The Best of S

Sadie McKee   •   Yucca Salamunich   •  Salaries   •  Sally, Irene, and Mary   • Samuel Goldwyn Theater   •  San Simeon   •  Saratoga •    Scarritt Elementary  •  Diana Scarwid  •  A.L. Schaefer  •  Natalie Schafer •  Dore Schary  •  Joe Schenck  •   Nick Schenck  •  Paul Schrebnick •   Reinhold Schunzel  •   Zachary Scott  •  Heather Sears  •  Dorothy Sebastian  •  Secret Storm  •  Edward Sedgwick  •   David O. Selznick   •   Rod Serling  •  Seven Springs Press  •  Sex in Films  •  Peter Shaw  •  Norma Shearer  •  Vincent Sherman  •    Jimmy Shields  •  The Shining Hour  •  J.J. Shubert  •  Fred Silverman  •  Frank Sinatra   •   Bert Six  •  The Sixth Sense  •  Smirnoff   •   Liz Smith    •    Pete Smith  •  Somewhere I'll Find You  •  Sorkie  •  Steven Spielberg  •  Leonard Spigelgas  •
Spring Fever  •  John Springer  •    Robert Stack  •  St. Agnes Academy  •  Stanislavsky  •  Barbara Stanwyck  •  Alfred Steele  •
Jules Stein  •  Max Steiner  •  Stephens College   •  Ray Sterling  •  Isaac Stern  •  Donald Ogden Stewart  •  James Stewart  •  Stinky  •
Rachael Stirling  •  Adela Rogers St. Johns  •  St. Malachy's  •    Stokowski  •  The Stolen Jools  •  The Story of Esther Costello  •
Strait-Jacket   •   Strange Cargo  •  Adele Strassfield  •  Howard Strickling  •  Hunt Stromberg  •  Effie Stuttle  •  Sudden Fear  •
Margaret Sullavan  •   Barry Sullivan   •   Ed Sullivan  •  Beth Fairbanks Sully   •  Susan and God   •  Gloria Swanson

Sadie McKee. MGM, 1934. Directed by Clarence Brown, 88 minutes. Joan stars as Sadie-the-maid in her third film with husband-to-be Franchot Tone. Tone plays the rich son in the house she grew up working in and the friend of later Sadie Sugar Daddy Edward Arnold. Gene Raymond co-stars as the n'er-do-well Sadie runs off to the Big City with. (Trivia: A clip from this film is shown in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? as Joan's character Blanche watches one of her old movies on TV.) Says Joan in CWJC: Everything about "Sadie McKee" was right--Gene Raymond, Franchot Tone, the script, Clarence Brown's direction, Adrian's costumes, the works.  

Sadie McKee page.

Salamunich, Yucca. Yugoslavian artist who sculpted the bust of Joan that appears in the '64 movie Strait-Jacket. The sculpture was originally presented to Joan on the set of A Woman's Face in 1941 and bears the dedication "To Christina." (In Strait-Jacket, the plot had the insane, jealous daughter sculpting the bust. Ahem.)

Go to the Art page to see 1941 and 1964 shots of Joan with the bust.

Salaries of Joan. (NOTE: Post MGM the record becomes spotty since other film and television companies have not always provided records of salary info.) To convert salaries from a year to today's money, click on this government "inflation calculator" link.

1923: $12 per week wrapping packages at the Wolff Clothing Store; $13 per week at Rothschild's department store; $15 per week selling women's wear at Emery, Bird, Thayer (all in Kansas City); $20 per week as chorus girl in Katherine Emerine's Springfield, Missouri, show. (JCB)

1924: $25 per week as chorus girl in Ernie Young's shows; $35 per week as NYC chorus girl in "Passing Show of 1924," earning extra money after-hours dancing at Club Richman.   (JCB)

MGM:

1925: 7-year contract. 1st 6-month option: $75 per week. Option picked up at $100 per week.

1927: $500 per week for first half-year, $400 for rest of year.

1928: $1000 per week, raised to $1500 per week after the Our Dancing Daughters fall release.

1931 (April 7): Received $10,000 bonus, plus contract of $3000 per week, with four options of one year each, rising by $500 per week until she was to reach $5000 per week in 1936.

1934 (Dec. 10): 3-year contract. $7500 per week for 44 weeks of first year; $8500 the second year; $9500 the third. $50,000 bonus if she exceeded 9 films in the three years.

