Possessed: The Life of Joan Crawford

by Donald Spoto

“I had heard so many stories about her,” Sherman recalled, “and I thought she’d be very demanding, overpowering and overwhelming. But Joan was very much down to earth, very simple, unpretentious and very smart about filmmaking.” “She phoned me almost every day to discuss some story point,” Sherman remembered, “or she would come to the studio to talk about her wardrobe. I found her excellent to work with—intelligent, perceptive, and she presented her thoughts in a way that was never high-handed. I had never worked with an actor who knew so much about filmmaking. She could have been imperious, but she never was. She always asked rather than told, and she listened. She appreciated being part of the process of working on the script, even though she had that power [in her contract].” He recalled daily script conferences, at which Joan was present along with Sherman, Wald and writers Harold Medford and Jerome Weidman—meetings to which she came prepared with detailed notes, questions and valuable ideas. When filming began, the director had more reasons to praise his leading lady. On the set, she at