Joan Crawford: A Woman's Face

by Scott Eyman

Film historian and acclaimed New York Times bestselling biographer Scott Eyman has written the definitive biography of Hollywood icon Joan Crawford, drawing on never-before-seen documents and photos from the Crawford estate.

Joan Crawford burst out of her poverty-stricken youth to become a bright young movie star in the 1920’s, drawing the admiration of F. Scott Fitzgerald and the attention of audiences worldwide. She flourished for decades, working for multiple studios in every genre from romance to westerns (Mildred Pierce, Johnny Guitar), musicals to noir (Torch Song, A Woman’s Face), and being directed by a young Steven Spielberg in one of her last appearances. Along the way she accumulated four husbands, an Academy Award for Best Actress, and the undeniable status of a legend.

Joan A Woman’s Face looks at the reality of this remarkable woman through the prism of groundbreaking primary research, interviews with friends and relatives, and with the same insightful analysis of character and motive that author Scott Eyman brought to John Wayne and Cary Grant, among others.

Joan Crawford was a woman like no other, and Joan A Woman’s Face is the first full telling of her dazzling, turbulent life.

Genres: Biography, Film, History, Nonfiction, Biography Memoir, Audiobook

464 pages, Hardcover

Published November 18, 2025

About the author

Scott Eyman has authored 11 books, including, with Robert Wagner, the New York Times bestseller Pieces of My Heart.

Among his other books are "Lion of Hollywood: The Life and Legend of Louis B. Mayer," "Print the Legend: The Life and Times of John Ford," "Ernst Lubitsch: Laughter in Paradise," and "The Speed of Sound" (all Simon & Schuster) and "John Ford: The Searcher" for Taschen.

He has lectured extensively around the world, most frequently at the National Film Theater in London, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Moscow Film Theater. He's done the commentary tracks for many DVD's, including "Trouble in Paradise," "My Darling Clementine," and Stagecoach.

Eyman has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Chicago Tribune, as well as practically every film magazine extinct or still extant.

He's the literary critic for the Palm Beach Post; he and his wife Lynn live in Palm Beach.

Reviews

[Brendan (History Nerds United) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let's be honest, you come to a Joan Crawford biography for the drama — the spectacle of Mommie Dearest and the epic battles with Bette Davis. Instead, author Scott Eyman dares the reader to learn who this woman was first. Turns out, she was salacious way before Bette and her own daughter came along.

This is not my first book from Eyman and certainly won't be my last. There is a true patience to him as a writer. No stone is left unturned, and he will not allow you to look at his subject from just one lens. Crawford worked her you know what off to get to where she was. She was also a diva before that was even a word. She oozed glamour while being extremely self-conscious. Perhaps the most eye opening to me was that she could be so completely devoted as a friend but could be alarmingly vicious for capricious reasons especially to younger actresses. These things all lived inside this woman who came from nothing, reached the mountaintop, and felt quite alone on the way back down. She had true friends throughout (shout-out to my girl, Myrna Loy) and the bitterest of enemies. One of them happened to be one of her adopted daughters.

Eyman handles her life with the deliberate pacing of a master. Her movies are almost encyclopedically worked through but not as a flex by an author. Eyman explains how these movies showed Crawford's rise, then falls, and how she kept growing with each success and spectacular bomb. Each movie changed her, and Eyman explains why and how.

Ultimately, for me, I ask myself a question whenever I read a book about an actor/actress, artist, or musician to decide whether or not it was successful. Did the author make me want to go experience the art made by the subject after the book is finished? Well, if you'll excuse me, I am off to watch Mildred Pierce.

(This book was provided as an advance copy by NetGalley and Simon & Schuster.)

[Chrissie Whitley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Possibly Eyman’s best work to date.

Review to follow.

[Amy Andrews · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite disappointed by this. It does the basic job of providing a whirlwind tour through a huge and important career, but there is a distinct feeling throughout that Eyman has chosen his side and refuses to dig deep enough into the more problematic elements of Crawford's story. Regardless of what you choose to believe about the woman, the fact is that she was at best complicated, at worst an abusive monster. Sadly, the author fails to even delve into the shallowest end of that pool.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

3* in recognition that much of my reaction to this book is extremely subjective and I may be way off base. But. I found this extremely hard to read and enjoy - the author's style doesn't do it for me at all. All I could think was that this was written using voice-to-text software and under-edited; it's casual, gossipy, and meandering. I tend to enjoy nonfiction that's narrative but written with some journalistic formality - if that's a thing - rather than insidery dishing. Bare minimum: describing an actor's character on a film as an "imperious rich bitch" - outside of any quotation - is stylistically not for me (and I'm no prude about language; it just seems unprofessional, and it's not the only authorial reference to Crawford being bitchy). There are also other statements made without much support (like Crawford being the least likely suicide in movie history) that remove (to me, preferable) distance between the author and his subject. There's also just a lot of outright opinion thrown around where I'm not that interested in it - do I care whether Eyman likes ice skating movies? - and weird judging of others, again without supporting information, like saying Errol Flynn and Marilyn Monroe's early deaths were due to their "psychological resistance to their craft." Even if there's a potential justification for such sweeping statements (maybe Eyman has written their bios as well?), it just reads as lazy writing and makes me dismiss his other conclusions. And finally, the flow felt disjointed - between chapters, sections, and even within individual quotes; I couldn't tell why some ideas were connected and others left unfinished. He recounts Billy Haines's death (briefly) and not two paragraphs later is explaining how Crawford's dog was trained to pee on a Piddle Pad. I kid you not. Is that the best one of her oldest friends gets? Is the rest missing because Eyman has so little material to work with? And could we not even get a section break between the two? My final gripe is not super well informed - I'm no expert on Crawford's relationships with her children - but Eyman displays remarkably little curiosity about Christina and Christopher; he's especially dismissive about Christopher's later struggles and makes no effort to connect the dots back to his brief anecdote about Christopher being tied to his bed every night. I don't think the word abuse comes up once in the book. This just seems....deeply uncurious is the only description I can come up with. Again, it does a disservice to the rest of the book by calling the author's impartiality into question.
Three stars feels generous for all of this; I'm rounding up because there's some interesting material in here and does an effective job at highlighting Crawford's strengths. I don't think I'd pick up another of the author's books, though.
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the arc!

[Debra Pawlak · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an advance reading copy (arc) of this book from the publisher and NetGalley.com in exchange for a fair review. Author Scott Eyman is one of my favorites. I've read several of his books that were top notch. This one, however, fell short for me and didn't seem up to the same high level as Eyman's other books. I went into this book with great enthusiasm hoping to learn more about Joan Crawford. Instead, I found a description of her movies with a small slice of her life sandwiched in between. I wasn't interested in a movie-by-movie account of her life in Hollywood so this particular book was very disappointing. If you want to know about Joan Crawford's movies, this book may be just what you are looking for. However, if you want to learn about Joan Crawford herself, you might look elsewhere. I have never been a huge Joan Crawford fan, but I was certainly hoping to learn more about her personally since she was such a big star during Hollywood's Golden Age. That just didn't happen in this particular book.

[Chazzi]

I’ve known of Joan Crawford and seen her in a few movies. This book looks at the woman behind the various roles she has played over the years, an give the background of where she came from.
Coming from poverty, she developed a strong drive and work ethic to achieve her goal — to be a Star.

Starting in silent movies in the 1920s, she set a regimen of work, publicity, engaging with her fans, dealing with the studios and management to keep herself working and in the public’s eye.
Through research of personal files, memories from family, friends and people who worked with Crawford, Scot Eyeman presents a biography of an internationally known woman and her personas, public and private. Her strengths and weaknesses that made her the star she was and still is in some people’s memories and film history. Her relationships with various actors she worked with along with the management and support crew of her movies.

The strong woman she portrayed in her movies was real in her private life. But there was also a vulnerable side to her too This book shows both sides.

I received this book through LibraryThing Early Reader.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Please don’t let my lower review distract you from this well-researched biography. It’s done well and it’s for a more contemporary audience. My hold back is that it didn’t really review anything new. I’m glad it was fair to her, even briefly including her loyal children (and maybe they need to take a backseat…they certainly did for a bit of time). I think it was well done and well written. But most of it has already been done. Her career speaks for itself rightly or wrongly. I lean on the rightly side. Her children can…pass into memory. They are boring and seem honed
In with their own fucked up agenda.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent Biography

A very good biography on Joan Crawford. Mostly insightful and fair. I do think the end spends too much time dismissing and rejecting Christina Crawford’s allegations of abuse.

[Bargain Sleuth Book Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the digital copy of this book; I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Being a child of the 1980s, my first exposure to Joan Crawford was Faye Dunaway’s depiction in the film, Mommie Dearest, which was loosely based on her oldest daughter’s memoir. If you haven’t seen it, trust me, it puts the legendary Hollywood queen in a VERY bad light. So, several generations have lived with the impression that she was a monster. In truth, Joan Crawford had a duplicitous personality.

Crawford, born Lucille Leseur, had a very rough upbringing. She had to fight her way to the top. Once she got her shot in Hollywood, there was no stopping her. The camera loved her, she could dance and act, and put in the effort for every role. Louis B. Mayer, head of MGM Studios, thought she was a great asset. Until she wasn’t. Then, she moved on to Warner Brothers and Jack Warner thought she was a great asset. Until she wasn’t. Such was the fate of an aging movie star in those days. Scott Eyman details all the movies Crawford appeared in and provides anecdotes from other Hollywood memoirs, the press at the time, or through new interviews. It’s a very comprehensive look at the movie star’s career.

Now, for someone who grew up when I did, with the Faye Dunaway version of Crawford, we all thought she was a cray cray woman who abused her children. What struck me when reading this biography is how positive most of her friends and family were when describing her personality. She was funny, bright, loyal, bent over backwards for those she cared about, showered them with gifts, and more. Time after time in this biography, the author tries to put a positive spin on the many sides of Crawford, to the point of hagiography.

While Christina Crawford, the eldest of Joan’s adopted children, has walked back some of her words from her book, Mommie Dearest, which resulted in the movie, it is very clear that the movie star abused her two oldest children. Her son, Christopher, makes no bones about it. He hated her and started running away when he was only four or five years old. For example, Crawford had the nanny tie his hands and feet to the bed when he was a toddler because he sucked his thumb and threw the blankets off and continued to do so for years.

Not knowing what a stable and loving home was like, Crawford believed her own publicity of how great she was and insisted her four children behaved perfectly in the Hollywood movie star mold. Christina and Christopher rebelled against her, and when they became too much to handle, she shipped them off to boarding school. The twins she adopted a few years after the adoption of Christopher insist they loved their mother and that she never abused them. One of the twins said that she was a loving grandmother, too.

So, what’s the truth? It is entirely possible that Crawford abused her two oldest children and didn’t her two youngest children. An abuser does not necessarily abuse everyone in the house. But here’s the biggest drawback to this book: Eyman almost seems to discount or cushion the allegations made by Christina and Christopher. Friends of Joan Crawford say that her oldest daughter wanted to BE her so much and that’s why they always clashed. How about this? How about we believe the victims?

Normally, I love Scott Eyman’s work, but as detailed and interesting as Joan Crawford’s life was, she shouldn’t be idolized. Can you separate the artist from their art? In my case, even after reading this book, I can’t.

[lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

My all-purpose expression for "go away" used to be "Go next door", similar to how the Mowy twins would dismiss their neighbor with "Go home, Roger!" in Sister Sister. No one I ever said that to knew it was because of Joan Crawford's famous quote, "I never go outside unless I look like Joan Crawford the movie star. If you want to see the girl next door, go next door." For years I was a huge fan of studio-era Hollywood, and as a result I have read A LOT of books about that era. Joan Crawford has always been a long way down the list of my favorite actors from then, so when I got an ARC through a giveaway listed on Library Thing I went in thinking I didn't know much about Miss Crawford.

The author does his best to trace the early roots of Lucille LeSeur, AKA Billie Cassin (I actually never knew that she used that name) AKA Joan Crawford. We follow Joan from her childhood of various "uncles" and stepfathers, and poverty to her time dancing in New York City, to her early days in Hollywood. We are along for the ride through her MGM years, her transition to Warner Brothers, and her difficult years following the collapse of the studio system. More than anything this book impressed on me Crawford's intense desire to work in her beloved profession, which was being a glamorous movie star, not merely an actor.

I though the book did a fair job presenting Crawford as exactly who she was, so you can draw your own conclusions about her legacy, particularly when it comes to the Mommie Dearest rumors. I think she was definitely not cut out for motherhood, but she wasn't a monster. Yes, she was probably hard on her children, especially her two oldest ones, but she was hardest of all on herself. I also found myself admiring how even though she sought too much validation from men, and even though she was a complete diva, she understood that her end of the bargain was to work as hard as she could, and present herself in a particular way. I was also charmed to learn about her habits of knitting (never knew about that!) and going out of her way to be especially kind and gracious to the crew of the movies she worked on.

This is a good book to add to the pantheon of Joan Crawford biographies, and offers a glimpse into the world of Hollywood when it was brand new.

[Alicia Bayer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an extremely thorough book if you want every detail of Crawford's life and her movies, especially if you want them in a very positive light. It's rather hard to paint Crawford in an especially positive light and be anywhere near accurate because even her friends would tell you she had serious, massive flaws but this book does it well.

Eyman relies heavily on what others wrote in their memoirs about Crawford and somewhat on what her grandson (who adored her and was a child of one of the favored children). Even relying mostly on just the positive stories and quotes, the book is rife with inconsistencies because it's all hearsay by people who each saw what Crawford wanted them to see. There are countless stories about her lifelong, daily, heavy drinking, and then Eyman says that one of the twins said that she "only sipped" liquor and was never drunk. That's just ludicrous when we've just read hundreds of pages of stories by even those who loved her about her dependence on massive amounts of alcohol on a daily basis. Eyman says at one point that Crawford didn't believe in the afterlife and had always eschewed religion, yet at the end of the book we hear again and again about what a devout Christian Scientist she was.

The problem is that Crawford created a different persona for everyone and everything in her life. Even her children got dramatically different mothers. The oldest two got abuse (no two ways about it) and the youngest twins got a totally different version of their mother because she had sent the oldest two away (Christopher to military school and Christina to a convent school) and then she married an incredibly kind man who brought her happiness for the first time -- and she stopped acting during their youth.

And this brings me to my biggest issue with this book. Eyman chooses who to believe and he discounts any hint of abuse even when he acknowledges behavior that is CLEARLY ABUSIVE. He tells us that Crawford had the maids tie Christopher to his bed (hands and feet) every night of his childhood from the time he was young until at least the age of sleepovers (a terrified friend was worried she'd be tied up too but Christopher reassured her it would just be him and showed her after the maid left that he had learned how to slip out of the restraints). Supposedly Crawford told a friend (whom she showed the tied up child to when he was 4 or 5 as if it were perfectly normal) that she did it because he sucked his thumb and "threw off the covers." For years??? WTF, dude. That is not good mothering.

Christopher ran away again and again throughout his childhood, starting at only 4 or 5. That is not the sign of a happy child. In adulthood, he was injured and scarred from serving in Vietnam, badly injured doing hard labor jobs, and worked for very little money. Yet Crawford never helped him. When he introduced her to his young wife and newborn, she told them the baby didn't look like either of them and "must be a bastard." She wouldn't even accept a call from him when he called a few months before she died. And this is the stuff Eyman accepts and passes on as if it's just interesting. He seems to think this just shows that Crawford was tough and valued hard work.

He also quotes the twins and Crawford's friends to "prove" that Christina made up everything in "Mommie Dearest." This is the other thing that really made me livid as a reader. I was a domestic violence advocate and my aunt was murdered by her abusive fiance (who was viewed as Mr. Perfect by everyone in the community). I have a lot of experience with abusers. They don't abuse everyone in their lives and they don't walk around wearing signs in public to prove they are abusers (although Crawford practically did at times and still gets a pass here). Just because her youngest children, her good friends and her grandson had good experiences with her does not mean that her oldest children and many others did not truly live through what they said they lived through. Abusers can be charming. Abusive people can have tragic back stories and still be abusive people. People are multi-layered and complicated.

I came away from this book with a detailed idea of Crawford's career and early years. I did ultimately feel sorry for her (especially in old age) but I don't hold the same opinion of her that Eyman has. She was incredibly hard working in an era where work ethic was revered. But she was only kind when it served her. She was a much better mother to her dogs than to at least half of her children, and I kind of agree with Jackie Kennedy -- "If you bungle raising your children, I don't think whatever else you do matters very much."

I would recommend reading this book with her daughter's and then averaging them out for probably the best view of who Crawford was, but really I don't think anyone will ever truly know her. She played parts, and she did it well.

I read an advance copy of this book via NetGalley.

[JoAnne McMaster (Any Good Book) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to first say that I absolutely love the Golden Age of Hollywood, and anything to do with it. I will also tell you that I do not watch the films of today, since I feel that everything is either a cartoon or a remake (just my own personal opinion). Actors back then were true stars, while today they are just actors. And there is a difference...

Saying that, I will also admit that I have thousands of movies from the silent age on up, and hundreds of biographies and autobiographies of actors, studios, directors, etc. So, when this book was offered to me, I naturally jumped at the chance to read it. I will also tell you that I have read biographies of Joan Crawford that have been stinkers. I am not one to hold back nor lie; because the truth is paramount above all.

Therefore, when I tell you that Scott Eyman is one of the foremost authors of Golden Age Hollywood, you can believe it. He has never disappointed me, and I grab his books as soon as they are published. He is a fair (meaning honest) writer of his subjects.

Joan Crawford: A Woman's Face is an interesting tome that takes us back to the beginnings of Miss Crawford, back when she was Lucille LeSueur, and Billie Cassin. We learn that she grew up in near poverty, and worked her way to where she wound up: a true Hollywood star. This book taught me that while some thought her cruel and selfish, she was neither of those things. She was a woman who was looking for approval, love, and above all, security.

She never made the studios wait; she was always on time, knew her lines, and while some may not appreciate all her films, they tell a story: the story of Billie, who changed from poor girl who wants to be loved, to a woman who can do it on her own independently. Watching her films, you see this. Yet it was never the same in her real life.

Joan Crawford was married four times, and I have read much on those marriages, which I will not go into detail here. She had four adopted children, of which most know, but I will tell you that in my humble opinion, Christina Crawford's depiction of Joan is fiction. A bitter daughter who wanted revenge for what she thought was unfair, and I find it interesting that the book was not published until Joan passed away.

Except for a few, most people loved her. Joan was always 'on stage' when she was out and about, being Joan Crawford, the star. In real life, she was a tiny woman with red hair and freckles. She loved to cook (we have that in common) and did so for her friends. She always needed a place for everything, and almost single-handedly gave the late actor-turned-decorator William Haines a new career. She never failed her friends.

Reading this book made me have a new appreciation for Joan. I have a habit of watching films with the actor/director, etc. I am reading about, and while reading this book I watched Possessed (with Robert Montgomery); The Women; and Humoresque. These films allowed me to see the change in Miss Crawford throughout the years, and examine her acting, which, being who I am, I always do. It also gives me insight into the person.

But the greatest insight came from Mr. Eyman's extensive research and interviews. He leaves nothing to chance. The bibliography is massive; he has definitely done his homework, which he does in all his books. We get who Joan Crawford was an actress; a star, and a person. Three different people rolled into one. Many of her friendships were lifelong, and it was because they stood by each other, in bad times and good.

I will not go into her "feuds" with other actresses; you will have to read the book to discover that. I won't go into how she raised her children, or why her marriages failed. This is more than I have space for in this review, and I will tell you in the end that Joan Crawford created herself. She became what she wanted the world to see; and few were allowed to see who she truly was.

When I finished Joan Crawford: A Woman's Face, I will tell you that it took me a couple of days of thinking about the book before I reviewed it. It is because this book spoke to me, and I needed time to take it all in. Certain books have this effect on me, but this one is exceptionally good, and I will definitely purchase it when it comes out in November. It's a must-read for anyone who loves classic movies and actors as much as I do, and for those who want to discover more. Highly recommended.

I was given an advance copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley but this in no way influenced my review.

[Chris L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scott Eyman returns to the world of classic films with his new biography of Joan Crawford, 'Joan Crawford'. Eyman, the biographer of Mary Pickford, Charles Chaplin, and John Wayne among others, looks at how Joan Crawford fashioned herself as an actress and a personality. He details her rise to fame and her relationships on and off screen. Through the lens of the Crawford image, he explores what Crawford did to maintain the woman we all have come to know as Joan Crawford. He examines each of her films and he shows us what went into the making of the films. He provides immense information about contract negotiations, relationships with her co-stars and directors, and the insecurities she had while making the films.

Since Eyman is an expert in cinema history, he gives a wealth of information about studio politicking, moviemaking, film history, and Joan Crawford's place in all of those. We understand how Joan Crawford had to fight for roles, her relationships with other actresses, her dalliances with men, her relationships with Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Franchot Tone, Frederic March, and Robert Wagner, to name a few. Eyman provides those details in exhaustive fashion, and it gives such a clear understanding of what Joan Crawford was up against as someone who did not come from a privileged background. She was constantly having to fight for everything she got, and Eyman makes it clear that Crawford never felt safe. She never felt that she could take a moment to relax in her career or her personal life. She always believed it was going to be taken away from her, and that's something that I never would have expected in reading about Joan Crawford.

Eyman is circumspect when it comes to Christina Crawford's 'Mommie Dearest'. He spends a lot of the book writing how Crawford managed to create the Crawford image, but he doesn't explore how 'Mommie Dearest' savagely replaced that persona. For many people, 'Mommie Dearest' is what they think of when they hear Joan Crawford's name. Her daughter destroyed what Joan Crawford had spent decades cultivating. Eyman could have spent his last chapter exploring what happens when the daughter demolishes what the mother created.

Eyman doesn't take a firm stance on whether the material in the book is true or untrue. I would suggest that Eyman believes Christina Crawford was telling untruths in her book as he includes material from people like Myrna Loy who call Christina Crawford a liar. He's also a bit dismissive about the film. I would say that the film is not as terrible as its reputation would indicate. I think Faye Dunaway is exceptional as Joan Crawford, and the technical aspects of the film are superb. People get caught up in the more camp moments of the film, but if you view the film as its own entity, it's actually a very sad portrait of an abused child. It has its problems, but I don't think it is the disaster that Eyman thinks it is. To be fair, if you view it in the context of Joan Crawford's life, you could see the film and book as character assassination. I know it's a controversial topic, and perhaps Eyman did not want to delve too much into it because it would give the book 'Mommie Dearest' too much credence which is a legitimate concern.

Eyman does an excellent job of humanising Joan Crawford and putting her fragility front and centre in the book. He puts the very real Joan Crawford in opposition to what many of us understand Crawford to be from her daughter's book and the Faye Dunaway portrayal. It's an excellent look at an actress who I think is extremely underrated. Eyman goes through all of her films, and while he is sometimes harsher on some of her films than I am, he gives her credit when some people still want to see her as the woman with shoulder pads and harsh make-up.

