1970

January 16. Joan appears on the Merv Griffin Show as well as on the David Frost Show.

January 21. Joan appears in the "Nightmare" episode of The Virginian.

February 2. At the Golden Globe awards show at the Cocoanut Grove, Joan is presented with the Cecil B. DeMille Award by John Wayne.

January 30. Joan appears on The Tim Conway Show.

February 7. Joan appears on Hollywood Palace.

March 21. Joan appears on the Merv Griffin Show.

April. Joan speaks at her alma mater, Stephens College.

April 21. Joan appears on the David Frost Show.

May 16. Joan makes a personal appearance in Sedalia, Missouri, for a Pepsi bottling plant opening.

June. Christina decides to move to Los Angeles. Joan offers her the use of her West Hollywood apartment and calls some of her friends to help Christina find work. 6 weeks later, Joan has her secretary call Christina to ask her to move out since Joan will be needing the apartment herself.

June 15. Joan hosts the TV movie "Journey to the Unknown."

October 4.  Joan (along with Jesse Owens) is a featured "Founders Day" speaker at an Albion, Michigan, benefit for "Starr Commonwealth," a non-profit organization for troubled kids.  Also on this day, Joan appears on The Tim Conway Comedy Hour.

October 24. Trog released. This is Joan's final film.

1971

[Joan's book My Way of Life is released by Simon and Schuster.]

January 15. Joan appears on The Name of the Game.

January 26. Joan appears at Blackglama's Night of the Legends party to benefit NYC's Police Athletic League.

January 30. Joan hosts the TV movie "Journey to Murder."

October. Joan attends a 5-day "Joan Crawford Film Festival" held in Washington, D.C., hosted by the American Film Institute. While in DC, she autographs copies of My Way of Life at Woodward & Lothrop.

October 7. Joan appears on the David Frost Show.

October 28. Joan appears on the Merv Griffin Show.

December 25. Joan and Christina speak for the last time, in an unpleasant Christmas conversation. The two continue to exchange mail and birthday/holiday gifts, however.

1972

[Joan's TV commercial for the Muscular Dystrophy Association is aired.]

Mid-April. Carl Johnes, a story editor at Columbia Pictures' NYC office, is asked by his boss to help Joan rearrange her library.

April 27. Joan appears in the TV movie "Beyond the Water's Edge."

September 26. Joan appears on the Merv Griffin Show.

September 30. Joan appears in the "Dear Joan, We're Going to Scare You to Death" episode of The Sixth Sense.

1973

[Joan's TV commercial for the American Cancer Society is aired.]

April 8. Joan appears at New York City's Town Hall for a live interview with John Springer, as part of his "Legendary Ladies of the Screen" series.

April. PepsiCo forcibly retires Joan from the company's board.

September. Joan moves from apartment 22-G to the smaller apartment 22-H in the Imperial House. Joan calls Carl Johnes to help her out. (They hadn't spoken in the year-and-a-half since he helped organize her books.)

October. Carl Johnes travels to Europe and Joan asks him to purchase some Alice Landais scarves while he's in Paris; she gives him a generous amount of money for his efforts. He and Joan meet for lunch on the last Sunday of the month.

December 26. Joan's longtime friend William Haines dies.

December 27. Joan has cocktail party. Carl Johnes and her neighbors, the Mertzes, are among the guests.

1974

March. On the first Wednesday of the month, Joan has Johnes and his brother and sister-in-law over for drinks and backgammon.

April. Joan phones Johnes to play backgammon; he's not home, so she invites his roommate over instead.

May 24. Joan is diagnosed with periodontal disease.

July 17. Joan is hospitalized for dental surgery.

September 23. Joan makes her last public appearance, at New York City's Rainbow Room, at a party honoring Rosalind Russell.

December 10. Joan falls in her apartment and receives two black eyes after hitting her head on a table.

December 11. Joan watches the documentary "This Is Noel Coward" broadcast on the local PBS station after filmmaker Charles Castle expresses an interest in doing a similar film on her. She isn't impressed with the show and subsequently decides not to work with Castle. (He later publishes the book Raging Star about her.)

