Joan Crawford died on May 10, 1927.
Joan Crawford ( born Lucille Fay LeSueur ; March 23 , c. 1904 -- May 10 , 1977 ) was an American film and television actress who began her career as a dancer and stage showgirl . But her career gradually improved in the early 1940s , and she made a major comeback in 1945 by starring in Mildred Pierce , for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress . In 1955 , Crawford became involved with the Pepsi-Cola Company through her marriage to company Chairman Alfred Steele . Following a public appearance in 1974 , after which unflattering photographs were published , Crawford withdrew from public life and became increasingly reclusive until her death in 1977 .