Joan Crawford

Joan Crawford (March 23, 1905 – May 10, 1977) was an Academy Award winning American actress.

Final Years

In 1970, Crawford was presented with the Cecil B. DeMille Award on the Golden Globes, which was telecast from the Coconut Grove in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, by John Wayne. She also spoke at her "alma mater," Stephens College, from which she never graduated.

Related Topics:
1970 - Cecil B. DeMille Award - Golden Globes - Coconut Grove - Ambassador Hotel - Los Angeles - John Wayne - Alma mater

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Her book, My Way of Life, was published in 1971 by Simon and Schuster. In September 1973, she moved from apartment 22-G to the smaller apartment 22-H in the Imperial House. Her last public appearance was September 23, 1974, at a party honoring Rosalind Russell at New York's Rainbow Room. On May 8, 1977, she gave away her Shih Tzu dog named Princess Lotus Blossom.

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1971 - Simon and Schuster - 1973 - September 23 - 1974 - Rosalind Russell - May 8 - 1977 - Shih Tzu

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Joan Crawford died two days later at her apartment in New York of a heart attack while ill with pancreatic cancer at the age of 72. A funeral was held at Campbell Funeral Home, New York, on May 13, 1977, at 10 a.m. All four of her adopted children attended, as did her niece, daughter of her late brother, Hal LeSueur. Crawford's Last Will and Testament was read to the family that evening.

Related Topics:
Heart attack - Pancreatic cancer - May 13 - 1977 - Hal LeSueur - Last Will and Testament

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In the will, which was signed February 28, 1976, she bequeathed to the two youngest of her children, Cindy and Cathy, $77,500 each from her $2,000,000 estate. However, she explicitly disinherited the eldest two, Christina and Christopher, with the phrase "...for reasons which should be well known to them."

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February 28 - 1976

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A memorial service was held for Crawford at All Souls' Unitarian Church on Lexington Avenue in New York May 16, attended by, among other, her old Hollywood friend Myrna Loy. Another memorial service, organized by George Cukor, was held June 24 in the Samuel Goldwyn Theater at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills.

Related Topics:
May 16 - Myrna Loy - George Cukor - June 24 - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

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She was cremated and her ashes placed in a crypt with her last husband, Alfred Steele, in Ferncliff Cemetery, Hartsdale, New York.

Related Topics:
Cremated - Ferncliff Cemetery - Hartsdale, New York

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