1936: According to the US Treasury Dept., Joan earned $302,307. (Thanks to Norman for the 1936 and 1937 info.)

1937: In an Associated Press article published in the NYTimes 4/7/38, Joan earned $351,358, and was #14 on a list of only 17 Americans who earned more than $300,000 this year. The complete list:

1) Louis B. Mayer, movie executive: $1,296,503

2) J. Robert Rubin, movie executive:  754,254

3) N. M. Schenck, movie executive:  541,602

4) William Randolph Hearst, publisher:  500,000

5) Fredric March, movie actor:  484,687

6) Greta Garbo, movie actress:  472,602

7) Major Edward Bowes, radio entertainer:  427,817

8) Thomas J. Watson, president of International Business Machines Corp.:  419,398

9) E.G. Grace, president of Bethlehem Steel Corp.:  394,586

10) David Bernstein, movie executive:  382,816

11) George W. Hill, president of American Tobacco Co.:  380,976

12) Marlene Dietrich, movie actress:  370,000

13) A.M. Loew, movie executive:  356,074

14) Joan Crawford, movie actress: 351,538

15) F.B. Davis, president of US Rubber Products, Inc.:  322,999

16) Spyros P. Skouras, president of National Theatres Amusement Co.:  320,054

17) David C. [sic] Selznick, movie executive:  303,500

1938: $330,000 per year for five years and 10 weeks. For work in excess of 40 weeks per year, $8250 per week.  (US)

1942: Columbia paid her $330,000 on loan-out from MGM for  They All Kissed the Bride. (IMDb)

1943 (June 29): Joan paid MGM $100,000 to terminate her contract. (US)

1943: Two days after leaving the MGM payroll, Joan signed with Warners for a 3-picture $500,000 deal, on a weekly salary. She had herself taken off salary when Warners at first couldn't find a suitable picture. (JCB)

1947: After the success of Mildred and Humoresque, Warners signed her to a 7-year contract at $200,000 a picture. (JCB)  

1952: Joan got out of her Warners contract and signed up for RKO's Sudden Fear, with the choice of either a $200,000 salary or 40% of the film's profits. She chose the 40%, which earned her more money. (JCB) 

1953: Signed 2-picture deal with MGM for $125,000 each. (Contract lapsed in Oct. '54, so no 2nd film after Torch Song was made.) (JCB) Amount was paid in 83 installments for tax purposes. (IMDb)

1957: Received $200,000 from Columbia for Esther Costello. (IMDb)

1959: Began receiving $60,000 a year from Pepsi-Cola, as a non-executive director, which continued as a lifetime pension, though in '73 the company retired her, cutting off her $40,000 yearly expense account and $12,000 yearly secretarial account. (JCB) Also in '59, she received $65,000 for The Best of Everything. (IMDb)

1962: Her Baby Jane deal gave her $30,000 plus 15% of producers' net (JCB says $40,000 and 10% of net), which earned her nearly $1 million.

1964: $50,000 and percentage of profits for Strait-Jacket. (JCB)

1965: $50,000 for I Saw What You Did. (IMDb)

1969: $50,000 for TV's Night Gallery. (JCB)

1970: $50,000 for Trog. (IMDb)

1972: $2500 for TV's "The Sixth Sense." (JCB)

Sally, Irene, and Mary. MGM silent, 1925. Directed by Edmund Goulding, 58 minutes. (Based on the 1922 Broadway play that ran for 313 performances and remade in 1938.) Joan plays "Irene," a Broadway showgirl in love with a cad, and co-stars with Sally O'Neil, Constance Bennett, and William Haines. Reportedly Bennett, the biggest star of the bunch, snubbed Joan, but O'Neil and, especially, Haines became close friends. (LW) It was her first of four films with Haines. Said Joan in CWJC:

I loved "Sally, Irene, and Mary"--it gave me a character I could lose myself in and a chance to work with two fine actresses, Constance Bennett and Sally O'Neil, and a very good director, Edmund Goulding. He taught me a lot, and so did the cameraman--I think his name was Arnold. John Arnold. Anyway, that picture told me I was doing the right thing, that I might just last.

Sally, Irene, and Mary page.

Samuel Goldwyn Theater. Where Joan's Los Angeles memorial service was held in June 1977.