[V. Briceland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Scott Eyman's thorough and sympathetic biography of silver screen star Joan Crawford is a highly readable, sometimes gossipy account of a career that began like a skyrocket. I hadn't really realized that Crawford went from being a nobody in the middle of nowhere to the Chicago stage, then Broadway, then signed on as a Hollywood starlet, all in the space of a few short months.

Eyman's film-by-film account manages to give impressions of the type and quality of movies in which Crawford starred without getting too deep into the weeds. Thanks to his recommendations, I managed to enjoy a few of the actress's titles of which I hadn't before been aware. (I especially enjoyed the movie from which this biography's title was adopted, in which Crawford gives a savage beating to a dame who dares to turn on a harsh and unflattering electric bulb in her presence. Who among us of a certain age hasn't felt the same urge?)

The big elephant in this particular William Haines-designed room, however, would be the memoir, Mommie Dearest, Christina Crawford's account of lifelong emotional and physical abuse at the hands of her adoptive mother. Eyman's stance on Christina's allegations is dismissive at best, victim-blaming at worst; he's careful to keep either of Crawford's two elder adoptees out of his narrative as much as possible during the years in which the abuse is alleged to have taken place—though when the kids do make an appearance, the details (such as Crawford tying her son Chris's hands and feet to the bedposts every night) are pretty horrifying.

Then, in a late-biography character assassination, Eyman takes the position that Christina Crawford is a pretty horrible person because...some of her castmates in the road company of Barefoot in the Park didn't like the way she disregarded her stage blocking? Heinous! After that, Eyman takes great pleasure in proclaiming the events in Mommie Dearest fraudulent, yet he offers absolutely no real proof that they couldn't have taken place. (Sorry, Mr. Eyman, but I'm not convinced at your tossed-off 'Joan would've been way too tired after a day of filming to beat anyone with a wire hanger' as 'evidence.')

I'm Mommie Dearest-agnostic here. But I find it downright sloppy that in a narrative constructed largely of second-hand accounts of Crawford's largesse that Eyman studiously avoided using anything of Christina Crawford's as source material: she grew up with the woman! Instead, he relies entirely on the word of Crawford's younger adopted twins, who have long disputed their elder siblings' account, to establish Crawford as a loving and caring mother and grandmother. Eyman even gives the last exonerating word on the subject of Crawford's possible abuses to Ileana Douglas, simply because her granddad Melvyn said that Joan was a peach.

Listen, I am a fan of Ileana Douglas and think Grace of My Heart should have been a much bigger cultural touchstone than it was, but I wouldn't turn to the granddaughter of one of Joan's many acting partners as an expert on her life and legacy, much less as an expert on Crawford's possible child abuse. Sloppy and willfully blinkered the author may be in this aspect of Crawford's life; unbiased, he is not. Had Eyman taken even the most slightly neutral approach to debunking the damage Mommie Dearest caused to Crawford's legacy, I might have been more convinced. This slapdash glow-up, though, isn't it.

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew of Joan Crawford from the book and movie of "Mommie Dearest," but I wasn't really familiar with her films except for "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane."

Despite all of that, I was fascinated by this book. The author meticulously researched the material and created a loving paean to a true movie star.

The reader learns about Crawford's rough childhood and how Crawford recreated herself into an icon.

The author discusses each of her films and tells about the different directors and producers. We see how Hollywood changed over the years and what Crawford had to do to stay a part of it.

I wondered how the author would handle Crawford's relationship with Christina and Christopher. Eyman says Crawford was a disciplinarian, a description that is verified by many of Crawford's friends and employees. However, we also see that Crawford's relationship with her other daughters was more normal and that she got along famously with her grandchildren.

My take away from the book is that Joan Crawford was a true movie star. She was always professional and treated everyone on set (except for maybe her female co-stars) with respect and generosity.

This book is ideal for anyone who loves old Hollywood.

**ARC provided by Edelweiss+**

[Sally · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author Scott Eyman writes the best biographies, and he’s proven it once again with Joan Crawford: A Woman’s Face. Of course, he had a lot of help from Joan herself because she was one of the most fascinating, capable women ever to hit Hollywood.

Coming from abject poverty, determined, stubborn, not always very well-liked she crawled her way to the top. Fierce, proud and incredibly talented she had a long, long career with the highest highs and what looked like the lowest lows. She tenaciously reinvented herself, delivering one nuanced performance after another. Her personal life was as tumultuous as her professional life, but she weathered it all.

