Joan on religion

[Admin]

From "Conversations with Joan Crawford":

I believe in God, but I don't think He cares a hell of a lot about whether a person is a Catholic, Protestant, Jew, or Moslem, as long as that person has a record rolled up that includes more good marks than bad ones. I think Roz Russell is the best example of a practicing believer; her Catholicism is very strong, but she doesn't impose it on others. Not like Loretta Young and Irene Dunne; those ladies seem to be rehearsing to play the next Virgin Mary. I think faith is wonderful, but when you try to impose it on others, it's irritating and boring. Like those Hari Krishna asses with their shaved heads and funny gowns, or so many of the cults that have come along in the last few years. Have faith, but don't become a hooker, is about all I can say....

...part of me believes in Predestination--you know, someone up there is pulling the strings, whatever will be will be. Yet I know this isn't true because I can look back and realize how many times a decision was totally in my hands; I had to make a choice and nobody Up There was telling me what to do. Besides, I don't think that someone Up There has time to make all our nit-picking decisions for us....We all have regrets--I can't imagine even Hitler without them...But when you consider time and place and circumstance...could any of us have done differently? I guess that's where Predestination comes in. At the time we can only do what we are capable of doing.

[davidmorrocco]

I found this quote that Joan said while on her deathbed. (I’m not sure it’s true.)
Quote: "Damn it, don't you DARE ask God to help me."
Do you think she may have said that because she figured God had other’s to care for and she had a good life so let God help others? 

[Admin]

Nov 9, 2020 8:48:08 GMT -6 davidmorrocco said:

I found this quote that Joan said while on her deathbed. (I’m not sure it’s true.)
Quote: "Damn it, don't you DARE ask God to help me."
Do you think she may have said that because she figured God had other’s to care for and she had a good life so let God help others? 

I think Christina, who was told later about her mother's last words, intentionally misconstrued and reported them. Designer Carleton Varney, who had been helping Joan renovate her apartment, writes in his 1980 book "There's No Place Like Home":

On Monday (May 9), Darinka (Joan's companion Darinka Papich) was back, relieved to find Joan still alive, and the nurse left for a few days. That day, as Darinka was carrying Joan to the toilet..."I think I said something like, 'I want to pray for you,'" she recalled. Joan said, almost as an aside, "Oh Darinka, don't do that."... When Darinka later told Christina about the incident, she said she had done so in an effort to explain why her mother had told no one she was dying, to try to convey to her the extent of Joan's refusal to be an object of pity. She was upset when Christina later said in her book that Joan's last words had been, "Goddamn it, don't pray for me." Darinka wished Tina had been with her mother when she lay dying. "It becomes part of you forever," she said. "If Christina had seen her mother suffer, she could never have written all those horrible things."

[davidmorrocco]

Thanks so much for the truth of Joan’s words from a source that was there with Joan at the end of her life. I’m a nurse working with hospice patients and see how much or little families can be involved with a death of another family member. It’s tragic, but then after the death, when it comes to the reading of the trust or reading of the will, sometimes it’s a nightmare. It happened with my own family too. Then people often will say things out of context to make sure that it’s to their benefit. Thanks again for your reply.