“It’s the kind of a drama we used to call a thriller,” Joan Crawford said in a radio appearance in 1952, teasing an upcoming film. “In fact, it’s so exciting that the first time I read the script some friends rang my doorbell about 9 o’clock at night and I was afraid to open the door.” Imagine, for a second, a frightened Joan Crawford home alone, stirred up by the story that would soon become her next movie: Sudden Fear.
In the collective memory, Crawford is imagined with fear always in mind. Fear of being disliked or forgotten, fear of the box office, of bad lighting, even fear of wire hangers. The prevailing view of Crawford was that of the scary lady: frightening and frightened.