Eyman provides the backstory, the behind-the-scenes tidbits through detailed research, documents, interviews with friends and relatives and his own analysis and take on this one-of-a-kind woman. If you think you already know everything about Joan Crawford, just read this book and you’ll be captivated start to finish.

I received a free copy of Joan Crawford: A Woman’s Face from the author and publisher via LibraryThing. A delightful, interesting, insightful, intriguing read. I recommend it without hesitation. I voluntarily leave this review; all opinions are my own.

[Edie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read nearly all of Scott Eyman's books & what titles I discovered I have not - I will be adding to my "To Read" list. This book belongs in my home library w/others that tell of a time when Hollywood meant Glamour with a capital G!

I've always looked for books on Joan Crawford. Hers was a long career & her personal life was as captivating as her image on the stage/screen.

I felt there was new information uncovered in this book that detailed her earliest performances & films plus how she got herself to Hollywood. I forgot about the semester she spent in college, also. The author reveals stories about all 4 Children that I have never read anywhere before. Her final days were spent in NYC after the passing of her 4th Husband & I enjoyed the descriptions of her apartments there plus the designers that she utilized. I'm a George Cukor fan & he made several chapters, too

Any Joan Crawford fan or follower of Turner Classic Movies or someone who appreciates the history of entertainment/film will rave about this book. It would be a nice gift, too!

I thank Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a fair & honest review.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not really sure what to make of this book. While I enjoyed the time I spent reading it, the subject matter just didn't ring true. Joan Crawford comes off smelling like a rose. Any squabbles, disagreements, or downright catfights are more other people's faults than hers. The child abuse accusations are present, however, they are glossed over. Christina Crawford is written off as jealous of Joan and that's why she published her book "Mommie Dearest". Joan's drinking and addiction to vodka is there, but it's not mentioned as anything that gave her trouble. And even a filming session with Lucille Ball (where Joan was actually rude and intoxicated) has Joan looking like the victim.

Still, this was an interesting look at the Hollywood of bygone years. I enjoyed reading of some of the behind the scenes stories of my favorite stars as they interacted with Joan (though, again, they all come off as nothing in comparison with her).

This was not a horrible book, but it certainly wasn't the best. Take it with a few grains of salt.

[Gary Sassaman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve read and enjoyed a lot of movie-oriented books by author Scott Eyman, and this one is no exception, even though its subject is a star who does absolutely nothing for me. Joan Crawford always struck me as a STAR (all caps) and a very predictable actress; of her contemporaries, I always preferred Barbara Stanwyck over Crawford and her main rival, Bette Davis. Eyman produces a thorough examination of Crawford’s life and career, but the whole tone of the book is a little too idolatry for me. Crawford’s reputation certainly took a downturn after the publication of her adopted daughter’s purported tell-all, Mommie Dearest (and it’s subsequent movie, starring Faye Dunaway), but there’s very little mention of that kind of abusive behavior here, until Eyman chronicles the publication of Mommie Dearest and its subsequent fallout after Crawford’s death. Crawford is someone who was definitely a product of the Hollywood studio system and her career failed as that system fell apart. Still, this is a sometimes-fascinating look at a major movie star, who—I feel—today pretty much elicits a “I don’t get it …” response from people … well, me at least. You had to be there in her heyday, I guess, to really get Joan Crawford's appeal.

[Micaela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Joan Crawford is and was the most glamorous woman on earth. She cannot be beat. Joan Crawford built Joan Crawford from the ground up, and was totally and unwaveringly dedicated to herself as an entity, woman, business, celebrity, and artwork. I was put on this earth to get as many straight men as possible to watch Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? and I take my calling very seriously. This biography is fine for the casual fan of Joan’s more known films, but it’s kind of lacking in girth for the more devout. Minor but important things were left out. Joan buying her kids from baby brokers was only hinted at, and the twins not actually being twins was left out entirely. Etcetera. Someone generally lovely but mildly drunk once sneered “Micaela’s talking about Elizabeth Taylor again, because what else does she ever want to talk about,” but the REAL answer to who I ALWAYS want to be talking about is the incredibly beautiful and entirely self-important foul-mouthed bitch that was JOAN CRAWFORD. So sue me!

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of the book "Joan Crawford" by Scott Eyman, from NetGalley. The book writes about Joan Crawford from her birth when her name was Lucille to her death in the 1970s. She did not have the happiest of childhood's. Her father left the family when she was a young child. she was not close to her family. She started out as a dancer, but not a great one. She eventually got cast in movies slowly working her way up to more roles.
The author writes of her many marriages, Finally her happiest when she married A steele. she adopted four children,
She could be demanding as a movie star. the author writes of the good and bad of Joan Crawford's career. I found this to be a good book about the actress. I think the author tries to be fair about Joan Crawford's life. He states the facts but not smearing her life. I liked the book.

