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Ferocious Ambition: Joan Crawford’s March to Stardom
Robert Dance’s new evaluation of Joan Crawford looks at her entire career and―while not ignoring her early years and tempestuous personal life―focuses squarely on her achievements as an actress, and as a woman who mastered the studio system with a rare combination of grit, determination, beauty, and talent.
Crawford’s remarkable forty-five-year motion picture career is one of the industry’s longest. Signing her first contract in 1925, she was crowned an MGM star four years later and by the mid-1930s was the most popular actress in America. In the early 1940s, Crawford’s risky decision to move to Warner Bros. was rewarded with an Oscar for Mildred Pierce . This triumph launched a series of film noir classics. In her fourth decade she teamed with rival Bette Davis in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? , proving that Crawford, whose career had begun by defining big-screen glamour, had matured into a superb dramatic actress.
Her last film was released in 1970, and two years later she made a final television appearance, forty-seven years after walking through the MGM gate for the first time. Crawford made a successful transition into business during her later years, notably in her long association with Pepsi-Cola as a board member and the brand’s leading ambassador.
Overlooked in previous biographies has been Crawford’s fierce resolve in creating and then maintaining her star persona. She let neither her age nor the passing of time block her unrivaled ambition, and she continually reimagined herself, noting once that, for the right part, she would play Wally Beery’s grandmother. But she was always the consummate star, and at the time of her death in 1977, she was a motion picture legend and a twentieth-century icon.
Crawford’s remarkable forty-five-year motion picture career is one of the industry’s longest. Signing her first contract in 1925, she was crowned an MGM star four years later and by the mid-1930s was the most popular actress in America. In the early 1940s, Crawford’s risky decision to move to Warner Bros. was rewarded with an Oscar for Mildred Pierce . This triumph launched a series of film noir classics. In her fourth decade she teamed with rival Bette Davis in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? , proving that Crawford, whose career had begun by defining big-screen glamour, had matured into a superb dramatic actress.
Her last film was released in 1970, and two years later she made a final television appearance, forty-seven years after walking through the MGM gate for the first time. Crawford made a successful transition into business during her later years, notably in her long association with Pepsi-Cola as a board member and the brand’s leading ambassador.
Overlooked in previous biographies has been Crawford’s fierce resolve in creating and then maintaining her star persona. She let neither her age nor the passing of time block her unrivaled ambition, and she continually reimagined herself, noting once that, for the right part, she would play Wally Beery’s grandmother. But she was always the consummate star, and at the time of her death in 1977, she was a motion picture legend and a twentieth-century icon.
- GenresFilmNonfictionBiography
368 pages, Hardcover
Published October 12, 2023
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36 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 3, 2025
This was a well-developed biography with a lot of interesting stories of Joan Crawford. At times, it becomes a filmography, but that provides a nice list of the ones to watch and the ones to skip.
July 22, 2025
Listened to the audiobook where the narrator seems to mispronounce more names than he does pronounce them correctly. The writer of the book seemed to genuinely dislike Joan and put a lot of emphasis on quoting “Mommie Dearest”.
January 22, 2024
Must have had a very bad life, from the beginning. Wish I had not read this one,
February 25, 2025
Explores Joan Crawford's rise to stardom and the determination that kept her there.
June 23, 2025
Nothing new in this book from the previous Crawford biographies, although I will say that the narrative is less impressive.
May 26, 2024
If you love old movies, you will love this one. The author doesn’t apologize for the monstrous Crawford, if you believe her daughter, but he doesn’t shy away from contextualizing her life. He makes a case that she’s the biggest movie star of all time.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews