Jean Arthur - Biography, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Filmography (Read)

Gene Arthur - biography, date of birth, place of birth, filmography, clips, Actress.

October 17, 1900, Plattsburgh, USA - June 19, 1991, Los Angeles, California - American actress.

The Green family led a rather active lifestyle. From 1908 to 1915 they lived in Watsburg, Maine, while Jean's father was working as a photographer in Portland at Lamson Studios. Then for a short time they lived in Jacksonville, Florida, Schenestatdy, New York. While attending school, Jean lived with her family in Washington Heights, on 159th Street in upper Manhattan. The family moved to New York in 1915, when Jean had to leave school "for family reasons." During World War I, Jean Arthur worked as a stenographer on Bond Street in Lower Manhattan, anticipating the characters she would later play in films. Her father and brothers went to the front, and the youngest of the brothers, Albert, died of wounds received in battle.

In the early 1920s, Jean Arthur worked as a model in New York, where she was found by workers at 20th Century Fox. Arthur signs a one-year contract with the studio, after which he makes his debut in the silent film directed by John Ford "Kirby's Cameo" (1923). At that time, the studio was looking for new public favorites, beautiful, dynamic and sexually attractive, in order to attract the young audience of the jazz era. In his first film, Arthur just appears in the form of a kind of frivolous flapper of those times. After a small role in Kirby's Cameo, Jin got his first major role in Temple of Venus (1923), a storyless tale of a group of dancing nymphs. Dissatisfied with her acting skills, director Henry Otto, on the third day of filming, replaces Arthur with actress Mary Philbin. Arthur had no choice but to agree with him: “There was no inner spark in me, I played like a mechanical doll, without a soul. I thought I was disgraced for the rest of my life. " She was ready to end her career and quit the film industry forever, but she stayed because of the signed contract. Realizing that she was lacking in preparation, Arthur began taking acting lessons, which, she believed, would allow her to "go public." To gain some notoriety, she starred as a fashion model for the Los Angeles model catalogs, and then - in a commercial for the Encino nightclub. However, all this does not bring tangible results to her.
Arthur began to take acting lessons, which, as she believed, would allow her to "go public." To gain some notoriety, she starred as a fashion model for the Los Angeles model catalogs, and then - in a commercial for the Encino nightclub. However, all this does not bring tangible results to her.
Arthur began to take acting lessons, which, as she believed, would allow her to "go public." To gain some notoriety, she starred as a fashion model for Los Angeles model catalogs, and then - in a commercial for the Encino nightclub. However, all this does not bring tangible results to her.

That all changed one day when Arthur appeared at Action Pictures, a "Category B" film company. She managed to impress its owner, Lester F. Scott Jr., and he decided to take the risk - as a result, over the next couple of years, Arthur was involved in more than twenty Western films. Receiving a very modest fee - only $ 25 per painting, Arthur suffered greatly from difficult working conditions. Filming took place, as a rule, in the same place, most often in the desert near Los Angeles, under the scorching sun. There was no drinking water, and even simple sheds were often missing, under which one could hide from the sun's rays. In addition, these films often starred the most ordinary cowboys, rude and ignorant, used for "black work" so they were of no use to the young actress professionally. These films had great success in the Midwest, while Jean Arthur herself did not particularly shine in them. In addition to her participation in the Action Pictures films, from 1924 to 1926, Arthur appeared in several other independent Westerns (eg Pharmacy Cowboy, 1925), as well as Westerns for Poverty Row. In addition, she made a cameo appearance in Buster Keaton's film Seven Chances (1925).
she made a cameo appearance in Buster Keaton's film Seven Chances (1925).
she made a cameo appearance in Buster Keaton's film Seven Chances (1925).

