Jean arthur

And that Gladys Georgianna Greene (her real name), born on October 7, 1900 in New York, had already carved out an important filmography for herself in the silent film era. The daughter of a fashion photographer, the girl had dropped out of school to become a model. She was discovered by a Fox talent scout, she was offered a contract with the producer, which led to her debut at the hands of the teacher John Ford in Jack, Horse and King , where she had a small role. With the incomparable Buster Keaton , she played another role in Seven Times , a hilarious comedy. But her great moment came with talkies. Another John Ford movie, Passport to Fame, was precisely a safe-conduct for her towards stardom, and the first time she played her most characteristic character, an emancipated and hard-working young woman who hides a heart of gold under a tough pose. But the decisive moment in her career occurred when Frank Capra was looking for an actress for The Secret of Living , as it was clear to him that the male lead was going to be Gary Cooper , to play Babe Benet, an unscrupulous journalist. The filmmaker used to watch his classmates’ movies, and one day a western made him be dazzled by the protagonist, Jean Arthur, especially because of her voice. The success of the film made Jean Arthur a star, who she would reprise with Gary Cooper in Buffalo Bill ., Cecil B. DeMille ‘s model western . After the interesting comedy One lucky girl , by Mitchell Leisen , Capra decided to repeat with her in Live as you want , about a chaotic family whose members individually did what they had always wanted. “To play Alice, the only sane member of the genius idiots, I called back the most splendid actress of the day, Jean Arthur, she with the husky voice,” Frank Capra explained. She seemed so appropriate to him for her cinema that he signed her again for Knight Without a Sword , a subtle denunciation of political corruption. Unlike Capra, another great filmmaker of the time, Howard HawksHe commented that he had not been very happy with her, after directing her in Only Angels Have Wings .

For years to come, Jean Arthur seemed to have been typecast in comedies, such as Too Many Husbands , The Devil Outwitted , The Deal of the Day . It was precisely a comedy, Love Knocked Twice , by George Stevens , which gave him his only Oscar nomination, but in the end he snatched the Jennifer Jones statuette . Disenchanted that the roles she was given were all too similar, she Jean Arthur took a four-year break, in which she was completely absent from the screens. She even refused to repeat with Frank Capra, who wanted to give her the lead role in How Beautiful It Is to Live!, his most remembered film. She would only return to the cinema to shoot Berlin Occidente , by the incomparable Billy Wilder , and to play the protagonist of Deep Roots , George Stevens’ mythical western. She did not return to the cinema, although she had many opportunities for it. She only appeared in the television series The Jean Arthur Show , which was barely successful. The actress died on June 19, 1991 in the Californian town of Carmel.