Dear, dear Joan

This is a portion of what George Cukor read on June 24, 1977 in Los Angeles at a memorial service for Joan, who had died the month before.


"But for all that, in private life she was a lovable, sentimental creature. A loyal and generous friend, very thoughtful; dear Joan Crawford, she forgot nothing---names, dates, obligations. These included the people at Hollywood institutions who had helped make and keep her a star. When it was fashionable to rail against the studio system and the tycoons who had built it, she was always warm in their defense. She spoke of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as a family in which she was directed and protected, provided with fine stories and just about every great male star to play opposite; later she built up a similar relationship with Warners. And through it all she was consistently herself, unmistakably Joan Crawford, star. Katharine Hepburn says that every great star has a talent to irritate. Joan Crawford had that: whether you liked her or did not like her on the screen, you could not ignore her existence nor deny her quality.

I thought Joan Crawford could never die. Come to think of it, as long as celluloid holds together and the word Hollywood means anything to anyone, she never will."