Alfred Steele was Joan Crawford's fourth, and last, husband (it was his first marriage). She was 50, he 54 when they married in Las Vegas on May 10, 1955. Steele died of a heart attack four years later. (Interestingly, all of Crawford's marriages lasted four years.) Besides being Alfred's spouse, Joan also served as a tireless worldwide ambassador for the soft drink. (At the time of their marriage Crawford's adopted daughter Christina was 15.)
Crawford's marriage to Steele was portrayed in the movie Mommie Dearest, which resulted in two classic scenes. In the first, Crawford (played by Faye Dunaway) is overseeing the renovation of her and Steele's Manhattan apartment and orders the builders to "Tear down that bitch of a bearing wall and put a window where it ought to be!". Then, when the Pepsi board of directors tries to remove her from the board after Steele's death, Joan has one of the most memorable lines of the entire movie: "Don't fuck with me fellas, this ain't my first time at the rodeo!"
Comments
You incorrectly listed Crawford as Steele's first wife. Steele was previously married to Lillian Nelson. He had a daughter and son from his first marriage.
I feel sorry 💔 for Al Steel even though he is gone. I bet Joan Crawford made his life a living hell! It reminds me of what happened to my father. It wasn't as wealthy as Al Steel but he had money. He married a woman a couple of years after my mother died. She was a terrible person after they were married. An alcoholic like Crawford, and talked my father into marrying her along with buying her a deli. He died 4 years later of a massive heart attack. I think it was murder. She is gone now too or I would do something about it. Go to the police at least and ask them what they thought. I should have but, I was so upset at the time anchor years after that. My sister didn't quite believe it could be true. The more I think about everything that happened, I am 90% sure it is. Crawford should have done time in prison for what she did to Christina. I am not just going by the movie, but the several stories I had read about Christina's life. Crawford adopted 4 children. She probably hurt all of them in some way or another. She was a mentally disturbed person who was also an alcoholic. It is too bad that she got away with all of it because there weren't any laws against child abuse at the time. It truly sickens me.
As others mentioned, this wasn't Steele's 1st marriage and had 2 or 3 children. As brutal as I'm sure Joan was to most people, by all accounts these 2 seemed to be happy. Joan probably needed someone out of show business who was successful and more wealthy than her to fully submit to marriage and respect her husband. She loved being his wife and he was probably thrilled to have a movie star wife. So I say good for them and it's a shame he died so soon into their marriage. She seemed to have never recovered from it. I love how seriously she took promoting Pepsi every chance she got.
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You incorrectly listed Crawford as Steele's first wife. Steele was previously married to Lillian Nelson. He had a daughter and son from his first marriage.
Posted by: Eric | 08/06/2015 at 12:21 AM
Actually, Steele had been married TWICE before!
Posted by: K | 08/12/2015 at 02:32 AM
I feel sorry 💔 for Al Steel even though he is gone. I bet Joan Crawford made his life a living hell! It reminds me of what happened to my father. It wasn't as wealthy as Al Steel but he had money. He married a woman a couple of years after my mother died. She was a terrible person after they were married. An alcoholic like Crawford, and talked my father into marrying her along with buying her a deli. He died 4 years later of a massive heart attack. I think it was murder. She is gone now too or I would do something about it. Go to the police at least and ask them what they thought. I should have but, I was so upset at the time anchor years after that. My sister didn't quite believe it could be true. The more I think about everything that happened, I am 90% sure it is. Crawford should have done time in prison for what she did to Christina. I am not just going by the movie, but the several stories I had read about Christina's life. Crawford adopted 4 children. She probably hurt all of them in some way or another. She was a mentally disturbed person who was also an alcoholic. It is too bad that she got away with all of it because there weren't any laws against child abuse at the time. It truly sickens me.
Posted by: Marie | 01/01/2022 at 10:15 PM
Does anyone know how much money Steele had before he married Crawford and how much of his money she spent while he was alive?
Posted by: Guest | 04/11/2022 at 02:47 AM
As others mentioned, this wasn't Steele's 1st marriage and had 2 or 3 children. As brutal as I'm sure Joan was to most people, by all accounts these 2 seemed to be happy. Joan probably needed someone out of show business who was successful and more wealthy than her to fully submit to marriage and respect her husband. She loved being his wife and he was probably thrilled to have a movie star wife. So I say good for them and it's a shame he died so soon into their marriage. She seemed to have never recovered from it. I love how seriously she took promoting Pepsi every chance she got.
Posted by: Sue G | 09/18/2023 at 07:41 AM