[Jennifer ~ TarHeelReader · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve really grown to love classic movies, and with that, I’m certainly captivated with the work of Joan Crawford. I jumped at the chance to read this biography of her life. Joan grows up poor and finds her star early in life, in the 1920s. She works in most every genre of movie to numerous accolades. My favorites are her noir movies but I have many more to watch. Her career was so long and storied, she was even directed by a young Steven Spielberg.

Overall, I was enthralled with this biography. I could imagine it on screen. I’m left wanting to watch every Joan Crawford movie I’ve missed and re-watch all the ones I already love. All five stars.

I received a gifted copy. #historybuffsbookclub

Many of my reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com and instagram: www.instagram.com/tarheelreader

[Alecia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to this book and found it interesting. It is a somewhat balanced view of her, although it tilts in Joan Crawford's favor (the author pretty much dismisses the Mommie Dearest book and movie).

It is a nice telling of Joan's hardscrabble upbringing, her very limited college experience, early bit parts and movies, and her fairly rapid ascension to Hollywood stardom. Much emphasis is put on what a hard worker she was, and how she stewarded her stardom. Her marriages are gone over and none was successful until her last one.

There are many comments from her friends and former costars, which I assume were culled from other publications. She was definitely a strong woman, and what was considered a real star.

[Cat Rayne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Author Scott Eyman has presented a good time travel tome of the life of Joan Crawford.

The first third of the book seemed an ode to old Hollywood though clear to express the role Crawford had in its build. It was different then, the players that led the studios, the manipulation of talent…

Eyman was fair to Joan, the mettle of a decent and believable biography is balanced and leaves the reader’s learning about the subject to set judgment on the life lived. The author wrote in a “just the facts” tone but it was far from vanilla.

Joan Crawford was a self directed talent whose discipline in her drive to succeed is both admirable and heartbreaking. This book honors her, though with an honest sweep of all that made her the icon we know today.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting distopian thriller with shades of our own times threaded through. The premise was quite intriguing and I thought the writing style was quite good. The main character, Heather, is a woman desperate to find her daughter in a dangerous world and her journey is fraught with issues. I don’t want to say more lest I give away spoilers. I will say that I found it a compelling read but worried I might have nightmares because of the commonalities to our current state in the USA and the world at large.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Amanda Driggs · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an advanced copy of this via NetGalley.

This was a wonderfully written, thorough look at Joan Crawford’s life and career. It was well balanced between her private and professional life.

(Of course, Scott Eyman always writes well-put together books on old Hollywood.)

Great mix of sources!

I’m still wary of Joan, but this book made me feel sorry for her, especially as she got older. It is clear that while she always had a lot of fight in her, in order to successfully maintain her stardom for most of her life, she was a very insecure person. But perhaps that is what made her such a captivating actress?

Nonetheless, this is a must read for any old Hollywood fanatic.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This definitive biography of actress Joan Crawford begins with her difficult childhood and follows through to her final years, living in seclusion in Manhattan. Film historian Scott Eyman has used new sources and focuses heavily on her filmography. Readers expecting a rehashing of the "metal hangers" scene with Crawford with black caterpillar like eyebrows will be disappointed. The Joan Crawford Eyman describes is by no means perfect, but is primarily a caring person who never quite overcame her early life in poverty.

This is a fascinating look at not only the life of Joan Crawford, but the US film industry from the 1920s through the 1970s. #JoanCrawfordBook #Netgalley

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the absolute best biography I have ever read about Joan Crawford, one of my very favorite Golden Age of Hollywood actresses. It is so detailed and interesting. The author did an amazing amount of research. In addition to detailed information about Joan and her films, there is also lots of great information about other stars and directors of the era, such as her good friend, Myrna Loy. I really didn't want the book to end.

I highly recommend this bio to fellow Crawford fans and to anyone who loves old movies as much as I do. Thank you, #Netgalley

[Michelle "Champ" · Rating 4 out of 5]

I adore the acting talents of Joan Crawford, one thing that has been hard to find a book on her life. There is the famous/infamous book we all know of, one book that Joan wrote, and one more biography that I found that was printed right after her death. This book was well researched and portrays a different Joan than Christina's book. This book goes through all of her movies (including Letty) and talks about her personal life, her drive to be a big star, and her relationship with Pepsi-Cola.

If Christina is the only Joan you know, give this a try, watch her films (I love A Woman's Face and Mildred Pierce), and just enjoy her talents.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the ebook.
I was not sure about this book due to all the rumors you have heard about Joan Crawford. I think the author did a more positive writing about her. But I didn't really know a lot about her as a child or her earlier life. It was a bit long but if you like history on old Hollywood actors/actresses you will like this read. Highly recommend.