Christina Crawford (born June 11, 1939)[2] is an American former author and actress, best known for her 1978 memoir and exposé, Mommie Dearest, which described the alleged abuse she was subjected to by her adoptive mother, film star Joan Crawford.
Early life and education
Born in Los Angeles on June 11, 1939, Christina was one of four children adopted by Joan Crawford.[3][4]
After fourteen years as an actress, Crawford returned to college, graduating magna cum laude from UCLA and receiving her master's degree from the Annenberg School of Communication at USC. Then she worked in corporate communications at the Los Angeles headquarters of Getty Oil Company.[6]
In 1962, she appeared in the play The Complaisant Lover. She played five character parts in Ben Hecht's controversial play Winkelberg. The same year, she appeared on the CBS courtroom drama The Verdict is Yours.[13] In October 1965, she appeared in Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park, with Myrna Loy, a friend of her mother, before being fired after the cast complained of Christina's unprofessional behavior. She was considered a capable actress, but difficult to work with in the industry.[14] She also had a small role in Faces (1968), a romantic drama directed by John Cassavetes.
She played Joan Borman Kane on the soap operaThe Secret Storm in New York from 1968 until 1969. In October 1968, Christina Crawford missed several episodes due to emergency surgery. Her mother Joan Crawford was asked by executive producer Gloria Monty and network executives to fill in as Christina's character. Joan performed as "Joan" in several episodes so that the part would not be recast during her absence.[15]
After Joan Crawford died in 1977, Crawford and her brother, Christopher, discovered that their mother had disinherited them from her estate, her will citing "reasons which are well-known to them."[16] In October 1977, Crawford and her brother sued Joan Crawford's estate to invalidate their mother's will, which she signed on October 28, 1976.[citation needed] Cathy LaLonde, another of Crawford's daughters, and her husband, Jerome, the complaint charged, "took deliberate advantage of decedent's seclusion and weakened and distorted mental and physical condition to insinuate themselves" into Joan's favor.[17] A settlement between the parties was reached on July 13, 1979, which provided Crawford and Christopher a combined $55,000 from their mother's estate.[18]
Christina's ex-husband, producer Harvey Medlinsky, said in response to Christina's memoir, "I have only good things to say about Joan Crawford. She was always nice to me and Christina."[22]The Secret Storm producer Gloria Monty, countered Christina's allegation that Joan "stole" Christina's role on the television show when she fell ill in 1968. According to Monty, she and CBS asked Joan to substitute for her daughter on the show, and that Joan agreed only in the interest of not allowing Christina to be permanently replaced by another actress until she could return to the show. Monty added, "I'll tell you that I saw Joan Crawford do everything she could to save that girl's life and job."[23]Helen Hayes,[24]June Allyson,[25] and Vincent Sherman[26] stated they had witnessed strict discipline. For example, Hayes and Sherman both stated in their autobiographies that they felt Joan was too strict a parent. Allyson stated in her autobiography that she witnessed Joan put Christina in "time-out", and did not let her go to a friend's birthday party as a punishment. However these people never stated they witnessed any outright abuse.[citation needed]
Mommie Dearest became a best-seller, and was made into the 1981 film Mommie Dearest, starring Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford.[27]
Christina had no involvement with the making of the film, and has denounced the film as "grotesque" and a work of fiction. Christina has repeatedly stated that the film is highly inaccurate, and that the portrayal of her mother in the film bears little resemblance to the real Joan Crawford, specifically citing that her mother never chopped down a tree with an axe, or beat her with a wire hanger as depicted in the film.[28]
Christina Crawford has published five subsequent books, including Survivor, Black Widow, No Safe Place, Daughters of the Inquisition and Scammed.[4]
After a stroke in 1981, she spent five years in rehabilitation before moving to the Northwest.[4] She ran a bed and breakfast called Seven Springs Farms in Tensed, Idaho, between 1994 and 1999.[4]
On July 20, 1998, one of Joan Crawford's other adopted children, Cathy Crawford LaLonde, filed a lawsuit against Christina Crawford for "defamation of character". LaLonde stated in her lawsuit that, during the 20th-anniversary book tour of Mommie Dearest, Christina publicly claimed to interviewers that LaLonde and her twin sister, Cynthia, were not biological sisters, and that their adoption was never legal. LaLonde stated neither claim by Christina was true, and attached copies of the twin girls' birth certificates and adoption documentation to the lawsuit.[29] The lawsuit was later settled out of court for $5,000 plus court costs.[30]
In 2000, Crawford began working as entertainment manager at the Coeur d'Alene Casino in Idaho, where she worked until 2007. She then wrote and produced a regional TV series, Northwest Entertainment. On November 22, 2009, she was appointed county commissioner in Benewah County, Idaho, by Governor Butch Otter,[31] but she lost her bid for election in November 2010.[32] In 2011, Crawford founded the non-profit Benewah Human Rights Coalition and served as the organization's first president.[33] In 2013, she made a documentary, Surviving Mommie Dearest.
On November 21, 2017, the e-book editions of Mommie Dearest, Survivor and Daughters of the Inquisition were published through Open Road Integrated Media. She is also currently working with composer David Nehls on a stage musical adaptation of Mommie Dearest, to be produced in regional theater.[34] Crawford was (as of 2017) writing a third book in her memoir trilogy, following Mommie Dearest and Survivor.[35]
Personal life
Crawford met her first husband, Harvey Medlinsky, a director and Broadway stage manager, while she was appearing in the Chicago national company of Barefoot in the Park. They were married briefly in the late 1960s before divorcing.[4] She married and divorced twice more. She has no children.[citation needed]
