View allAll Photos Tagged Cleanliness
For NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and its incredibly sensitive scientific instruments, cleanliness is critical. Contamination Control Engineers like Yingrui “Zao” Huang, who has been on the mission since 2013, play an important role in ensuring Webb’s hardware is in pristine condition during the testing and integration that lead up to launch.
Zao is pictured in Goddard's Spacecraft Systems Development and Integration Facility, standing in front of the wall of filters that help keep the clean room clean.
Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
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ENE winds bring cold and rain. But the air and water from the north are pure. You can smell its' sharp cleanliness.
This is the famous Jama Masjid in Old Delhi. The man cleaning the premises, a selfless service to the almighty.
Not much time to post -- so:
a) This is a scrubby. Or whatever you call it. You know, to clean yourself. In the shower. Does it have a technical name? We'll call it a "Sponge Nexus."
b) Waterdrops!
c) Bokeh! HBW!
d) If you look real close, you can actually see a refraction in one of the drops -- it's the Declaration of Independence.
e) I'm lying about d).
f) Bye!
Please don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media
without my explicit permission. © All rights reserved
Thank you very much, for all your much appreciated comments and invites!
Have a nice day everyone!
The dung beetles are vital for the cleanliness of the ecosystem. They also play a vital role in returning the nutrients to the soil. Therefore, they hold the key to the completion of many chemical cycles properly.
No wonder the Egyptians realized their vital role, placed them equal to Gods and worshiped the Scarab beetles as Khepri, the human bodied God with the head of a Scarab Beetle!
By the way, Khepri is the God of creation, movement of the sun and rebirth! Apt one, since the reinstatement of nutrients ensure creation of future crops in the soil, as well as rebirth of life from the poop and the dead!
The Washington Metro is legendary for its spaciousness and cleanliness, particularly when compared to London Underground or New Yorks subway for example. Some might say it lacks a bit of character.
Click here to see more of my favourite photos from my travels in the USA : www.flickr.com/photos/darrellg/albums/72157623869746767
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© D.Godliman
The resident of White House Complex, Bengaluru celebrating Gandhi Jayanti by cleaning area around the complex.
“Cleanliness of the mouth,” which means protecting your mouth from excessive verbosity and foul language.
"Security, cleanliness, can sleep well" it seems to be a concept to this hotel.
I do not know what "super" the common accommodations.
There seems to be this hotel in the whole country more than 100. I intend to stay next time.
If a window is opened by that height, it is splendid added value for me.
On July 11, 2014 in the Shin Marunouchi Building.
-----
「安全・清潔・ぐっすり眠れる」がコンセプトだそうです。
どこら辺が普通の宿泊施設を超越しているのかわかりませんが、
全国に100以上あるそうなので、今度泊まってみようかと思います。
あの高さで窓が開けられるなら、僕にとっては素晴らしい付加価値です。
2014年7月11日、新丸の内ビルディングにて。
The Rockot fairing being inspected for cleanliness in preparation for the installation of Sentinel-3B.
The satellite is being prepared for liftoff, scheduled for 25 April 2018. Its identical twin, Sentinel-3A, has been in orbit since February 2016. The two-satellite constellation offers optimum global coverage and data delivery for Europe’s Copernicus environment programme.
Credits: ESA - S. Corvaja
Whichever way you want to look at it, Manila is a fascinating city. In a very different fashion than anything I've experienced in Japan. There the very order and cleanliness is such that you're tempted to walk across a lawn, to drop a wrapper, to sneeze loudly in public, to go Habu-snake hunting, even though you can't read the signs that forbid such Gross Indecent Impoliteness and Danger. Here in Manila the utter clutter and the perpetual dirt is sense-boggling until you begin to find your way and become attuned to the great variety of smells both foul and sweet of a poverty-driven tropical Asian city and to the cacaphony of its traffic.
