Jean Arthur

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Jean Arthur (* 17th October 1900 as Gladys Georgianna Greene in Plattsburgh , New York ; † 19th June 1991 in Carmel , California ) was an American actress . She was one of the most popular comedians in Hollywood in the 1930s and appeared in numerous screwball comedies . Mostly she was cast as a self-confident and independent woman.

Life

Jean Arthur made her debut in the 1923 silent film Cameo Kirby . Her high-pitched, somewhat hoarse voice made her a popular supporting actress in early talkies . In 1929 she was named one of 13 WAMPAS Baby Stars by the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers . The choice was about actresses who are most likely to have the potential to become a real star. However, Arthur's career faltered in the mid-1930s and she returned to Broadway. A contract with Columbia lured her back. She celebrated her first major success in 1935 at the side of Edward G. Robinson in John Ford's talk of the town . Arthur made her breakthrough in 1936 with her appearances alongside Gary Cooper : As a shrewd newspaper reporter in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town directed by Frank Capra and in the western The Hero of the Prairie by Cecil B. DeMille . Frank Capra used her two more times, in 1938 in Lebenskünstler and 1939 in Mr. Smith goes to Washington , where she works as a cynical secretary for a young, naive senator. James Stewart co-starred in both films . Above all, Jean Arthur embodied independent and quick-witted women.

In 1937 she starred under the direction of Frank Borzage in ... and forever love wins alongside Charles Boyer and alongside Ray Milland in Mein Leben in Luxus , directed by Mitchell Leisen . Early 1940 it reached the peak of her career with two comedies by George Stevens , a prosecution witness in the year 1942 with Cary Grant and Ronald Colman and More and more the Merrier of 1943. Arthur was for her performance at the Oscars in 1944 for the Oscar as best actress nomination.

In 1938, the actress was one of many contenders for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind . In addition, Arthur was slated for the lead roles in His special cases girl and My sister Ellen , both of which went to Rosalind Russell , as well as Golden Boy and Here's John Doe , which were eventually played by Barbara Stanwyck . She gave up the role in the Broadway hit Born Yesterday the day before the premiere.

The notoriously shy actress fought incessantly with studio boss Harry Cohn during her years at Columbia and was so mentally exhausted after her contract that she said goodbye to Hollywood for years. Alongside Greta Garbo, she was considered the most withdrawn actress in Hollywood and declined almost all interview requests. Billy Wilder brought her back in 1948 for A Foreign Affair , in which she took the man from Marlene Dietrich as a principled US Congresswoman with the telling name "Phoebe Frost" . In 1950 she was seen in 312 performances on Broadway in the title role in Leonard Bernstein's musical version of Peter Pan (not to be confused with the better-known musical version from 1954 with Mary Martin ), at her side Boris Karloff played as Captain Hook. She played her last film role at the express request of George Stevens in My Great Friend Shane , which was distributed in 1953 after almost 12 months of post-production. After her retirement, she taught acting at Vassar College . In 1966, The Jean Arthur Show was shut down on CBS after just one season.

In profile shots, the actress was mostly facing the camera with the left half of her face. Frank Capra and George Stevens have named Jean Arthur, who is often difficult on the set and suffers from stage fright, as one of their favorite actresses. A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6331 Hollywood Boulevard commemorates her. From 1932 to 1949 she was married to the film producer Frank Ross . She died of heart problems in 1991 at the age of 90.

Filmography (selection)

literature

  • John Oller: Jean Arthur. The Actress Nobody Knew. Limelight Editions, New York 1999, ISBN 0-87910-278-0 .

Web links

Commons : Jean Arthur  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Jean Arthur at the Internet Movie Database
  2. ↑ John Oller: Jean Arthur: The Actress Nobody Knew. ; New York: Limelight Editions, 1997. ISBN 0-87910-278-0 , p. 1
  3. ^ Jean Arthur at Allmovie
  4. ^ Jean Arthur at the Internet Broadway Database
  5. ^ Jean Arthur at Allmovie
personal data
SURNAME Arthur, Jean
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Greene, Gladys Georgianna
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-american actress
DATE OF BIRTH 17th October 1900
PLACE OF BIRTH Plattsburgh , New York
DATE OF DEATH June 19, 1991
Place of death Carmel , California