Within a few years, she became the romantic lead to many of MGM's top male stars, including Ramón Novarro, John Gilbert, William Haines, and Tim McCoy.

A stream of hits followed Our Dancing Daughters, including two more flapper-themed movies, in which Crawford embodied for her legion of fans (many of whom were women) an idealized vision of the free-spirited, all-American girl.

When I came to a word I did not know how to pronounce, I looked it up and repeated it correctly fifteen times.Crawford made a successful transition to talkies with her first starring role in the all-talking feature-length film Untamed (1929), co-starring Robert Montgomery.

Despite the success of the film at the box office, it received mixed reviews from critics, who noted that while Crawford seemed nervous at making the transition to sound, she had become one of the most popular actresses in the world.

Our Blushing Brides (1930), the final installment in the Our Dancing Daughters franchise co-starring Robert Armstrong and Anita Page, where Crawford "carries the burden of dramatics in this photoplay and comes off splendidly and intelligently.

[30] These films were immensely popular with audiences and were generally well received by critics, establishing Crawford's position as one of MGM's top female stars of the decade along with Norma Shearer, Greta Garbo and Jean Harlow.

Designed by Adrian, the gown with large ruffled sleeves which Crawford wore in the movie became a popular style that same year, and was even copied by Macy's.

[37] Despite the failure of Rain, in 1932, the publishing of the first "Top Ten Money-Making Stars Poll" placed Crawford third in popularity at the box office, behind only Marie Dressler and Janet Gaynor.

On May 3, 1938, Crawford—along with Greta Garbo, Mae West, Edward Arnold, Marlene Dietrich, Katharine Hepburn, and Kay Francis—was dubbed "Box Office Poison" in an advertisement in the Hollywood Reporter.

Brandt stated that while these stars had "unquestioned" dramatic abilities, their high salaries did not reflect in their ticket sales, thus hurting the movie exhibitors involved.

(Later, an article in the Independent Film Journal, stated that some of the other stars considered Box Office Poison included Norma Shearer, Dolores del Rio, Fred Astaire, John Barrymore and Luise Rainer).

Crawford's follow-up movie, Frank Borzage's The Shining Hour (1938), also starring Margaret Sullavan and Melvyn Douglas, was well received by critics, but it was a box-office flop.

In Daisy Kenyon (1947), she appeared opposite Dana Andrews and Henry Fonda, and in Flamingo Road (1949), her character has an ultimately deadly feud with a corrupt southern sheriff played by Sydney Greenstreet.

The following year, she starred opposite a young Cliff Robertson in Autumn Leaves (1956), and filmed a leading role in The Story of Esther Costello (1957), co-starring Rossano Brazzi.

Crawford allegedly struggled during rehearsals, however, she was letter-perfect on the day of the show, which included dancing the Charleston, and received two standing ovations from the studio audience.

[49] In October 1968, Crawford's 29-year-old daughter, Christina (who was then acting in New York in the soap opera The Secret Storm), needed immediate medical attention for a ruptured ovarian tumor.

[50] Crawford's appearance in the 1969 television film Night Gallery (which served as pilot to the series that followed) was the first occasion when Steven Spielberg directed a professional actor.

She starred on the big screen one final time, playing Dr. Brockton in Herman Cohen's science fiction horror film Trog (1970), rounding out a career spanning 45 years and more than 80 motion pictures.

[57] In 1909, while working as a sales associate at Simpson's, Crawford's mother married Henry J. Cassin (1868–1922) in Fort Worth,[59] who is incorrectly listed in the 1910 census as her second husband rather than her third.

[60][61] They lived in Lawton, Oklahoma, where Cassin ran the Ramsey Opera House, booking such diverse and noted performers as Anna Pavlova and Eva Tanguay.

One day, in an attempt to escape piano lessons, she leapt from the front porch of her home and cut her foot severely on a broken milk bottle.

On July 21, 1942, the couple married 10 minutes after midnight at the home of Crawford's lawyer, Neil McCarthy, by Judge Flynn, six weeks after their first date in San Fernando Valley.

[97] On February 2, 1970, Crawford was presented with the Cecil B. DeMille Award by John Wayne at the Golden Globes, held at the Coconut Grove at The Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.

Her last public appearance was made on September 23, 1974, at a book party co-hosted with her old friend Rosalind Russell at New York's Rainbow Room, after which unflattering photographs were published.

[106] Disposing of her $2 million estate in her will, which had been signed on October 28, 1976, Crawford bequeathed $77,500 to each of her two youngest children, Cindy and Cathy, and $35,000 to her longtime friend and secretary Betty Barker, and smaller bequests to a few other people.

In attendance were long-time friend Myrna Loy and co-stars Geraldine Brooks and Cliff Robertson, who gave eulogies; Pearl Bailey sang "He'll Understand".

[107] Another memorial service, organized by George Cukor, was held on June 24 in the Samuel Goldwyn Theater at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills, California.

[119][120][121][122] In June 1952, Crawford travelled to Fort Worth and Dallas, Texas for charity and helped raise thousands of dollars, shook hands, and met with 575 people in one night.

[137] Following her death, it was revealed that for many years Crawford had paid for hospital rooms and specialists[138] for hundreds of indigent people who could not afford medical care—many of whom were members of the film industry who were down on their luck and destitute.

On October 2, 1978, Christina Crawford published a memoir titled Mommie Dearest, alleging her late adoptive mother was emotionally and physically abusive.