Onscreen Moms We Love--To Hate
By Kit Bowen, Hollywood.com Staff
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Friday, May 09, 2008
7. Mom: Joan Crawford
Mommie Dearest (Faye Dunaway)
Her deal: We all know by now the story of screen legend Joan Crawford: how she started her career as a silent screen star, then became box office poison but eventually made a huge comeback and won an Oscar for her self-serving performance in Mildred Pierce. Yet it wasn't until her fair-haired adoptive daughter Christina wrote a book about her very mean mommie that we discovered just how screwed up Joan really was. Dunaway's performance as the grand dame is incomparable.
Her parenting skills (or lack thereof): Demanding, unrelenting, jealous, vain, insecure, abusive, smothering--and these are just some of Joan's good traits as a mother.
Her motherly moment: With her face contorted in rage, looking into her daughter's closet, Joan screams at Christina, "No. Wire. HANGARS!!" And then beats her with them. Classic.