In 1927, Arthur attracted attention by starring opposite May Bush and Charles Delaney in the film Hunter of Husbands. Then follows the role of the beloved Monty Banks in Horseshoes (1927). The film brought a good box office, and for participating in it, Arthur received an impressive fee, as much as $ 700. Director Richard Wallace, ignoring the request of the studio boss, Fox, for a more experienced actress, claims Arthur for the lead female role in the teenage comedy Poor Nut (1927). The magazine "Variety" in its review of the film does not particularly spare the actress: “Hollywood is overwhelmed by crowds of charming young girls, crowding the thresholds of studios and eager to appear on the screen. It seems odd that two completely flat actresses, Jean Arthur and Jane Winton, were chosen from among them. None of them show real "presence" on the screen. To make them attractive - even with the most friendly attitude of the camera, even from the other side, even from this - is simply unrealistic. " Discouraged by the direction of her career, Arthur felt the desire to take a break for a while, which she announces in an interview. She was very skeptical when she signed on to play in The Famous Players-Lasky's Warm Up (1928), starring Richard Dix. "Warm Up", presented as the studio's first soundtrack, received widespread press coverage, and Arthur herself received accolades for her role as the club owner's daughter. In the "Variety" remarked: "Dix and Arthur are simply magnificent, despite the paucity of material." Whereas Screenland magazine wrote that Arthur is “one of the most charming young actresses that Deeks has ever worked with. Jin is very charming, and her charm is in no way dependent on who she portrays. She's a really good girl and she has talent. " Following the success of Warm Up, Arthur signs a three-year contract with the studio that will soon become known as Paramount Pictures. And he starts earning $ 150 a week.

With the advent of talkie in the late 1920s, Arthur was one of the few Paramount Pictures actresses who were reluctant to switch to talkie. Realizing that the general fascination with sound is not a temporary stage, but for a long time, she contacted the sound engineer Roy Pomroy. Her unusual hoarse voice contributed to her training at Broadway theater, and eventually helped her become the star of the sound screen. The debut of the actress in the "talking" movie was the film "The Murder of the Canary" (1929), where she starred with William Powell and Louise Brooks.

In the early years of talkie, Paramount was known for employing experienced actors with good vocals and impressive track records in the past. Jean Arthur was not one of those and therefore she had to fight for recognition. Her romance with executive producer David Selznick was not useless in this sense: Arthur immediately appears, and in 1929 she was chosen as one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars. After the silent B category Western Sand Stairs (1929), she starred in The Mysterious Doctor Fu Manchu (1929), earning critical acclaim. Arthur becomes famous, she has to pose for photographers and give interviews - despite all her dislike for such things.

Thanks to Selznick, Arthur gets his best role at that time - in the movie "Saturday Night Child", alongside the famous Clara Bow, who was at that time a sex symbol of Hollywood.

After Halfway to Heaven (1929), which also starred the popular Charles Rogers (speaking of this film, Variety magazine noted that Jean's career would have gone much better if she tried to look sexier), Selznick claims her for the role of William Powell's wife in Fortune Street (1930). However, the film's director John Cromwell was not impressed by the actress, he advised Arthur to leave thoughts of Hollywood and return back to New York. By 1930, Jean Arthur and Selznick's romance had come to an end, and her position at Paramount was shaken accordingly. After several rather anemic roles of ingenue in middle films, Jean Arthur made his debut in a small role in December 1930 in the Pasadena Playhouse, in the ten-day show Song of Spring. Returning to Hollywood, Arthur realizes that her career is inexorably declining. She tries to change her image and dyes her blonde hair, hoping to win comparisons with the more successful actress Mary Brian. However, these efforts were already useless, by the middle of 1931 the term of her contract with Paramount expired. They did not renew it - in particular, due to financial difficulties at the studio, which arose due to the Great Depression.

In late 1931, Arthur returned to New York, where a Broadway agent helped her land a role in the adaptation of Lysistrata, which was staged at the Riviera Theater on January 24, 1932. Several months later, she starred in the Broadway production of Foreign Affairs, alongside Dorothy Gish and Osgood Perkins. Despite Jean's success and good acting, the show was closed after 23 shows. The critics were impressed, though. She then landed a role in The Man Who Reclaimed His Head, which premiered on September 8, 1932, at the Broadhurst Theater. The performance received negative reviews, which forced it to be closed. After that, Arthur goes to California to rest, but instead gets there his first film role in two years in the film "The Past of Mary Holmes" (1933). by RKO Pictures.