I chose to be near Rizal Park, devoted to the 'George Washington' of Philippine national independence, José Rizal. The park is overwhelmingly large with much nationalist statuary; rather crumbling, though, and falling apart, and also with many homeless people (generally with a smile for the Tourist with the Funny Japanese Hat). Whatever... I came here especially for the Japanese and Chinese Gardens and the Orchidarium. They'd been highly recommended. I was sorely disappointed. The Chinese and Japanese Gardens are scratchy affairs badly maintained, dry ponds, broken steps and paths. Plants not cultivated. Even the weeds - yes! those favorites of mine - seemed 'tired'. The Orchidarium is closed 'for renovation' and is - I was told by a 'street-person' - open only to wedding parties who want to pose prettily. She even made a joke of it, as you might expect.
Today I walked around the Old City, Intramuros, maybe five kilometers or so. At least as far as I was allowed. A large swathe of the beautiful lawns and greens are the very private Intramuros Golf Club. Fenced out are scores of derelicts who make themselves a home between the perimeter fence and the trees lining a major highway, and also anyone else who's not a member. Nowhere though did I have a sense of insecurity, and when I lost my way along the Pasig River - my presumed passageway has been blocked off by another grate - I was led back to a throughway by a pack of half-naked boys diving up from the incredibly dirty waters. Here, too, everything was 'broken' - even one or two of the lads -, but for the weeds!
Making my way to Fort Santiago and yet another shrine to José Rizal (1861-1896), I climbed onto the Bulwarks. Weeds, again, of course. Among them this pretty Desmodium paniculatum.
Great Carolus Linnaeus on the authority of Johannes Fredericus Gronovius (1686-1772) calls it Hedysarum paniculatum. But it received its Desmodian name from Augustin Pyramus de Candolle (1778-1841) in 1825. It is said to grow in dry woods and fields from New York southwards to Virginia. Since then - and perhaps earlier even if botanists didn't notice - it's been naturalised all over the world. Also on the dry grounds of the stony Ramparts of Intramuros, Manila, where I could greet it as an Old Friend.
The flower of this member of the bean family measures about 10 by 6-7 mm.
Cleanliness is next to Godliness - but when the only tool you own is a hammer - every problem looks like a nail.
Swiss-German-British postcard by News Productions, Baulmes / Filmwelt Berlin, Bakede / News Productions, Stroud, no. 56546 Photo: Collection Cinémathèque Suisse, Lausanne. Photo: MGM. Caption: Gibson Gowland & Joan Crawford, USA, 1927. Gibson Gowland and Joan Crawford in Rose-Marie (Lucien Hubbard, 1928).
American film star Joan Crawford (1904-1977) had a career that would span many decades, studios, and controversies. In her silent films, she made an impact as a vivacious Jazz Age flapper and later she matured into a star of psychological melodramas.
Joan Crawford was born Lucille Fay LeSueur in 1904, in San Antonio, Texas. Her parents were Anna Belle (Johnson) and Thomas E. LeSueur, a laundry labourer. By the time she was born, her parents had separated. The young Lucille was bullied and shunned at Scaritt Elementary School in Kansas City by the other students due to her poor home life. She worked with her mother in a laundry and felt that her classmates could smell the chemicals and cleaners on her. She said that her love of taking showers and being obsessed with cleanliness had begun early in life as an attempt to wash off the smell of the laundry. Her stepfather Henry Cassin allegedly began sexually abusing her when she was eleven years old, and the abuse continued until she was sent to St. Agnes Academy, a Catholic girls' school. By the time she was a teenager, she'd had three stepfathers. Lucille LeSueur worked a variety of menial jobs. She was a good dancer, though, and she entered several contests, one of which landed her a spot in a chorus line. Before long, she was dancing in the choruses of travelling revues in big Midwestern and East Coast cities. She was spotted dancing in Detroit by famous New York producer Jacob J. Shubert. Shubert put her in the chorus line for his show 'Innocent Eyes'(1924) at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway. Then followed another Schubert production, 'The Passing Show of 1924'. After-hours, she danced for pay in the town it-spot, Club Richman, which was run by the 'Passing Show' stage manager Nils Granlund and popular local personality Harry Richman. In December 1924, Granlund called Lucille to tell her that Al Altman, a NYC-based talent scout from MGM had caught her in 'The Passing Show of 1924' and wanted her to do a screen test. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) offered Crawford a contract at $75 a week. On New Year's Day 1925 she boarded the train for Culver City. Credited as Lucille LeSueur, her first film part was as a showgirl in Lady of the Night (Monta Bell, 1925), starring MGM's most popular female star, Norma Shearer. Crawford was determined to succeed, and shortly after she also appeared in The Circle (Frank Borzage, 1925) and Pretty Ladies (Monta Bell, 1925), starring comedian ZaSu Pitts. She also appeared in a small role Erich von Stroheim's classic The Merry Widow (1925) with Mae Murray and John Gilbert. MGM publicity head Pete Smith recognised her ability to become a major star but felt her name sounded fake. He told studio head , Louis B. Mayer, that her last name, LeSueur, reminded him of a sewer. Smith organised a contest called 'Name the Star' in Movie Weekly to allow readers to select her new stage name. The initial choice was 'Joan Arden', but after another actress was found to have prior claim to that name, the alternate surname 'Crawford' became the choice. She first made an impression on audiences in Edmund Goulding's showgirl tale Sally, Irene and Mary (1925). The film, which co-starred Constance Bennett and Sally O'Neil, was a hit. Joan's popularity grew so quickly afterwards that two films in which she was still billed as Lucille Le Sueur: Old Clothes (Edward F. Cline, 1925) with Jackie Coogan, and The Only Thing (Jack Conway, 1925) were recalled, and her name on the billings was changed to Joan Crawford. In 1926, Crawford was named one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars, and she starred opposite Charles Ray in Paris (Edmund Goulding, 1926). Within a few years, she became the romantic female lead to many of MGM's top male stars, including Ramón Novarro, John Gilbert, and action star Tim McCoy. She appeared alongside her close friend, William Haines in the comedy Spring Fever (Edward Sedgwick, 1927). It was the second film starring Haines and Crawford (the first had been Sally, Irene and Mary (1925)), and their first onscreen romantic teaming. Then, Crawford appeared in the silent horror film The Unknown (Tod Browning, 1927), starring Lon Chaney, Sr., who played Alonzo the Armless, a circus freak who uses his feet to toss knives. Crawford played his skimpily-clad young carnival assistant whom he hopes to marry. She stated that she learned more about acting from watching Chaney work than from anyone else in her career. Her role of Diana Medford in Our Dancing Daughters (Harry Beaumont, 1928) elevated her to star status. Joan co-starred with Anita Page and Dorothy Sebastian, and her spunky wild-but-moral flapper character struck a chord with the public and zeitgeist. Wikipedia: "The role established her as a symbol of modern 1920s-style femininity which rivaled Clara Bow, the original It girl, then Hollywood's foremost flapper. A stream of hits followed Our Dancing Daughters, including two more flapper-themed movies, in which Crawford embodied for her legion of fans (many of whom were women) an idealized vision of the free-spirited, all-American girl." The fan mail began pouring in and from that point on Joan was a bonafide star. Crawford had cleared the first big hurdle; now came the second, in the form of talkies. But Crawford wasn't felled by sound. Her first talkie, the romantic drama Untamed (Jack Conway, 1929) with Robert Montgomery, was a success. Michael Eliott at IMDb: "It's rather amazing to see how well she transformed into a sound star and you have to think that she was among the best to do so."
In the early 1930s, tired of playing fun-loving flappers, Joan Crawford wanted to change her image. Thin lips would not do for her; she wanted big lips. Ignoring her natural lip contours, Max Factor ran a smear of colour across her upper and lower lips. It was just what she wanted. To Max, the Crawford look, which became her trademark, was always 'the smear'.
