The Best of Everything
Celebrity Letters to (or about) Joan Crawford
|
Click on an alphabetically listed name immediately below to go directly to the letter(s) from that celeb.
Below the alpha list, all letters are arranged chronologically, earliest to latest. (Letters from unknown years follow those with years known; posthumous letters about Joan---including from Stanwyck, Hepburn, and Dietrich---are at the very end.)
See also the separate page for a sampling of congratulatory letters from industry regulars to Joan upon her March 1946 Oscar win. |
Alpha List
|
Milton Caniff 1973 (March) 1973 (May) Jackie Cooper Ellen Corby (unknown year) George Cukor 1973 (January) 1973 (August) 1976 (2) Marlene Dietrich (1981 to Paramount exec re Mommie Dearest) Loletta Hebert Edwards (journalist) Lynn Fontanne Paul Gallico 1976 (from his widow) Lillian Gish (Christmas card, unknown year) Helen Hayes 1979 to Joan's daughter Cathy LaLonde 1995 to friend re MD Don Ingalls (Universal screenwriter) Glenda Jackson |
Anita Loos 1970 (2) Alfred Lunt George Murphy Sir Laurence Olivier Cesar Romero Barbara Stanwyck 1979 to Joan's daughter Cathy LaLonde White House (LBJ invitation) Mary Wilson (British Prime Minister Harold Wilson's wife) Tracey Wynn (Keenan Wynn's son) |
Chronological List
1940s 1950s 1960s 1970 - 73 1974 - 77
From Rosemary Wilson (columnist Earl Wilson's wife), 2/1/46
...with an accompanying letter from Stanwyck's 13-year-old adopted son Tony.
From producer Lawrence Weingarten, 3/11/46
From columnist Kay Mulvey, 3/13/46
[From the Private Collection of Danny Rentz. ]
From journalist Loletta Hebert Edwards, 6/26/59
From producer Jerry Wald, 10/5/59
From director Robert Aldrich and his production company, 9/7/62
From Prime Minister Harold Wilson's wife Mary, 4/19/66
From New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller, 8/30/66
From the LBJ White House, 1/17/67
From ex-husband Franchot Tone, 8/10/67
From socialite/friend Frances Spingold, 12/5/67
From writer Paul Gallico, 12/12/67
From writer Paul Gallico, 9/13/69
From Anita Loos, 5/8/70
From Maurice Chevalier, 10/10/70
(See also Joan's response to this letter.)
From
Laurence
Olivier,
10/22/70
From Maurice Chevalier, 10/27/70
From J. Edgar Hoover, 12/30/70
From writer Paul Gallico, 1/30/71
From Busby Berkeley, 1971, in response to Joan's telegram after the opening of "No, No, Nanette"
From Barbara Stanwyck, 12/23/71
From writer Paul Gallico, 3/22/72
From Universal screenwriter Don Ingalls, 8/7/72
From director George Cukor, 1/31/73
From cartoonist Milton Caniff, 3/21/73
(Caniff created the "Terry and the Pirates" comic strip, and his "Dragon Lady" character was based on Joan's 1930s look.
This letter is in reference to the recent retirement of George Wunder, who had taken over the "Pirates" strip in 1946.)
From director George Cukor, 8/24/73
From Laurence Olivier, 12/18/73
From Carroll O'Connor, 12/25/73
From Glenda Jackson, unknown year
From Tracey Wynn (writer/director and son of Keenan Wynn), 6/18/74
From Lord Mountbatten, 12/4/74
From Barbara Stanwyck, Christmas 1974
From Loretta Young ("Gretch"): April 25, 1975
From Katharine Hepburn, 6/25/75
...and below is a draft of a letter from Joan to Kate. Not clear if this letter was sent to Hepburn before or after the above.
From George Cukor, 1/21/76 and 7/9/76
From Cesar Romero: 7/18/76, 12/18/76, and unknown
From writer Paul Gallico's widow, 1976
From ex-husband Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., 1/26/77
Unknown Year
(alphabetical by sender)
From Ellen Corby (year unknown)
Christmas card from Lillian Gish (year unknown)
Christmas card from Helen Hayes (year unknown)
From Larry King, March 8 (year unknown)
From Anita Loos (year unknown)
From Barbara Stanwyck to Joan's daughter Cathy LaLonde, 7/25/79
From Katharine Hepburn to Joan's daughter Cathy LaLonde, 9/12/79
From Marlene Dietrich to Paramount exec Peter Bankers, August 7, 1981
From Katharine Hepburn to friend re Mommie Dearest, 2/1/95
The Best of Everything