Joan Crawford (c. 1904-1977) was an American film and television actress. In 1999, she was ranked on the American Film Institute’s list of the greatest actresses of Classic Hollywood Cinema.
Born Lucille Fay LeSueur, she was the third child of Thomas LeSueur and Anna Bell Johnson, who was of French Huguenot descent. She began her career as a dancer, and in 1925 she started her onscreen career with MGM.
The actress gained recognition in 1928, with the smash hit Our Dancing Daughters, and a prolific and enduring career followed. After a lull in her career, Crawford left MGM and signed with Warner Brothers in the early 1940s. In 1945, Crawford won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as Mildred Pierce in the film of the same name.
Source: http://www.joancrawfordbest.com/f.htm & http://www.biography.com/people/joan-crawford-9260899#oscar-for-mildred-pierce