Joan Crawford/Trivia

• Dawson Casting: Quite possibly the most extreme case of this trope. In 1954's The Secret Storm, the 63-year old Crawford played the role of a 28-year old (a role that was originally intended for her daughter).
• Money, Dear Boy: Especially in her later films, which were a far cry from the days when she earned thousands per week as an in-demand actress.

They were all terrible, even the few I thought might be good. I made them because I needed the money or because I was bored or both. I hope they have been exhibited and withdrawn and are never heard from again.

• Old Shame:
  • She also thought Trog! (the last film she starred in) was a complete piece of shit:

If I weren't a Christian Scientist, and I saw Trog advertised on a marquee across the street, I think I'd contemplate suicide.

• • She also apologized to her fans for the film Rain, which was critically panned at the time.
• Playing Against Type: As a facially-disfigured woman who turns to blackmail in A Woman's Face.
• Retroactive Recognition: She showed up as an extra in the original Ben-Hur in 1925, years before she became famous.
• Romance on the Set: With Clark Gable, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Phillip Terry.
• Star-Making Role: Our Dancing Daughters, which proved that Crawford could make the jump from silent films to "talkies".
• Urban Legend of Zelda: Rumors have persisted for decades that Crawford starred in a porn film when she was a young woman, and that MGM obtained the master copies of the films and burned them to prevent anything from leaking out. At the time, she was feuding with MGM over her salary, and someone tried to extort money by claiming they had a film of her - which MGM viewed and said was not her. However, she did take part in a "peepshow" vignette (where she danced naked) in 1923 to earn enough money to pay for a trip to Chicago.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Crawford was intended to star in a reality show/anthology called The Joan Crawford Show, but none of the networks she approached were interesting in pursuing the idea.
  • She was originally set to be the lead in From Here to Eternity, but was canned by the studio after she demanded on having her costumes be designed by a certain tailor. The role went to Deborah Kerr instead.