Jean Arthur
Arthur had feature roles in three Frank Capra films: Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) with Gary Cooper, You Can't Take It with You (1938) co-starring James Stewart, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), also starring Stewart. These three films all championed the "everyday heroine", personified by Arthur. She also co-starred with Cary Grant in the adventure-drama Only Angels Have Wings (1939) and in the comedy-drama The Talk of the Town (1942). She starred as the lead in the acclaimed and highly successful comedy films The Devil and Miss Jones (1941) and A Foreign Affair (1948), the latter of which she starred alongside Marlene Dietrich. Arthur was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1944 for her performance in The More the Merrier (1943), a comedy which also starred Joel McCrea.
James Harvey wrote in his history of the romantic comedy: "No one was more closely identified with the screwball comedy than Jean Arthur. So much was she part of it, so much was her star personality defined by it, that the screwball style itself seems almost unimaginable without her." She has been called "the quintessential comedic leading lady". Her last film performance was non-comedic, playing the homesteader's wife in George Stevens's Shane in 1953.
Like Greta Garbo, Arthur was well known in Hollywood for her aversion to publicity; she was very guarded about her privacy and rarely signed autographs or granted interviews. LIFE observed in an article in its 11 March 1940 issue, "Next to Garbo, Jean Arthur is Hollywood's reigning mystery woman." As well as recoiling from interviews, after a certain age, she avoided photographers and refused to become a part of any kind of publicity.
Jean Arthur was whimsical without being silly, unique without being nutty, a theatrical personality who was an untheatrical person. She was a delight to work with and to know.
Biography from the Wikipedia article Jean Arthur. Licensed under CC-BY-SA. Full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Part of Crew
Recently Updated Shows
The Chi
The Chi is a timely coming-of-age story centering on a group of residents who become linked by coincidence but bonded by the need for connection and redemption. Kevin is the pre-teen who must step past shattered illusions and embrace the normal rites of childhood, while Brandon the dreamer makes his own nearly impossible leap of faith to succeed in life and love with girlfriend Jerrika. Emmett is the carefree teen is thrust into complex responsibility with guidance from his mother Jada, and Ronnie is the drifter whose struggle to love and be loved calls into question his every pursuit.
Surviving Earth
Surviving Earth will take an incredible journey into prehistory to learn the lessons from past mass extinctions.
Adopting cutting-edge digital technology, each episode transports the viewer back to meet the bizarre and amazing creatures and breathtaking landscapes of a vibrant lost world. Audiences will witness how life finds a way to survive on a planet where meteors fall, super volcanoes erupt, seas boil and the land moves. From the creators of "Walking with Dinosaurs" and "Primeval," these are the stories of the survivors, fighters and lucky ones that shaped the world we live in.
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
On Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, John Oliver presents a satirical look at the week in news, politics and current events.
Hudson & Rex
Detective Charlie Hudson, a cunning Major Crimes detective for the St. John's Police Department, teams up with an unusual partner – Rex, a former-K9 German Shepherd, whose heightened senses keep Charlie hot on the trail of his suspects. Together, they investigate puzzling crimes, from a kidnapping which reveals a much larger conspiracy at play to an art theft murder which runs deep into the world of high society. With Charlie's deft detective work and Rex's keen canine senses, this crime-fighting pair is unstoppable.