As the 1930s progressed, Joan Crawford became one of the biggest stars at MGM. She developed a glamorous screen image, appearing often as a sumptuously gowned, fur-draped, successful career woman. She was in top form in films such as Grand Hotel (Edmund Goulding, 1932), Sadie McKee (Clarence Brown, 1934), No More Ladies (Edward H. Griffith, 1935), and Love on the Run (W.S. Van Dyke, 1936) with Clark Gable.
Crawford often played hard-working young women who found romance and success. Movie patrons were enthralled, and studio executives were satisfied. Her fame rivalled, and later outlasted, that of MGM colleagues Norma Shearer and Greta Garbo. Among her early successes as a dramatic actress were The Women (George Cukor, 1939), Susan and God (1940), Strange Cargo (1940), and A Woman’s Face (1941).
By the early 1940s, MGM was no longer giving Joan Crawford plum roles. Newcomers had arrived in Hollywood, and the public wanted to see them. Crawford left MGM for rival Warner Bros. In 1945 she landed the role of a lifetime in Mildred Pierce (Michael Curtiz, 1945). It is the story of an emotional and ambitious woman who rises from waitress to owner of a restaurant chain. The role gave her an opportunity to show her range as an actress, and her performance as a woman driven to give her daughter (Ann Blyth) everything garnered Crawford her first, and only, Oscar for Best Actress. The following year she appeared with John Garfield in the well-received Humoresque (Jean Negulesco, 1946). In 1947, she appeared as Louise Graham in Possessed (Curtis Bernhardt, 1947) with Van Heflin. Again she was nominated for a Best Actress from the Academy, but she lost to Loretta Young in The Farmer's Daughter (H.C. Potter, 1947). Crawford continued to choose her roles carefully, and in 1952 she was nominated for a third time, for her depiction of Myra Hudson in Sudden Fear (David Miller, 1952) opposite Jack Palance and Gloria Grahame. This time the coveted Oscar went to Shirley Booth, for Come Back, Little Sheba (Daniel Mann, 1952). In 1955, Crawford became involved with the Pepsi-Cola Company through her marriage to company Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Alfred Steele. Crawford married four times. Her first three marriages to the actors Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. (1929–1933), Franchot Tone (1935–1939), and Phillip Terry (1942–1946) all had ended in divorce. After his death in 1959 she became a director of the company and in that role hired her friend Dorothy Arzner to film several Pepsi commercials. Crawford's film career slowed and she appeared in minor roles until 1962. Then she and Bette Davis co-starred in Whatever happened to Baby Jane? (Robert Aldrich, 1962). Their longstanding rivalry may have helped fuel their phenomenally vitriolic and well-received performances. Crawford's final appearance on the silver screen was in the bad monster movie Trog (Freddie Francis, 1970). It is said Bette Davis commented that if she had found herself starring in Trog, she'd commit suicide. Anyway, Joan Crawford retired from the screen, and following a public appearance in 1974 withdrew from public life. Turning to vodka more and more, she became increasingly reclusive. In 1977, Joan Crawford died of a heart attack in New York City. She was 72 years old. She had disinherited her adopted daughter Christina and son Christopher; the former wrote the controversial memoir 'Mommie Dearest' (1978). In 1981, Faye Dunaway starred in the film adaptation Mommie Dearest (Frank Perry, 1981) which did well at the box office. Joan Crawford is interred in a mausoleum in Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York.
Sources: Stephanie Jones (The Best of Everything), Michael Elliott (IMDb), Encyclopaedia Britannica, Wikipedia and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
This is more or less a reverse angle view of this photo. I got the idea to come to this side of the building on day three, after noticing what's become a regular afternoon vehicle now (cool parent or guardian taking their kids to see the action!) move over here. Glad I moved, since we can see here one of the interior walls of the women's (thanks Retail Retell for the confirmation!) restroom, still reasonably intact. The ceiling overhead is obviously quite a different story, and amazing to see the equipment and rolled-up runs of wiring that were over the false ceiling, possibly since the very early days of the store being in operation, if not from the initial construction back in 2001! Bewildering also is the vast volume of space that was up over that false ceiling!