San Simeon. William Randolph Hearst's ranch/castle in the Santa Ynez mountains, 200 miles north of Los Angeles. A congregating place for Hollywood royalty (Hearst's consort was actress Marion Davies, a friend of Joan's from MGM). Joan was invited there on several occasions, first with friend William Haines, later with husband Doug Fairbanks, Jr.

Saratoga. Clark Gable film that Joan turned down, thus straining relations between them. Jean Harlow took over what would have been her role.

Scarritt Elementary School. Joan attended 3rd grade at this Kansas City school around 1916. See the Geography page for photo and more info.

Scarwid, Diana. Played Christina in 1981's Mommie Dearest.

Schaefer, A.L. "Whitey." Photographer. Shot Joan on the set of The Bride Wore Red in '42.

Schafer, Natalie. Appeared with Joan in '42's Reunion in France and '55's Female on the Beach. (Perhaps best known for her role as Lovey Howell in TV's Gilligan's Island.) Said Schafer re working with Joan on the "Reunion" set:

I think Joan was just about at the end of her rope. She wasn't brutal or offensive to me or to anyone else--just tightly wound. I think she knew her days were numbered at MGM..But she remained very professional in spite of all that. Whatever was going on in her mind, you might see glimmers of it in her expression, in her off-camera mood, but she was always about getting the work done, being a pro. She thought of her colleagues who were there to do a picture, fair or foul. (EB)

Schary, Dore. MGM's production chief after L.B. Mayer.

Schenck, Joe. Produced Joan's 1932 film Rain, personally asking his brother Nick, president of MGM and Loew's, to lend Joan's services to the United Artists film.

Schenck, Nick.

Schrebnick, Paul. MGM studio worker who often asked for a gardenia from Joan at the end of her workday. When he died in a traffic accident, Joan sent a blanket of gardenias spelling out "Paul" for his coffin. (JCB)

Schunzel, Reinhold.

Scott, Zachary. Co-stars with Joan in Mildred Pierce ('45) as her playboy boyfriend "Monte Beragon," and in Flamingo Road ('49) as the weak-willed deputy and love interest "Fielding Carlisle."

Sears, Heather. Plays the title role of an Irish deaf-mute girl in Joan's 1957 film The Story of Esther Costello. Joan found her a "delight" and a "reward" to work with. (EB)

Sebastian, Dorothy. (4/26/03 - 4/8/57) Co-stars with Joan in 4 films: Twelve Miles Out ('27), Our Dancing Daughters ('28), Our Blushing Brides ('28), Montana Moon ('30), plus has an uncredited role as a "Saleswoman" in '39's The Women. Joan's press agent Jerry Asher claimed the two had a sexual relationship. (EB)

Secret Storm, The. Christina won the role of "Joan Borman Kane" on this soap opera in 1968. When she fell ill in October of that year, Joan took over her role (that of a 28-year-old woman; Joan was around 64) for the week of October 21 - 25. According to MD, she appeared drunk onscreen, but the show's ratings soared that week and the event garnered much publicity. (LW)   Joan later said of her appearance: "I did try a soap-opera sequence once...And I was so ashamed of myself I did cry all the way home." (CWJC)  See the TV page for more info.

Sedgwick, Edward.

Selznick, David O. Producer of Joan's '33 film Dancing Lady and, later, Gone With the Wind; in 1936 Selznick had wired his agent re GWTW: "I believe I would buy it now for some such combination as Gable and Joan Crawford." (LW)

Serling, Rod.  See Night Gallery.

Seven Springs Press. Vanity press founded by Christina Crawford in 1998 to publish the 20th Anniversary Edition of Mommie Dearest. Want to write her? Seven Springs Press, 11150 Sanders Road, Tensed, Idaho, 83870. Phone: (208)274-2470. E-mail: SevenSpringsCC@aol.com. (Be nice, now!)

Sex in films. Says Joan in CWJC:

I find suggestion a hell of a lot more provocative than explicit detail. You didn't see Clark and Vivien rolling around in bed in GWTW, but you saw that shit-eating grin on her face the next morning and you knew damned well she'd gotten properly laid...In my fallen-woman roles...nobody saw me do the actual falling...but they knew I'd fallen, and when it happened again--well, they got the point, and maybe the pornography that went on inside their heads was better than the actual thing would have been on screen...

Censorship was a pain in the ass--when it was moral or political--but in the long run, considering what I see now, I think it served a purpose. Marlon Brando...Oh, what was the film [Last Tango in Paris, Joan]...anyway the nude scene. He's at least 40 pounds overweight, and I think the only sex appeal he has would be to a meat packer. That's art?

