAN CRAWFORD

Knowledgeable biography of the actress whose film career ran from the silents through the ’60s.

Golden Age specialist Eyman provides a smart account of Crawford’s life (1905ish-1977) and her long tenure at the top of the Hollywood totem pole. He locates the source of her famously driven personality in a hardscrabble working-class childhood with “father figures who came and went” and a mother and brother she disliked, though she supported them throughout their lives. She started as a dancer, landed an MGM contract while still in her teens, and got her big break with Our Dancing Daughters in 1928, causing a sensation with her uninhibited Charleston and unabashed sexuality. She seamlessly made the transition to sound and was one of MGM’s leading lights for nearly 20 years, famous for her professionalism: never arrived late to the set, knew the name of every crew member, did endless interviews and PR appearances without complaint, was always glamorously dressed and made up. When she sensed the studio’s interest flagging as she approached her 40s, she asked to be released from her contract and moved over to Warner Bros., garnering one of her biggest hits (and an Oscar) for Mildred Pierce. Eyman gives shrewd appraisals of Crawford’s many films, including Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? in the twilight of her career, and a frank but sympathetic look at her personal life. He clearly likes his subject, appreciating her lifelong loyalty to friends famous and obscure, as well as to ex-husbands Douglas Fairbanks and Franchot Tone. He dismisses the most lurid charges in daughter Christina’s notorious Mommie Dearest (vehemently disputed by two of Crawford’s other adopted children) but doesn’t whitewash her overly strict parenting. Eyman is not likely to win any awards for his prose style, and there’s not a lot new here, but this is a fair and comprehensive biography.

Fully fleshed portrait of a complicated woman who considered being a movie star a job and worked at it every day.