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Kroger, 2001 built (demolished October 2016), Commerce St. at Mt. Pleasant Rd., Hernando, MS
Asylum : Mike Parr @ Dark Mofo. Entry by Mirror Only.
Willow Court, New Norfolk Tasmania.
I am unsure what to make of the “experience” of wandering through this old mental institution and prison for the criminally insane. I felt that we were supposed to think and feel this place in a certain and certainly negative and disturbing way, but this felt - I don’t know - a little dishonest? to me.
The place is filthy, derelict, and yes - perhaps - sad. But I felt it was the sadness of decay not the the sadness of what this place had been or the pain and horrors it may have held in its long history. Covered in dirt, rust and falling to pieces, perfectly innocent hospital equipment, such as an xray machine, were read as instruments of torture. Stairwells and filthy bathtubs and shower stalls appeared sinister and forbidding.
And yet, any pain, fear, loss of freedom and/or abuse that occured here occured in hospital grade cleanliness. It occured amongst the ubiquitous smell of disinfectant and institutional food. It occured amongst white sheets, in bland rooms with lino that extends up walls for ease of cleaning and doors wide enough for beds to be rolled from place to place - including into cold tiled bathroom blocks with no apparent concession to privacy. It occurred amongst the clatter of plates and and trolleys of equipment and medications and the thump of solid timber doors being closed and locked in that particular hollow echoeyness that seems to be unique to hospitals. If people suffered here (over and above the pains of their illness) in was in pristine surrounds, not in filth and if there was abuse it was most likely inflicted by people in crisp uniforms and often in the name of the latest ‘Medicine’ and ’Science'.
The true horror of this place is a clean and clinical one but this is buried in broken glass, falling plaster, graffiti and filth. There is a narrrative implied and affectively communicated in the dereliction here that is perhaps not fair to the true legacy of the place and especially not to the people who have passed though it, both patients and staff - some of whom are still alive and living locally. As it is, it is a slightly creepy spectacle for tourist consumption - the real conditions, the real stories, people’s lives, their experiences good and bad, are obscured and distorted through a lens of decay and dirt and possum shit.
I have a problem with that. I took my mirror home.
Illustrated by Marguerite Davis. “Summer Fun” by J. Mace Andress and Annie Turner Andress, with the assistance of Julia E. Dickson. Part of the Story Series in Health by Ginn and Company. Copyright 1932 by Andress and Andress.
Swiss-German-British postcard by News Productions, Baulmes / Filmwelt Berlin, Bakede / News Productions, Stroud, no. 56554. Photo: Collection Cinémathèque Suisse, Lausanne. Photo: MGM.
American film star Joan Crawford (1904-1977) had a career that would span many decades, studios, and controversies. In her silent films, she made an impact as a vivacious Jazz Age flapper and later she matured into a star of psychological melodramas.
