“I don’t think women should be allowed to marry before they reach 25, men at 30. I really believe this. At that point the mind and lifestyle and sexuality should have developed to a degree that establishes their compatibility.”
Joan Crawford, Conversations with Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford, Conversations with Joan Crawford
Newlyweds Joan Crawford and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. in 1929; Photograph by Nikolaus Muray
Joan Crawford's negative opinion of early marriage was garnered from the school of hard knocks. When she was in her mid-twenties, she wed the nineteen-year-old, dazzlingly handsome Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. The son of screen idol Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. and stepson of America's Sweetheart Mary Pickford, he was the original crown prince of Hollywood. Neither Doug Sr. nor Mary was pleased with the match, and Crawford felt unwelcome at Pickfair, Doug and Mary's (then) world-famous estate in Beverly Hills.
The marriage would not have lasted even absent the haughty in-laws, but that certainly did not help. In any case, a friendship did survive. In later years, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Joan Crawford spoke well of each other.
The marriage would not have lasted even absent the haughty in-laws, but that certainly did not help. In any case, a friendship did survive. In later years, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Joan Crawford spoke well of each other.
Image Credit: The Fairbanks Album
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