...the emphasis seems to be on the seamier side of real life, as though we should be more interested in what happened in the bathroom and the bedroom instead of living room, kitchen, and office. The perspective is crazy. If we think about our lives, and divide time into the portions spent on making a living, eating, talking, reading, being entertained by TV or movies or radio or theater or whatever, and having sex, I think we'd find sex coming out on the short end of the stick. Unless you're a whore it doesn't give you the wherewithal to survive...

...good God, isn't it more fun doing it or imagining it than watching it?... I know I sound like some sort of old Puritan, but I still think back to GWTW, and that morning scene with Scarlett O'Hara. It was a hell of a lot more sexually stimulating than a glimpse of fat Marlon Brando. (And butter, yet; I hope it was unsalted.)

Shaw, Peter. Irish actor and writer with whom Joan had an affair in the '40s. (LW)

Shearer, Norma. Married to MGM production head Irving Thalberg, Shearer was Joan's main rival at the studio because it seemed she was given the plum roles. (She was also a top moneymaker for the studio.) Joan's first screen appearance was playing Shearer's double in 1925's Lady of the Night, and the two co-starred in 1939's The Women, where Joan distracted Norma with her incessant knitting. Joan also took over the role of Susan in 1940's Susan and God after the 40-year-old Shearer refused to play the mother of a 14-year-old girl. (Leading to the famous Joan quote: "I'd play Wally Beery's grandmother if it's a good part!") (LW) Shearer retired from films in 1942.

Sherman, Vincent. (7/16/06 -   ) Primarily a director for Warner Brothers (working with Bette Davis and Ida Lupino, among others) and director of Joan films The Damned Don't Cry ('50), Harriet Craig ('50), and Goodbye, My Fancy ('51). He and Joan also had an often violent affair during this time. (Christina writes in MD of having to break up one of their brawls, and he's also appeared in recent Joan documentaries gleefully discussing their knockdown-dragouts.) Click here for a Scarlet Street magazine interview with the director, who talks about working with Joan. IMDb info.

Shields, Jimmy. Husband of longtime Joan-friend, actor/decorator William Haines. Joan and the two men maintained a lifelong friendship, and Joan called them "the happiest married couple in Hollywood." (LW)

Shining Hour, The. MGM, 1938. Directed by Frank Borzage, 76 minutes. Joan stars as nightclub dancer "Olivia Riley," who marries a country gentleman (Melvyn Douglas) and has to learn to get along with his family (brother Robert Young, who's also in love with Olivia; the brother's kindly wife, Margaret Sullavan;  and mean sister Fay Bainter). Says Joan in CWJC: "The Shining Hour" failed, but sort of nobly. On Broadway it had been a smash hit. Margaret Sullavan, Robert Young, Melvyn Douglas and I were all wasted, and I think this was about the time my loyal public began dwindling. You can't keep 'em coming to bad films.  

The Shining Hour page.

Shubert, J.J. (1879 - 12/26/63) Polish-born Broadway impresario. In April 1924, he was in the audience of a show at the Oriole Terrace in Detroit that Joan was performing in. Enchanted after she "accidentally" kicked over a drink on his table, he came backstage and offered her a job with his "Innocent Eyes" show that would soon debut on Broadway. She skipped out on the Terrace and left for NYC two days later. (JB)  Aside from "Innocent Eyes," he also produced Joan's 2nd and last Broadway appearance, "The Passing Show of 1924."   Internet Broadway Database info.

Shubert said of Joan:

She had something. I don't know how to define it, but every man in the audience picked her out. She wasn't particularly sexy but she seemed to enjoy herself every minute she was on stage, and that made the audience enjoy the show more. (CWJC)

Silverman, Fred. Chief of daytime programming at CBS in 1968 when Joan made her appearance substituting for daughter Christina on the soap The Secret Storm.

Sinatra, Frank.

Six, Bert. Warner Brothers studio photographer.

Sixth Sense, The. Occult television series. In August '72, Joan appeared in the episode "Dear Joan, We're Going to Scare You to Death." It was her last performance.

Smirnoff. 100 proof, Joan's liquor of choice.

Smith, Liz. Native Texan who made her way to the Big Apple and became a renowned gossip columnist. Click here to read excerpts from her 2000 book Natural Blonde about her encounters with Joan.

