In Mildred Pierce (1945), Joan Crawford played Mildred, a divorced mother who builds a restaurant business to give her daughter Veda the life she wants, only to be betrayed by that same daughter. Directed by Michael Curtiz, the film combined melodrama with film noir, opening with a murder and telling Mildred’s story in flashback.
Crawford’s Mildred is hard-working, proud and blind to her daughter’s cruelty, and she played the role with a restraint that made the final scenes devastating. The performance won her the Academy Award for Best Actress, and it revived a career that had been in decline.
Mildred Pierce is Crawford’s most famous film, and a defining work of 1940s Hollywood — a story of motherhood, ambition and sacrifice that still resonates today.