Returning to Broadway, Jean Arthur continued to appear in small plays that did not have much success. However, critics continued to praise her, noting that Arthur was gaining more self-confidence.

The Curtain Rises aired on Broadway from October to December 1933, Arthur was the center of attention in it. With good press reviews, Arthur returned to Hollywood, where she was immediately bombarded with offers that she turned down - until she met the boss of Columbia Pictures. Arthur immediately agreed to take part in the film "Whirlpool" (1934), and already in the process of filming she was offered a long-term contract, which guaranteed her and her family a reliable financial support. Thus, on February 14, 1934, Arthur connects his fate with Columbia Pictures for a five-year term.

In 1935, 34-year-old Arthur co-starred with Edward G. Robinson in the gangster comedy The Whole City Speaks (1935), after which her popularity began to grow. Here Arthur played for the first time an independent girl "with a heart of gold" - this image will later be associated with her entire career. She enjoyed filming and working with Robinson - he later wrote in his autobiography that "was delighted to meet and work with Arthur." By the time the film was released, Arthur had turned from a natural brunette to a blonde again. And later she kept this image permanently. Her next films - "Party Wires" (1935), "Public Hero No. 1" (1935) and "If You Can Cook" (1935) did not have the same success as "The Whole City Speaks", but brought the actress positive reviews. One of the critics wrote about her work in the last of them: "It is incredible how easily she glides from the role of a charming comedian to a romantic beauty." Now, after her fame had grown, Arthur could negotiate concessions from Harry Cohn, such as the choice of script, director, as well as the right to act in other film studios.

The turning point in Arthur's career came when she was selected by director Frank Capra to star in Mr. Deeds Moves to Town. Capra saw her in Maelstrom (1934) and immediately persuaded Cohn and Columbia Pictures to sign a contract with Arthur - for the role of a journalist who falls in love with a millionaire. Colleagues recalled that while filming was going on, Arthur was still worried that the film would turn out to be unsuccessful. However, "Mr. Deeds" has gained both critical acclaim and international fame. In 1936, Arthur made $ 199,000 - more than the President of the United States himself. Along with the fame, there was also intrusive attention from the press - which terribly annoyed Arthur. She preferred not to go to the official events, which were usual in Hollywood at that time, it was extremely difficult for her to give interviews. She was called the American Greta Garbo - because Garbo was known for her phenomenal seclusion. Movie Classic magazine wrote in 1937: “There was not a single chance to interview Garbo or even just greet her on behalf of the press, because she is absolutely elusive - unlike her other star colleagues. Now Jean Arthur reminds her a lot. "

At the request of William Powell, Arthur starred in The Former Mrs Bradford (1936), RKO Pictures. Upon its completion, Arthur hoped to go on vacation, but Harry Cohn immediately sent her to shoot two more films: Adventures in Mahattan (1936) and More than a Secretary (1936). None of them got much attention. After that, again without interruption, she starred in the film with Cecil de Mille in The Man from the Plains (1936), Paramount Pictures. The role of Problem Jane in this film, where she starred alongside Gary Cooper, Arthur called her favorite role. After that, she starred in her typical role of "poor girl" in Mitchell Leisen's eccentric comedy "Easy Life" (1937), which also starred Ray Milland. Then, together with James Stewart, she appears in Frank Capra's comedy "You Can't Take It With You" (1938). In 1939, this film won two Academy Awards - Best Picture and Best Director. Jean Arthur was so convincing in him that she was included in the four final contenders for the role of Scarlett O'Hara (the role eventually went to Vivien Leigh) in "Gone with the Wind." The film was produced by David Selznick, with whom Arthur had a little romance in the late 1920s, when they were both still at Paramount Pictures. In 1939, Arthur reunited with Frank Capra and James Stewart in the classic film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Here she again plays a "poor girl", but this time her heroine teaches the naive Mr. Smith various tricks that would help him to carry out some of his ambitious plans in Washington.
In 1939, Gene Arthur appears in the rather exotic drama film Only Angels Have Wings, directed by Howard Hawkes. There she had the main role, and her partner was none other than Cary Grant. This was followed by two comedies by George Stevens "City Conversation" (1942, also paired with Cary Grant) and "In the cramped but not offended" (1943). For her work in the last of them, she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress (lost to Jennifer Jones in Bernadette's Song). Perhaps because Arthur was out of favor with studio boss Harry Cohn, her fee for Talking the City was only $ 50,000 - while her co-stars Cary Grant and Ronald Coleman received $ 100,000 each. Arthur left. from Columbia Pictures before the mid-1940s. When she left the studio Rita Hayworth took over as Columbia Pictures' reigning queen.

