An actress whom I believed was kind and gentle as her
character was in the 1962 film, “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” While off
screen I thought she was a devoted mother who worked hard, and would do anything
for her children’s happiness, just like she potrayed in her 1945 movie,
“Mildred Pierce,” but it turns out in real life she’s was like her sick
physcotic character in the 1964 thriller, “Strait-Jacket.”
In the 1981 film, “Mommie Dearest,” it exposes Joan Crawford
for who she really was. In this movie I don’t know which was more disturbing
about her, whether it was the fact that she only adopted her two children for
publicity, or that she locked her daughter in a steam room as a “punishment.”
But what I think was the worst was when she found a wire hanger in her
children’s closet and used it to beat her daughter with and all because she
despised those types of hangers.
Her children and even her housekeeper feared her and did
everything they could do to keep her happy and have everything perfect, that
way she would stay sane. In the public’s eye she was lovely and charming, but
at home she was a monster. Before I saw
this movie I always thought Joan Crawford was a bit odd, but I thought she was
just eccentric but now I know it was much more.
“Mommie Dearest,” is based on the book that Joan Crawford’s
adopted daughter “Christina Crawford” wrote about her life growing up with her
“loving,” mother. Faye Dunaway does an uncanny job of playing Joan Crawford.
She showed the stunning glamorous side of her when she was acting or was among
the public, but when she was behind closed doors she showed her true nature.
Joan Crawford Faye Dunaway