Smith, Pete. MGM publicity chief in the 1920s. Smith was impressed with Joan (then "Lucille LeSueur") and persuaded MGM chief L.B. Mayer to begin a major promotional campaign for her, including giving her a new name. (CWJC) He was also responsible for advising her to get into the gossip columns, and he set up her early series of athletic photos, many with fellow contract player Dorothy Sebastian (pictured at left), that were shot by Don Gillum and subsequently published in newspapers across the country in 1925.

Somewhere I'll Find You. After wife Carole Lombard's death, Clark Gable was working on this 1942 film when he received a note from longtime friend/lover Joan: "If you would like to stop by and have a quiet dinner, I'll be home rather late tonight and all this week." Almost every evening during the making of this film, Gable went to Joan's home on Bristol Avenue to pour out his grief. (JC)

Sorkie. In MD, Christina says that Sorkie was "a Christian Science practitioner who lived by herself in a small New York City apartment. My mother had met her when she was younger and was devoted to her. Sorkie was a rotund woman, and...is the only fat person my mother ever tolerated." In Los Angeles, Joan would call Sorkie regularly for advice ("on Sundays and almost every other day of the week for at least 25 years"), and Christina says "until her death in 1959, I know that she was the most influential person in Mommie's life."

Spielberg, Steven. The twenty-two-year-old Spielberg's first industry job was directing Joan  in the  pilot episode of the TV show Night Gallery, in a segment called "Eyes." The show aired 11/8/69. Said Joan of Spielberg: "He's got more security than any person I've ever known." She also taught him how to burp. Said Spielberg of Joan: She is five feet four, but she looks six feet on the screen. In a two-shot with anyone, even Gable, your eyes fix on her. She is imperious, yet with a childlike sparkle. She is haughty, yet tender. She has no great range as an actress, yet within the range she can perform better than any of her contemporaries. (JCB)

Spigelgas, Leonard.

Spring Fever. MGM silent film, 1927, starring William Haines. Directed by Edward Sedgwick, 60 minutes. Joan plays "Allie Monte," a golf groupie who falls for golfer Haines, who's pretending to be rich. Says Joan in CWJC: ...a waste of everyone's time and money. God, golf is dull on film.

Spring Fever page.

Springer, John. Press agent and sometime producer. He created and hosted the "Legendary Ladies of the Screen" series at NYC's Town Hall, at which Joan appeared on 4/8/73. (He also wrote the introduction to "Conversations with Joan Crawford" and appeared in the A&E channel's documentary on her life, "Always the Star.")

In September 1974, he asked Joan to host a party for another of his "Legendary Ladies," Rosalind Russell, at the Rainbow Room; she did, but the next day when she saw the unflattering pictures of herself taken that evening, she said "If that's how I look, they won't see me again." It was her last public appearance.

Stack, Robert. Joan's co-star in the 1963 film The Caretakers.

St. Agnes Academy. A convent school in Kansas City (128 N. Hardesty, at Scarritt) that Joan attended from 3rd through 6th grades, one of 50 girls. Once her stepfather Henry Cassin left her mother and money became tight, Joan was forced to work for her keep there. See the Geography page for photo of the school and more info.

Stanislavsky, Konstantin. (1863 - 1938) Russian actor, director, and acting teacher, who deeply influenced New York's Group Theatre, of which Joan-husband Franchot Tone was a part. Said Harold Clurman, one of the founders of the Group Theatre: "When I sent Franchot a copy of Stanislavsky's 'An Actor Prepares,' she [Joan] grabbed it and read it first; her bold markings covered its pages."

Stanwyck, Barbara.

Steele, Alfred Nu.  (4/24/01 - 4/19/59) President of Pepsi-Cola, Joan's fourth and last husband, married from 5/10/55 until his death in April 1959. Says Joan in CWJC:

I was more in love with Alfred than any man in my life. He wasn't as handsome as Doug or Clark or Franchot or Phillip, but he had a virility, a sense of assurance, that made him the center of attraction in any room. Women were crazy about him and men liked him. He made everyone feel at ease. I fell madly in love with him the night we met and the all-too-few years with him were the happiest years of my life. I didn't even mind going into semi-retirement as an actress; life with Alfred was so fulfilling...we established wonderful relationships with the children, and we traveled a great deal. There was virtually nothing to disagree about. I miss him still.

