Crawfords Jealousy: Monroe Feud Exposed

Joan Crawford is one of the finest stars to ever light up the silver screen, but her catty Hollywood feuds have at times eclipsed her iconic filmography.

Her most notable rivalry was of course with fellow actress Bette Davis, although some could argue that her contentious relationship with adopted daughter Christina Crawford () takes the cake.

What many people forget is that Crawford also had it out for the much younger Marilyn Monroe, who was seen as a successor to Crawford's old school class of silent era starlets.

According to actress Mamie Van Doren, Crawford was less than impressed when she encountered Monroe at the 1953 Photoplay Awards, where the ingenue received The New Star Award.

Recalling the awkward moment in her new memoir You Thought I Was Dead, Van Doren wrote, 'Marilyn was cavorting on stage that night in a skintight gold lame gown, while Crawford watched in disgust, drinking herself into a stupor.'

Monroe biographer Donald Spoto shared extra details about the aftermath of that night, according to Entertainment Weekly.

'With one little twist of her derriere, Marilyn Monroe stole the show,' he wrote.

'After Marilyn, every other girl appeared dull by contrast,' Spoto continued, adding that both Crawford and actress Lana Turner only received 'casual attention' once Monroe entered the room.

After being upstaged, Crawford then summoned her favorite gossip columnist Bob Thomas and publicly denounced Monroe's attention-grabbing antics in a cruel move.

'It was like a burlesque show. The audience yelled and shouted, and Jerry Lewis got up on the table and whistled,' Crawford said.

'But those of us in the industry just shuddered... Sex plays a tremendously important part in every person’s life. People are interested in it, intrigued with it. But they don’t like to see it flaunted in their faces,' she continued.

'The publicity has gone too far. She is making the mistake of believing her publicity. Someone should make her see the light.'

Then, in her most cutting remark, Crawford said, 'She should be told that the public likes provocative feminine personalities; but it also likes to know that underneath it all, the actresses are ladies.'

Not willing to take Crawford's comment lying down, Monroe issued a cleverly crafted response that was classy on the surface, but managed to subtly paint Crawford as jealous and somewhat irrational.

'Although I don’t know Miss Crawford very well, she was a symbol to me of kindness and understanding to those who need help,' Monroe purred.

'At first, all I could think of was why should she select me to blast? She is a great star. I’m just starting. And then, when the first hurt began to die down, I told myself she must have spoken to Mr. Thomas impulsively, without thinking.'

Crawford and Monroe had in fact interacted prior to that night, with Crawford going as far as to invite Monroe to her home to offer advice early in Monroe's career.

According to Charlotte Chandler’s 2009 Joan Crawford biography Not the Girl Next Door, Monroe, who was a foster child, respected how Crawford had adopted her children. 

'Marilyn was impressed that [Crawford] didn’t just depend on a man to support her economically or emotionally. Marilyn admired that kind of courage, though she didn’t feel she had it herself... She thought she was a saint. Saint Joan. Saint Joan Crawford!' wrote Chandler, citing Monroe's former co-star Laurence Olivier.

Monroe burst onto the scene in the early 1950s, just as Crawford's career was winding down.

In 1953, the same year that Crawford publicly attacked Monroe after the Photoplay Awards, Monroe starred in the back-to-back blockbusters Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and How to Marry a Millionaire.

By contrast, Crawford had dominated the silent film era in the 1920s, before finding success in the talkies of the early 1930s. 

Her career then took a nosedive and at one point she was labelled 'box office poison', until staging a sensational comeback in 1946's Mildred Pierce. 

She had a few more hits at the start of the 1950s, most notably The Damned Don't Cry in 1950 and Sudden Fear the following year, but her career wound down once again until her second major comeback in 1962's What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?.