Joan Crawford was born Lucille Fay LeSueur in 1904, in San Antonio, Texas. Her parents were Anna Belle (Johnson) and Thomas E. LeSueur, a laundry labourer. By the time she was born, her parents had separated. The young Lucille was bullied and shunned at Scaritt Elementary School in Kansas City by the other students due to her poor home life. She worked with her mother in a laundry and felt that her classmates could smell the chemicals and cleaners on her. She said that her love of taking showers and being obsessed with cleanliness had begun early in life as an attempt to wash off the smell of the laundry. Her stepfather Henry Cassin allegedly began sexually abusing her when she was eleven years old, and the abuse continued until she was sent to St. Agnes Academy, a Catholic girls' school. By the time she was a teenager, she'd had three stepfathers. Lucille LeSueur worked a variety of menial jobs. She was a good dancer, though, and she entered several contests, one of which landed her a spot in a chorus line. Before long, she was dancing in the choruses of travelling revues in big Midwestern and East Coast cities. She was spotted dancing in Detroit by famous New York producer Jacob J. Shubert. Shubert put her in the chorus line for his show 'Innocent Eyes'(1924) at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway. Then followed another Schubert production, 'The Passing Show of 1924'. After hours, she danced for pay in the town it-spot, Club Richman, which was run by the 'Passing Show' stage manager Nils Granlund and popular local personality Harry Richman. In December 1924, Granlund called Lucille to tell her that Al Altman, a NYC-based talent scout from MGM had caught her in 'The Passing Show of 1924' and wanted her to do a screen test. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) offered Crawford a contract at $75 a week. On New Year's Day 1925 she boarded the train for Culver City. Credited as Lucille LeSueur, her first film part was as a showgirl in Lady of the Night (Monta Bell, 1925), starring MGM's most popular female star, Norma Shearer. Crawford was determined to succeed, and shortly after she also appeared in The Circle (Frank Borzage, 1925) and Pretty Ladies (Monta Bell, 1925), starring comedian ZaSu Pitts. She also appeared in a small role in Erich von Stroheim's classic The Merry Widow (1925) with Mae Murray and John Gilbert. MGM publicity head Pete Smith recognised her ability to become a major star but felt her name sounded fake. He told studio head, Louis B. Mayer, that her last name, LeSueur, reminded him of a sewer. Smith organised a contest called 'Name the Star' in Movie Weekly to allow readers to select her new stage name. The initial choice was 'Joan Arden', but after another actress was found to have a prior claim to that name, the alternate surname 'Crawford' became the choice. She first made an impression on audiences in Edmund Goulding's showgirl tale Sally, Irene, and Mary (1925). The film, which co-starred Constance Bennett and Sally O'Neil, was a hit. Joan's popularity grew so quickly afterwards that two films in which she was still billed as Lucille Le Sueur: Old Clothes (Edward F. Cline, 1925) with Jackie Coogan, and The Only Thing (Jack Conway, 1925) were recalled, and her name on the billings was changed to Joan Crawford. In 1926, Crawford was named one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars, and she starred opposite Charles Ray in Paris (Edmund Goulding, 1926). Within a few years, she became the romantic female lead to many of MGM's top male stars, including Ramón Novarro, John Gilbert, and action star Tim McCoy. She appeared alongside her close friend, William Haines in the comedy Spring Fever (Edward Sedgwick, 1927). It was the second film starring Haines and Crawford (the first had been Sally, Irene and Mary (1925)), and their first onscreen romantic teaming. Then, Crawford appeared in the silent horror film The Unknown (Tod Browning, 1927), starring Lon Chaney, Sr., who played Alonzo the Armless, a circus freak who uses his feet to toss knives. Crawford played his skimpily-clad young carnival assistant whom he hopes to marry. She stated that she learned more about acting from watching Chaney work than from anyone else in her career. Her role of Diana Medford in Our Dancing Daughters (Harry Beaumont, 1928) elevated her to star status. Joan co-starred with Anita Page and Dorothy Sebastian, and her spunky wild-but-moral flapper character struck a chord with the public and zeitgeist. Wikipedia: "The role established her as a symbol of modern 1920s-style femininity which rivaled Clara Bow, the original It girl, then Hollywood's foremost flapper. A stream of hits followed Our Dancing Daughters, including two more flapper-themed movies, in which Crawford embodied for her legion of fans (many of whom were women) an idealized vision of the free-spirited, all-American girl." The fan mail began pouring in and from that point on Joan was a bonafide star. Crawford had cleared the first big hurdle; now came the second, in the form of talkies. But Crawford wasn't felled by sound. Her first talkie, the romantic drama Untamed (Jack Conway, 1929) with Robert Montgomery, was a success. Michael Eliott at IMDb: "It's rather amazing to see how well she transformed into a sound star and you have to think that she was among the best to do so."
