Some facts about Miss Joan....

A new month means a new classic movie goddess..and for September it is the legendary Joan Crawford. While I have enjoyed several of Joan's films over the years, especially The Women, she has never really been a huge favorite of mine. Until recently that is. She has moved into my top 50 classic actresses of all time and my friend Jessica,who happens to be my guest this month, absolutely adores her. So expect all kinds of Joan Crawford goodness this month. Beginning with some facts and trivia about her, provided by IMDB.

Born: March 23, 1905, San Antonio, Texas
Birth name: Lucille Fay LaSueur
Died May 10th, 1977, New York City (heart attack)

Height: 5'5"

Entered Stephens College, a posh university for women in Columbia, Missouri in 1922, however she left before her first academic year was over as she felt she was not academically prepared for university.

Worked as an elevator operator at Harzfeld's Department Store in downtown Kansas City, Missouri.

Each time Crawford married, she changed the name of her Brentwood estate and installed all new toilet seats.

Interred at Ferncliff Cemetery, Hartsdale, New York, USA.

Was asked to take over Carole Lombard's role in They All Kissed The Bride (1942) after Lombard died in a air crash returning from a war bond tour. Crawford then donated all of her salary to the Red Cross, who found Lombard's body, and promptly fired her agent for taking his usual 10%.

She was so dedicated to her fans that she always personally responded to her fan mail by typing them responses on blue paper and autographing it. A great deal of her spare time and weekends were spent doing this.

She had a cleanliness obsession. She used to wash her hands every ten minutes and follow guests around her house wiping everything they touched, especially doorknobs and pieces from her china set. She would never smoke a cigarette unless she opened the pack herself, and would never use another cigarette out of that pack if someone else had touched it.

Her cleanliness obsession lead her to prefer showers to tubs, as she abhorred sitting in her own bathwater.

"Joan Arden" was chosen as the young star's screen name after a write-in contest was held in the pages of "Movie Weekly" magazine, but a bit player came forward and said she was already using it. Mrs. Marie M. Tisdale, a crippled woman living in Albany, New York, won $500 for submitting the runner-up name "Joan Crawford".

She disliked her 'new' name and initially encouraged others to pronounce it Jo-Anne Crawford. In private, she liked to be referred to as Billie.

Because Joan was bullied and shunned at Stephens College by the other students due to her poor homelife, she answered every single piece of fanmail she received in her lifetime except those from former classmates at Stephens.

She was voted the 47th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.