Recently uncovered home movies have revealed a softer side of Hollywood icon Joan Crawford. The reels, stored away for decades after her death in 1977, show moments far removed from the glamorous image she presented on screen. In them, she walks through streams, relaxes with her dogs, and smiles at a middle-aged man known only as “Charles.”

When biographer Scott Eyman began researching Joan Crawford: A Woman’s Face, he set out to learn who this man was. He eventually traced him to Charles McCabe, a powerful New York newspaper executive. Crawford briefly described a “mature” and supportive man in her memoir, a companion who brought calm during a demanding time in her career. According to McCabe’s family, letters once confirmed the relationship, though the correspondence was destroyed after his death to protect his widow.

The home movies, however, remained. They captured a private connection Crawford never discussed publicly. Eyman believes McCabe may have been the one great love she could not pursue openly. He was married, unable to leave his family, and Crawford kept the relationship hidden for the rest of her life.

After the affair ended, Crawford married actor Phillip Terry in 1942. She later resumed her long, on-and-off bond with Clark Gable. Friends often said her romantic life mixed ambition with caution, shaped by early struggles and the pressures of fame.

Although Crawford built a successful career and married again, those who knew her best felt she never forgot the man she could not have—and kept his memory preserved in those quiet, personal reels of film.