Arthur "retired" in 1944 when her contract with Columbia Pictures expired. According to eyewitnesses, she ran through the streets of the studio, shouting: “I'm free! I am free!" For several years, she turned down all offers to withdraw, making only two exceptions. The first was for filming in Bill Wilder's film Foreign Affair (1948); in it, she played a congressman and love rival Marlene Dietrich. The second - for the classic western western "Shane" (1953, directed by J. Stevens). "Shane" was Arthur's last big-screen film, and it was also the highest grossing in her career.

After Arthur left the cinema, her performances in the theater became increasingly rare - due to her timidity, nervousness and self-doubt. Speaking about this, Capra, for example, said that on the set, between takes, she ran to the dressing room, where she cried and tried to cope with nausea, but when she appeared on the set, she performed all the scenes flawlessly. According to the biographical book Gene Arthur: The Actress No One Knew (1997, written by John Oller), Arthur had stage fright which developed into a psychosomatic disorder. A striking example of this was the case in 1945, when she was chosen for the lead role in the play "Born Yesterday" by Garsona Canin. Anxiety and self-doubt overcame the actress, and she was forced to leave the performance even before the premiere, giving way to Judy Holiday.

A small victory over myself was the starring role in the Broadway musical Peter Pan. Arthur played in it a boy who did not want to grow up - while she herself was almost 50 years old. In 1954 Jean Arthur was considered as a candidate for the role of Joan of Arc in the play "Saint Jeanne" by Bernard Shaw. However, due to a nervous breakdown and a conflict with director Harold Clurman, she had to leave the project.

Arthur hasn't been filming for 12 years since Shane and Peter Pan. In 1965, she returned to the television screen, appearing in one of the episodes of the series "Gun Smoke". In 1966, already extremely unsociable, Arthur accepted the role of Patricia Marshall's lawyer on her own television show, The Jean Arthur Show. The show was broadcast on CBS and was canceled after 12 episodes.

In 1967 they tried to persuade Arthur to return to Broadway, to play in the play "Mad Stephanie Blake" - as an old maid who falls into a hippie group. Writer William Goldman, in his book The Season, describes the production as disastrous, saying that it eventually had to be closed during the preview stage because Arthur refused to continue to participate.

After that, Arthur began teaching drama, first at Vassar College, and then at the North Carolina School of the Arts. While teaching at Vassar, she staged performances with the participation of students. If the students were replaying, she would point to a tree that grew outside the window of the rehearsal room and say, “I want you to know what it is like to be like a person. The tree knows what it means to be like a tree. "

Among her students at Vassar was the young Meryl Streep. Arthur immediately sensed her talent and potential. After the end of the play, in which Streep took part, she noticed that she "looks just like a movie star."

Living in North Carolina, Arthur once made the front pages of newspapers. She was arrested and imprisoned on charges of illegal entry into foreign territory. It was that Jean had entered a neighbor's yard to protect a dog she felt was being mistreated. Arthur loved animals and said that she trusts them more than people.

In 1975, the play "First Monday in October" was staged on Broadway, about the first woman judge. The role of the judge was written specifically for Arthur, but due to stage fright she had to leave the performance immediately, as soon as it was played at the Cleveland Play House. Further, this role was played by Jane Alexander.

After this incident, Arthur left the stage for good. She settled in a house off the coast in Carmel, California. Arthur stubbornly refused all interviews, her resistance was broken only once - by the author of a book about Frank Capra. Arthur once admitted that she would rather let her throat be cut than agree to an interview again.

All Information About: Jean Arthur - Biography, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Filmography.
Author: Jane Watson