Joan Crawford - Mommie Dearest

In November 1978, a year and a half after Crawford's death, Christina published Mommie Dearest, which contained allegations that Crawford was emotionally and physically abusive to Christina and her brother Christopher. Many of Crawford's friends and co-workers, including Van Johnson, Ann Blyth, Marlene Dietrich, Myrna Loy, Cesar Romero, Gary Gray, Crawford's first husband, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Crawford's other daughters, Cathy and Cindy, denounced the book, categorically denying any abuse. But others, including Betty Hutton, Helen Hayes, James MacArthur, June Allyson, Liz Smith, and Rex Reed stated that they had witnessed abuse. Bette Davis supported Christina's version, saying that Christina could not have made it up (Davis, while still alive, would later become the target of her own daughter B. D. Hyman's tell-all in 1985, My Mother's Keeper). Mommie Dearest became a bestseller and was made into the 1981 film Mommie Dearest, starring Faye Dunaway as Crawford. Dunaway would later express regret for her portrayal of Crawford in her autobiography, Looking for Gatsby, believing that her career had been damaged by the portrayal and at the hands of Crawford's friends.