Alfred Steele

…Phillip Terry (1942–46) and to Alfred Steele (1955–59), chairman of the Pepsi-Cola Company. After his death in 1959 she became a director of the company and in that role hired her friend Dorothy Arzner to film several Pepsi commercials. Crawford’s adopted daughter Christina published Mommie Dearest (1978), an account of…

In 1950 Alfred N. Steele (1901–59), a former vice president of the Coca-Cola Company and the husband of actress Joan Crawford, became chief executive officer. His emphasis on giant advertising campaigns and sales promotions increased Pepsi-Cola’s net earnings 11-fold during the 1950s and made it the chief…