Janet Beecher

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Janet Beecher (1906)
Janet Beecher (1916)

Janet Beecher (* 21st October 1884 in Jefferson City , Missouri as Martha Jeannette Meysenburg ; † 6. August 1955 in Washington , Connecticut ) was an American actress .

life and career

Janet Beecher was born in Jefferson City under the name Martha Jeanette Meysenberg . Her father EA von Meysenburg came to the United States as the deputy consul of the German consulate general in Chicago and then settled there. On the mother's side, she was related to Harriet Beecher Stowe . Janet's sister Olive Wyndham (1886–1971), who was two years her junior , also later became a well-known actress.

Janet Beecher made her Broadway debut on New York City in 1905 as Ida Pipp in The Education of Mr. Pipp . Over the next 30 years she appeared there in around two dozen productions, mostly in leading roles, and earned a reputation as a renowned theater actress. Her greatest hits on Broadway included The Lottery Man (1909-1910), The Concert (1910-1911), A Bill of Divorcement (1921-1922) and Courage (1928-1929). She also toured with actor Nathaniel Goodwin and performed in England.

After Beecher had made a single silent film called Fine Feathers in 1915 , she moved into the film business in Hollywood in 1933. In the following ten years she played there in a total of almost 50 films, where she was quickly committed to the role of the gentle and clever mother of the main character. In 1934 she played the First Lady of the USA in William A. Wellman's The President Vanishes , a year later she was the mother of Lilian Harvey in her last Hollywood film , Happiness Comes to You . She then played the mother of Ginger Rogers in the musical The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939), the mother of Tyrone Powers title character in the coat-and-sword film In the Sign of Zorro (1940) and the mother of Henry Fonda in Preston Sturges' classic comedy The Cardsharp (1941).

In 1943 Beecher returned from Hollywood to Broadway, where she continued to appear in the plays Slightly Scandalous and The Late George Apley until 1945 . She then slowly retired, but still took on a guest role in the television series Lux Video Theater in 1951 . It was her only television appearance. The actress was married to Harry R. Guggenheimer and Richard H. Hoffman, both marriages were divorced, and from her marriage to Hoffman had a son named Richard. Janet Beecher died of a heart attack at her sister's home in August 1955 at the age of 70.

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hischak, Thomas S .: Enter the player: New York Stage Actors in the Twentieth Century, 2003, pp 26-27.
  2. ↑ Janet Beecher - Broadway Cast & Staff | IBDB. Retrieved January 2, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Janet Beecher. Retrieved January 2, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Janet Beecher . In: The Courier-Journal . ( newspapers.com [accessed January 2, 2019]).
  5. ↑ Janet Beecher | Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos. Retrieved January 2, 2019 (American English).
  6. ^ The President Vanishes (1934) - William Wellman | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related. Retrieved January 2, 2019 (American English).
  7. ↑ Janet Beecher - Broadway Cast & Staff | IBDB. Retrieved January 2, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Janet Beecher . In: The Courier-Journal . ( newspapers.com [accessed January 2, 2019]).
personal data
SURNAME Beecher, Janet
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Meysenburg, Martha Jeannette (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-american actress
DATE OF BIRTH October 21, 1884
PLACE OF BIRTH Jefferson City , Missouri
DATE OF DEATH August 6, 1955
Place of death Washington , Connecticut