A telegram received yesterday from D. Mitchell Cox, vice-president in charge of public relations for Pepsi-Cola, announced yesterday the election of actress Joan Crawford to the company’s board of directors.

The telegram, sent from Wilmington, Del., said the widow of chairman Alfred N. Steele is the first woman ever to serve on the board and is believed to be the first actress ever elected to the board of a corporation of such major stature.

Herbert L. Barnet, president, emphasized her election was not a sentimental gesture toward the memory of Steele, but “hard-headed business judgment which makes possible continuing utilization of Pepsi-Cola of Miss Crawford’s intimate knowledge and rare skills in promotion and public relations to which she has so superbly demonstrated to our benefit for the last four years.”