Joan Crawford: The Ultimate Movie Star

Aug 1, 2002

1h 27m

★ 6.6

Overview

In this documentary on the life of Joan Crawford, we learn why she should be remembered as the great actress she was, and not only as "mommie dearest." caricature she has become. Friends, fellow actors, directors, and others reminisce about their association with her, and numerous film clips show off her talent from her start in silents to bad science fiction/horror movies at the end of her career.

Genres

Documentary

TV Movie

Production Companies

Turner Entertainment

Fitzfilm

Turner Classic Movies

Joan Crawford: The Ultimate Movie Star Trailers

No Trailers found.

Cast

Narrator (voice)

Anjelica Huston

Self (archive footage)

Joan Crawford

Self - Actress

Diane Baker

Self - Playwright / Crawford Historian

Charles Busch

Self - Actor

Ben Cooper

Self - Daughter / Author, 'Mommie Dearest'

Christina Crawford

Self (archive footage)

Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

Self - Co-Star, 'Berserk!'

Judy Geeson

Self - Actress

Virginia Grey

Self - Key MGM Hairstylist (archive footage)

Sydney Guilaroff

Self - Director / Friend

Herbert Kenwith

Self - Actress

Anna Lee

One of the most moving stories in the annals of sports is presented in this true drama documenting the love affair of baseball immortal Lou Gehrig and his wife Eleanor. Their romance spans the time period from his days of glory with Babe Ruth and the New York Yankees to his unsuccessful battle with an incurable disease. As the story begins, the talented but shy Gehrig is already a popular Yankee slugger when he meets the outgoing Eleanor. Their romance begins hesitantly, but blossoms as they exchange letters while Gehrig is on the road with the team. However, Gehrig's possessive mother becomes a formidable obstacle, first to their marriage and later to their happiness. But their love for one another proves triumphant. In the midst of their happiness, when Gehrig is at the peak of his career, he learns that he is suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The courage and dignity exhibited by the Gehrigs during this crisis make this a powerful, memorable film.

5.4

A Model Daughter: The Killing of Caroline Byrne

Apr 11, 2011

Australian television film based on alleged events surrounding the death of Caroline Byrne in June 1995. Byrne was found in the early morning of 8 June at the base of a cliff at The Gap, a notorious suicide spot in Sydney.

6.7

Complicated Women

May 6, 2003

Looks at the stereotype-breaking films of the period from 1929, when movies entered the sound era, until 1934 when the Hays Code virtually neutered film content. No longer portrayed as virgins or vamps, the liberated female of the pre-code films had dimensions. Good girls had lovers and babies and held down jobs, while the bad girls were cast in a sympathetic light. And they did it all without apology.

6.7

Tom Cruise: An Eternal Youth

Oct 5, 2020

After 40 years, Tom Cruise continues to push the envelope in film. Exposing one's heart to the world through their work is not only risky business, as far as Cruise is concerned, it is the only way to achieve an end that feels complete.

6.2

The Untameable Kirk Douglas

Jun 1, 2017

The story of actor Kirk Douglas, the man and the legend, one of the last stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood. An epic journey through the 20th century and the entire history of Hollywood. A testimony of the huge scope of his life and the scale of the myth. The untameable Kirk Douglas, the ragman's son.

6.8

The Road to Bresson

May 13, 1984

A Dutch documentary about legendary French filmmaker Robert Bresson.

7.3

Drive-In Movie Memories

Aug 31, 2001

A nostalgic, informative history of drive-in movie theaters, featuring extensive archival photographs and interviews with Leonard Maltin, John Bloom, Samuel Z. Arkoff, Barry Corbin and many others... Drive-In Movie Memories is a film celebration of America's greatest icon of youth, freedom and the automobile. What began as an auto parts owner's business venture to make some easy money accidentally became a magical place where romance, fun and a sense of community flourished. This film chronicles the drive-in's birth and development, its phenomenal popularity with audiences of all ages, its tragic decline, and its inevitable comeback as a classic form of Americana.

7.0

Tom Cruise: Hollywood’s Last Legend

Jan 9, 2025

Tom Cruise is one of the last remaining superstars of world cinema. A portrait of one of the most powerful, but also most secretive, men in Hollywood.

