Mia Farrow recalls abruptly leaving ‘strange' Joan Crawford's apartment: ‘I was scared'
Mia Farrow was not a fan of Joan Crawford.
In a new Interview magazine piece, Farrow, 80, spoke to fellow Broadway star Cole Escola about Crawford, calling the 'Our Dancing Daughters' actress 'scary.'
'And she was scary in person as well,' Farrow added.
8 Mia Farrow attends the 78th Annual Tony Awards Meet The Nominees Press Event on May 8, 2025.
Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions
8 Joan Crawford in 1944.
Getty Images
The 'Alice' star recalled that she interacted with Crawford as a teenager while filming 'Peyton Place' on the Fox lot in California.
At the time, Crawford — who was almost 40 years older than Farrow — was married to Pepsi-Cola president Alfred Steele.
'For whatever reason, she started sending a whole refrigerator of Pepsi Cola for my trailer 'cause I was in a TV series called 'Peyton Place,'' Farrow explained. 'I don't particularly like Pepsi Cola, but a lot of Pepsi Cola kept coming to my trailer, more than anyone would ever want. And then she came over to see me and I got a strange vibe from her.'
8 Dorothy Malone and Mia Farrow on 'Peyton Place.'
Bettmann Archive
8 Johnny Mack Brown and Joan Crawford in 'Our Dancing Daughters' in 1928.
Getty Images
Farrow described another weird moment with Crawford at her mother Maureen O'Sullivan's house in New York.
'So I'm back in New York, and she knew my mother. I hung up people's coats for my mom when they came into the house,' Farrow shared. 'And I hung her coat and out falls a flask of alcohol. She grabbed it like that, and she put it in her handbag. She drank quite a lot.'
8 Joan Crawford in a promotional still from 'The Best Of Everything' in 1959.
Getty Images
Additionally, Farrow recalled that she was 17 she had an unpleasant experience at Crawford's NYC apartment.
'I thought it was a party, but I arrived, and I was the only one there,' Farrow said, adding, 'I was 17, and everything was green in her apartment. It just had very low lighting.'
8 Mia Farrow at the 2025 Drama League Awards in New York City.
Bruce Glikas/WireImage
'And there were no other guests, just Ms. Crawford and me,' Farrow continued. 'And I just wasn't very comfortable. So I just made up a lie that I wasn't feeling very well and I didn't want to give her any diseases. I think I said the word 'diseases' as I walked out of the room. I was scared of Ms. Crawford.'
Crawford died in May 1977.
The legendary actress had an infamous feud with her 'What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?' co-star Bette Davis.
8 Joan Crawford in 1936.
NBCUniversal via Getty Images
Farrow, meanwhile, was close friends with Davis, who died in 1989 at age 81.
8 Bette Davis in 1968.
Getty Images
In the Interview magazine story, Farrow slammed Davis' daughter B.D. Hyman's 1985 memoir, 'My Mother's Keeper,' and called it 'a trashy book.'
'B.D. betrayed her mother in a horrible way, wrote a trashy book and stuff,' said Farrow. 'So we've known each other since childhood but I lost all respect for her. I really loved her mother, by the way.'
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