Jean Arthur

JEAN ARTHUR d1991. American Broadway and film actress whose career began in silent films in the early 1920s and lasted until the early 1950s. She 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 her. 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). She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1944 for her performance in The More the Merrier (1943). Her last film performance was non-comedic, playing the homesteader's wife in George Stevens's Shane in 1953. Like Greta Garbo, she was well known in Hollywood for her aversion to publicity. She rarely signed autographs or granted interviews. Life magazine observed in a 1940 article: "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. She died in California aged 90 on June 19th 1991