December 12. Joan and Johnes have lunch at her apartment.

1975

February. When Joan finds out Carl Johnes is having friends over to watch Maureen Stapleton in the TV movie "Queen of the Stardust Ballroom," Joan provides him with an ice-filled cooler of Pepsi and Diet Pepsi, chipping the ice and filling the cooler herself.

March 23. Johnes gives Joan a copy of Mildred Cram's book Forever for her birthday.

1976

October 21. An FBI agent phones Joan to discuss recent extortion and death threats made against her.

October 28. Joan signs her last will and testament.

December. Late in the month, Johnes and Joan meet for drinks at her apartment. It's their last meeting in person. Also this month, author Shaun Considine (later to write Bette and Joan: The Divine Feud) interviews Joan by phone.

December 24. Carl Johnes receives a Christmas crock-pot in the mail from Joan and the two enthuse about it over the phone. (She also gives him an Executive Planner.)

1977

January. Variety reports that Joan will star in a TV series, The Silver Foxes.

April 10. Christina Crawford receives a last letter from Joan, a belated "thank you" for sending her a birthday card the month before.

May 8. Joan gives away her shi-tzu, Princess Lotus Blossom.

May 10. Joan Crawford dies in her New York City apartment. The coroner lists the cause as "acute coronary occlusion."

May 13. Joan's funeral is held at NYC's Campbell Funeral Home at 10am. All four children attend, as does Joan's niece. Joan's will is read to the family that evening.

May 16. A New York memorial service is held for Joan at All Soul's Unitarian Church on Lexington Avenue.

May 19. The AP reports that Joan's will has left nothing to Christina and Christopher, "for reasons which are well known to them."

June 24. A Beverly Hills memorial service for Joan, organized by George Cukor, is held at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences building, in the Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

November 19. The LA Times reports that Christina and Christopher have filed suit with the New York state Supreme Court asking for a jury trial regarding the will and that the will not be admitted to probate. (If the will not admitted to probate, this would mean that Joan died without a will and that her estate would be divided equally between all four children.)

1978

February. An auction of Joan's belongings is held at the Plaza Galleries on Manhattan's East Side. The items are appraised at $8,000 and bring in $43,000.

Fall. William Morrow and Co. publishes Christina Crawford's tell-all memoir Mommie Dearest.

NOTE: Post-1978, only years in which something of relative interest in Joan-lore will appear.

1981

September 18. The film version of Christina's book Mommie Dearest is released.

1993

Joan's Oscar for Mildred Pierce is sold at auction for $68,500.

1996

A&E airs a  60-minute Joan documentary, "Always the Star," as part of its Biography series.

1998

July. Twin Cathy LaLonde files suit against Christina for defamation of character after Christina continues to claim that Cathy and Cindy are not twins. The suit is settled out of court.

1999

January. Playboy magazine announces its "Sex Stars of the Century." Joan is listed at #84.

June 16. The American Film Institute announces its two lists of the "50 Greatest American Screen Legends," 25 male, 25 female. Joan is listed at #10.

2001

August. Christina appears on the Larry King Show and claims that Joan murdered (!) Al Steele.

2002

August. Turner Classic Movies premieres a 90-minute documentary, "Joan Crawford: The Ultimate Star." Joan is also their featured Star of the Month.

2003

July 16. E! presents its "101 Most Shocking Moments in Entertainment, 40 - 21." At Number 35: "Christina Crawford writes Mommie Dearest about abusive mother Joan Crawford," which appears just behind "James Dean dies in car accident" and just before "Freddie Prinze commits suicide." (Joan's poor mothering skills seem to be losing some steam---Pee-Wee Herman's peep-show adventure ranked as several notches more scurrilous!)

2004

March 23. "The Best of Everything: A Joan Crawford Encyclopedia" website premieres.

2005

August. Joan grandson Casey LaLonde (son of Cathy) appears on a local Virginia classic-film TV show to comment on his grandmother and the film Rain.

2007

August. TCM shows 24 hours of Joan, who is one of their featured "Summer Under the Stars" actors for the month.