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Film 907: Mildred Pierce

Trivia: Shirley Temple was originally considered for the part of Veda Pierce.

Shooting the early scenes, director Michael Curtiz accused Joan Crawford of needlessly glamorizing her working mother role. She insisted she was buying her character's clothes off the rack, but didn't mention that her own dressmaker was fitting the waists and padding out the shoulders.

Monty's Beach House, used in the key opening scene and several others, was actually owned by the film's director, Michael Curtiz. It was built in 1929 and stood at 26652 Latigo Shore Dr. in Malibu. It collapsed into the ocean after a week of heavy storms in January 1983.

Mirroring her own life, Joan Crawford had also supported herself as a waitress and saleswoman before she achieved success as an actress.

Joan Crawford was nominated and won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Mildred Pierce. She was not at the award ceremony because she was home in bed with pneumonia. However, there was a story circulated that she faked her illness. Joan did not think she would win the Academy Award and she did not want to attend the ceremony to be humiliated. It was said that after she heard that she won the award for Best Actress, she jumped out of bed, did her make up and put on her best negligee to meet the press.