Joan Crawford in 1959

In 1959 Joan Crawford was 55 years old and had traveled all over the world since 1955 to plug Pepsi. She said that she'd traveled over 100,000 miles for the company. Her role up to then was merely that of the classic movie star endorsing the new soda pop and she was payed per appearance.

Her husband Al Steele died of a heart attack in April.

That left Joan broke since she had just lent him all her money for him to pay off his debts.

After the funeral Joan was told by Pepsi that they would stop using her movie star appearances.  Bawling, Joan told this to her close friend and gossip columnist Louella Parsons, who broadcast it.  Then in a surprise sympathy vote Joan was elected to fill Al's vacant seat on the board of directors by the Pepsi shareholders.

That same year she accepted a supporting role in the film The Best of Everything. It was her first non-starring role in her later career.  But she needed money.  And the director said he needed her.  The role was of an older bitch.  He wanted the part played with depth and Joan could play roles at several levels at once. Her costars said she was often weepy during filming.  The movie comes off like a 1959 version of Sex and the City, following the romantic lives of several (mostly young) women in the New York book publishing business.