Jean Arthur
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| Nickname: |
Jean Arthur / Miss Jean Arthur / |
| Known for: |
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Shane, You Can't Take It with You |
| Birth name: |
Gladys Georgianna Greene |
| Birthday: |
17 October 1900, Plattsburgh, New York, USA |
| Height: |
5' 3" (1.60 m) |
Trivia

Ashes scattered off of Point Lobos, California, USA.

Wore her natural brunette hair color throughout the silent film portion of her career, then began bleaching her hair blonde shortly after she started making talkies.

Department of Strange Coincidences: Jean Arthur's former spouse, producer
Frank Ross, next married the actress
Joan Caulfield. On the very day following Caulfield's death on 18 June 1991, Arthur died.

Marriage to Julian Anker was annulled after 1 day

After retiring from films she taught Drama at Vassar.

Was a leading contender for the coveted role of Scarlett O'Hara in
Gone with the Wind.

As her star began to decline, she was replaced by
Rita Hayworth as Columbia Pictures' top female star. Coincidentally, the two stars share the same birthday (October 17).

Turned down the role of the lady missionary in
Lost Horizon, the unsuccessful musical remake of the 1937 classic of the same name.

Director
George Stevens famously called her "One of the greatest comediennes the screen has ever seen" while
Frank Capra credited her as "My favorite actress".

On the completion of her Columbia contract in 1944, she reportedly ran through the studio's streets shouting "I'm free, I'm free!".

As a result of being in the doghouse with studio boss
Harry Cohn, her fee for starring in
The Talk of the Town was only $50,000 while her male co-stars (
Ronald Colman,
Cary Grant) received upwards of $100,000 each.

Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith. pg. 30-31. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387

Biography in: "American National Biography". Supplement 1, pp. 15-16. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Is portrayed by
Vicki Belmonte in
Moviola: The Scarlett O'Hara War

Allegedly took her stage name from two of her greatest heroes: Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc) and King Arthur.

Quit movies at the height of her career in 1944, following an Oscar nomination and while still Columbia Pictures' top female box-office attraction. She appeared in only two more films, for Oscar-winning directors
Billy Wilder (
A Foreign Affair) and
George Stevens (
Shane). According to John Oller's biography "Jean Arthur: The Actress Nobody Knew" (1997), Arthur was a shy person who came to loathe making movies, having developed a kind of stage fright (something not uncommon in even great and accomplished actors;
Laurence Olivier said he developed stage fright in 1964, while playing in "Othello," after 40 years on stage) that made acting in movies agony for her. After she quit movies, she tried to make a go at a stage career, being part of the original cast of "Born Yesterday," but she dropped out during previews and was replaced by
Judy Holliday. She later gave television a crack in the mid-'60s, but the
The Jean Arthur Show was canceled after half a season.
External Resources:
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