8.3

Michael Douglas: The Prodigal Son

May 14, 2023

As the eldest son of the legendary actor and producer Kirk Douglas (1916-2020), it was not easy for Michael Douglas to make his way in Hollywood and, like his father, become a recognized actor and a prestigious producer.

7.5

Yul Brynner, the Magnificent

Dec 2, 2020

The incredible story of the mythical Russian-American actor and filmmaker Yul Brynner (1920-85), the most exotic sex-symbol since Rudolph Valentino; the story of the atypical destiny of an international nomad: from the Parisian cabarets to the stages of Broadway and the Hollywood studios. The rise to fame of a multidisciplinary genius who became a king of the screen.

7.7

Leslie Caron: The Reluctant Star

Jun 28, 2016

Leslie Caron, beloved star of Gigi and An American in Paris, is one of the last witnesses to the golden age of American cinema of the mid 20th century. Discovered by Gene Kelly when she was a teenager, she became one of the great talents in the worlds of film, dance, and theatre, still performing to this day! The film reveals a story told through the prism of a living legend who reveals secrets of her work and life- a world of contradictions, ambitions and dreams, lived by one of its most luminous personalities.

8.5

The Legacy of 'Some Like It Hot'

Jun 25, 2006

A look back at the impact Billy Wilder's comedy classic "Some Like It Hot" has left since it's release in 1959.

6.4

The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes

Apr 27, 2022

This documentary explores the mystery surrounding the death of movie icon Marilyn Monroe through previously unheard interviews with her inner circle.

8.1

Paul Newman: The Restless

Jun 11, 2023

Multi-talented, Paul Newman is one of the greatest American actors of all time. With his silhouette of a Greek statue and his unreal blue eyes, he embodied the quintessential Hollywood star. But he never seemed satisfied. The son of a Jewish sporting goods retailer who despises him and a Catholic mother who adores him, driven by self-doubt and an inherited need for approval from his childhood, he has worked throughout his fifty-year career to break the image of the pretty boy. He made his first experiences in the famous Actors Studio. The breakthrough as a screen star came in 1958 with "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof". From then on he preferred characters on the edge of the American dream. With archive images and film excerpts, the documentary paints a portrait of a socio-politically committed man with many facets and also pays tribute to the role of his wife Joanne Woodward.

8.7

Dream Girl: The making of Marilyn Monroe

Sep 20, 2022

How did Marilyn Monroe become one of the greatest sex symbols of all time? What drove a prudish little Californian girl, who was not especially pretty nor exceptionally talented, to become this incredibly striking platinum blonde superstar? How did she become the icon capable of balancing innocence with raw sensuality, whilst continuing to captivate the masses to this day? How did she achieve this? And what price did she pay?

6.4

Crush in Jaipur

Oct 19, 2016

A light hearted romantic-road comedy produced by Big Band Story in association with the French TV network TF1. The film had its world premiere in Festival de la Fiction TV, La Rochelle. The film stars popular French TV stars Rayane Bensetti, Lucie Lucas, Cécile Rebboah & Xavier Robic.

5.2

Ari Ari the Korean Cinema

Dec 6, 2012

Director Chung Ji-Young criticizes the thought that older directors have difficulties in making certain movies. Actress Yoon Jin-Seo agonizes over her identity as an actress. In 2009, before the movie "Unbowed" was made, they met and planned a documentary about Korean movies, including the processes a Korean movie goes through and difficulites. "Ari Ari the Korean Cinema" is a documentary with interviews of Korean directors, actors and actresses.

6.8

The Enigmatic Charlotte Rampling

Jun 18, 2023

Screen icon Charlotte Rampling has fascinated the world of cinema, fashion and photography with her mysterious and almost inaccessible beauty. A major figure in genre and auteur films, she is unclassifiable: between presence and absence, shyness and audacity, she's always hypnotic, magnetic and fascinating. From her film debut in the mid-1960s in England, to her unconventional career path, through the tragic loss suicide of her older sister that will irremediably mark her acting, this film is a dive into the existential quest of a complex actress, whose every facet is discovered through her roles. Through a conversation with the actress herself, along with personal archives and extracts from her films, this documentary raws a dazzling portrait of her life and career.