In the early 1930s, tired of playing fun-loving flappers, Joan Crawford wanted to change her image. Thin lips would not do for her; she wanted big lips. Ignoring her natural lip contours, Max Factor ran a smear of colour across her upper and lower lips. It was just what she wanted. To Max, the Crawford look, which became her trademark, was always 'the smear'. As the 1930s progressed, Joan Crawford became one of the biggest stars at MGM. She developed a glamorous screen image, appearing often as a sumptuously gowned, fur-draped, successful career woman. She was in top form in films such as Grand Hotel (Edmund Goulding, 1932), Sadie McKee (Clarence Brown, 1934), No More Ladies (Edward H. Griffith, 1935), and Love on the Run (W.S. Van Dyke, 1936) with Clark Gable. Crawford often played hard-working young women who found romance and success. Movie patrons were enthralled, and studio executives were satisfied. Her fame rivalled, and later outlasted, that of MGM colleagues Norma Shearer and Greta Garbo. Among her early successes as a dramatic actress were The Women (George Cukor, 1939), Susan and God (1940), Strange Cargo (1940), and A Woman’s Face (1941). By the early 1940s, MGM was no longer giving Joan Crawford plum roles. Newcomers had arrived in Hollywood, and the public wanted to see them. Crawford left MGM for rival Warner Bros. In 1945 she landed the role of a lifetime in Mildred Pierce (Michael Curtiz, 1945). It is the story of an emotional and ambitious woman who rises from waitress to owner of a restaurant chain. The role gave her an opportunity to show her range as an actress, and her performance as a woman driven to give her daughter (Ann Blyth) everything garnered Crawford her first, and only, Oscar for Best Actress. The following year she appeared with John Garfield in the well-received Humoresque (Jean Negulesco, 1946). In 1947, she appeared as Louise Graham in Possessed (Curtis Bernhardt, 1947) with Van Heflin. Again she was nominated for the Best Actress award from the Academy, but she lost to Loretta Young in The Farmer's Daughter (H.C. Potter, 1947). Crawford continued to choose her roles carefully, and in 1952 she was nominated for a third time, for her depiction of Myra Hudson in Sudden Fear (David Miller, 1952) opposite Jack Palance and Gloria Grahame. This time the coveted Oscar went to Shirley Booth, for Come Back, Little Sheba (Daniel Mann, 1952). In 1955, Crawford became involved with the Pepsi-Cola Company through her marriage to company Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Alfred Steele. Crawford married four times. Her first three marriages to the actors Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. (1929–1933), Franchot Tone (1935–1939), and Phillip Terry (1942–1946) all had ended in divorce. After his death in 1959 she became a director of the company and in that role hired her friend Dorothy Arzner to film several Pepsi commercials. Crawford's film career slowed and she appeared in minor roles until 1962. Then she and Bette Davis co-starred in Whatever happened to Baby Jane? (Robert Aldrich, 1962). Their longstanding rivalry may have helped fuel their phenomenally vitriolic and well-received performances. Crawford's final appearance on the silver screen was in the bad monster movie Trog (Freddie Francis, 1970). It is said Bette Davis commented that if she had found herself starring in Trog, she'd commit suicide. Anyway, Joan Crawford retired from the screen, and following a public appearance in 1974 withdrew from public life. Turning to vodka more and more, she became increasingly reclusive. In 1977, Joan Crawford died of a heart attack in New York City. She was 72 years old. She had disinherited her adopted daughter Christina and son Christopher; the former wrote the controversial memoir 'Mommie Dearest' (1978). In 1981, Faye Dunaway starred in the film adaptation Mommie Dearest (Frank Perry, 1981) which did well at the box office. Joan Crawford is interred in a mausoleum in Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York.
Sources: Stephanie Jones (The Best of Everything), Michael Elliott (IMDb), Encyclopaedia Britannica, Wikipedia, and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.