High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Mommie Dearest is a 1981 American biographical drama film about Joan Crawford, starring Faye Dunaway. The film was directed by Frank Perry. The story was adapted for the screen by Robert Getchell, Tracy Hotchner, Frank Perry, and Frank Yablans, based on the 1978 autobiography of the same name by Christina Crawford. The executive producers were Christina`s husband, David Koontz, and Terrence O`Neill, Dunaway`s then-boyfriend and soon-to-be husband.