Joan Crawford: The Ultimate Star
by Alexander Walker
My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Ryan Murphy's FX TV anthology drama Feud: Bette and Joan (2017) sparked renewed curiosity in the rival title characters. Joan was portrayed (with notably finer nuance than Faye Dunaway's career-stalling 1981 Mommie Dearest caricature) by 'Triple Crown of Acting' champion Jessica Lange. The pair's older fans, me included, dusted off fading biographies, inevitably comparing pre-established accounts with Murphy's reimagined screen depictions of these legendary divas. A nostalgic journey of revision ensued.
I've read five Crawford biographies and usually find it impossible to rate one higher than the others. Inescapably, many details are rehashed across them all. This one I like, a little more than the others. It would be near the top of my recommendation list, not because of any unique informational content but because I like Walker's work generally, which I've read covering the lives of numerous illustrious names.
Joan Crawford became a divisive subject in the wake of daughter Christina's vicious 1978 exposé memoir Mommie Dearest after the star's death. Fans and apologists closed ranks, turning hyper-defensive while rallying to restore Joan's good name, some losing all objectivity.
That's fine, any intelligent reader can see past this, we feel the passion of the authors which makes for good reading in itself.
I like to make my own mind up about the subjects of biographies and usually can.
That Joan Crawford was no saint becomes clear enough after covering a few biographies. That she was no monster becomes just as clear. She was a fascinating woman and a great, great star.
Alexander Walker stands out from Joanie's other biographers. There is something marginally more personal about his coverage. I was left feeling more as if I'd known the woman that I did from the other four biographies (but then, by the fifth, one is more familiar anyway).
If you're a Crawford fan, as I am, you might not learn much new from this, but I certainly felt afterwards that it had been worth checking out.
A quality read with some great pics.
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