They first met briefly at a party in 1953 when Steele was still married to his second wife. They became reacquainted when the newly divorced Steele phoned Joan on New Year's Eve 1954, when she was staying alone on the set of Female on the Beach. They married at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas that May, then sailed to Europe on the SS United States for their honeymoon.

Steele graduated from Northwestern University in 1923, where he played football, and began his career as an ad executive, eventually hired by Coca-Cola as VP for marketing. He began working for Pepsi in 1949, reducing the sugar content of the soda, modernizing their ad campaign, and beginning to focus on third-world markets in Asia, Africa, and South America. Sales tripled between 1955 and 1957. As noted in MD, Steele spent nearly $400,000 combining two apartments at 2 East Seventieth Street in NYC for his and Joan's living quarters. When he died, his estate was valued at around $600,000, but after taxes and debts, nothing was left. Two days after his death, Joan was elected to fill his vacancy on the Pepsi-Cola board of directors, a position she held until her forced retirement in 1973. (JCB)

The ashes of the two are interred side by side at New York's Ferncliff Mausoleum.

Stein, Jules. Head of MCA (Music Corporation of America). In the early '40s he expanded his company from booking bands to representing film stars, and Joan became an MCA client, with Lew Wasserman as her agent. (JCB)

Steiner, Max. (5/10/1888 - 12/28/1971) Legendary film composer (primarily for Warner Bros.), who scored over 400 films, including Joan's Mildred Pierce, Flamingo Road, and The Damned Don't Cry (the latter uncredited). He was nominated for an Academy Award 18 times, winning 3 times. In 2003, he appeared on the U.S. stamp series honoring films (his hand is seen notating a score). IMDb info.

Stephens College. Women's college located in Columbia, Missouri. Joan went to college here during the fall semester of 1922, after which she dropped out. She was registered for the following courses during this semester: English composition, typewriting, preventive medicine, shorthand, bookkeeping, psychology, foods, religious fundamentals, and rhythm. She lived at Main Hall and worked as a waitress in the downstairs dining room. James Madison "Daddy" Wood, the president of the college from 1912 to 1947, became a mentor for Joan. (JB) In April 1970, the school administration honored her for achievements as "an actress, businesswoman, homemaker, mother and philanthropist." "My kids will never believe this," Joan told the audience, "because I was a dropout!" (LW)

Sterling, Ray Thayer. Early beau and confidante of Joan's. She met him in 1918 in Kansas City when she attended the St. Agnes school and he was a senior at nearby Northeast High. Joan said: "Ray was the one I called when anything went wrong, and I loved him with my whole fourteen-year-old heart. Ray wanted me to go out and get my dreams. Once I was in the process of realizing them, I lost him." The two maintained their friendship-- talking, taking drives, attending dances together and/or corresponding-- throughout Joan's chorus-girl travels and returns home, up until the time that she left Kansas City for good in January 1925 for her trip to Hollywood, after which they never saw each other again. He died a bachelor. (LW, JB) In CWJC, Joan says "I never would have gotten to Hollywood if he'd wanted me, but he didn't..."  (Thanks, Ray!)

Stern, Isaac. Did John Garfield's violin-playing in Humoresque.

Stewart, Donald Ogden. Screenwriter of Joan's '41 film A Woman's Face. He was active in anti-fascist activities and Joan's friendship with him and attendance at anti-fascist events earned her a 100-page dossier in FBI files. (LW)

Stewart, James. (5/20/1908 - 7/2/97) American acting legend and Joan's co-star in Ice Follies of 1939 and The Gorgeous Hussy (1936). Stewart was born in Pennsylvania and was active in theater at Princeton before moving to NYC in 1932 to pursue a career on Broadway. (While in New York, he roomed with Henry Fonda and director Joshua Logan.) Stewart made his Hollywood debut in 1935's The Murder Man and made over 90 films before his retirement in the 1980s. He was nominated for an Oscar 5 times (1939's Mr Smith Goes to Washington, 1940's Philadelphia Story, 1946's It's a Wonderful Life, 1950's Harvey, and 1960's Anatomy of a Murder), winning for Philadelphia Story. Other notable films include his work with Hitchcock in '48's Rope, '54's Rear Window, and '58's Vertigo.

Writer Charles Castle interviewed Stewart for his 1977 Joan bio The Raging Star:

My first impression of Joan Crawford was of glamour. Glamour had nothing to do with aloofness or temperament, it had to do with friendliness, tremendous vitality and hard work, ambition and constant desire to improve her work, and to get knowledgable about things that were important to her work....In picture acting, I think she had the right idea. She had none of this "clear the set while I get in the mood" attitude. She developed a wonderful approach to her work by her desire to improve her craft. She studied voice. I remember when we were doing Ice Follies she would appear at the studio before five o'clock every morning for coaching. We'd all marvel at this....It was important to her to study opera because she felt it would be good as part of her training, and for her overall knowledge of her screen craft...

[re Ice Follies] I said to Joan, "Aren't you bothered about having to learn to skate for this movie?"And she just replied, "Oh, I don't think about ice skating. You just learn to do it the way you learn to do everything else in life." And sure enough, she learned to ice-skate without any trouble....

We have both been referred to as perfectionists, but I don't know what that word means. If it means trying to keep things going by learning your craft so that you can get it done to the best of your ability and not have the acting show, then I suppose that's what it is. If it means standing up against this tremendous technical thing which you have to cope with in the movies all the time, doing things with credibility and being believable when you're surrounded by machines and cameras and technical men with lights and everything else to surmount...This is part of a craft that takes learning, and if you get so that it doesn't bug you, then you can understand why Joan Crawford was so good at her job. It wasn't a question of take after take with Joan Crawford either...the spontaneity was a tremendously important thing. The fact that you can't have it show is, I think, where Joan scored. It was a good quality that she enjoyed. By learning her craft Joan was a very graceful person, not in the sense of being a ballet dancer, but in her grace of moving and in her natural movement. This is the thing that added to her glamour....

When you saw Joan Crawford there, right in front of your eyes, she was Joan Crawford up there, whether she wore a bathing suit or a long, regal gown. She was Joan Crawford, but the skill and perfection was the fact that she could be Joan Crawford, but with deference to the character, and make the character believable on the screen....

Strength is a good way to describe Joan....When she came into a room, whatever kind of room it was, everybody knew it. Everybody turned around and looked. Well, that's strength, but she didn't come on strong. It wasn't a force thing. She didn't need to exude that strength.

IMDB page.    Wikipedia page.

Stinky. According to MD, Joan insisted that Christina's school friends call her this.

Stirling, Rachael.  (5/30/77 -    )  British star of 2002's "Tipping the Velvet." I was looking for an excuse to put her on my site just 'cause she's not only sexy but also a brave and interesting person and actress; as it turns out, she also likes Joan, so now I have a real excuse! According to the IMDb, "Five people she would love to have to dinner are Bette Davis, Tallulah Bankhead, Mae West, Sarah Siddons and Joan Crawford." Plus she "loves to have friends 'round to play backgammon"--- 'Nuff said! (p.s.for you "Avengers" fans: Stirling is Diana Rigg's daughter.)

A great Stirling web-site (check out her 7-page hand-written letter to the site's creators.)   Her IMDb page.

St. Johns, Adela Rogers. Hearst reporter, friend of Joan.

St. Malachy's. Church in NYC where Joan and Doug Fairbanks, Jr., were married.

Stokowski, Leopold. Famed conductor of the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra (and later companion of Garbo). He came to Hollywood in 1937 to appear in two films, and was given a reception by Joan and husband Franchot Tone at the Ambassador Hotel. At this time, Joan had been training to sing opera and performed for Stokowski at the theater in her home several weeks after the reception. Joan later reported overenthusiastically to friend Anita Loos that Stokowski was "wild for me to give up the movies and study to be an operatic diva." (LW)

Stolen Jools, The. (aka The Slippery Pearls) Promotional short film (20 minutes) released 4/4/31 to raise funds for the National Variety Artists Tuberculosis Sanitarium at Saranac Lake, NY. Various studios contributed facilities, and the stars worked for free. Stars included Joan, Norma Shearer, Gary Cooper, Edward G. Robinson, William Haines. The plot was a whodunit involving a search for Shearer's stolen jewels. Joan appears early on in a short scene with William Haines; a detective overhears them discussing something she's taken from Shearer's party the night before--turns out it's only a little dog, not the contraband jewels.  IMDb info.

Story of Esther Costello, The. Columbia, 1957. Directed (and produced) by David Miller, 127 minutes. Joan stars as "Margaret Landi," who, after a trip to Ireland, adopts a deaf-dumb-n-blind girl (Heather Sears). The two become a hit on the lecture circuit, and Margaret's seedy ex (Rossano Brazzi