:Janet Gaynor
{{Short description|American actress (1906–1984)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Janet Gaynor
| image = Janet Gaynor (1934) (cropped).JPG
| caption = Gaynor in 1934
| birth_name = Laura Augusta Gainor
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1906|10|6|mf=y}}
| birth_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1984|9|14|1906|10|6|mf=y}}
| death_place = Palm Springs, California, U.S.
| resting_place = Hollywood Forever Cemetery
| occupation = Actress
| years_active = 1924–1939; 1950s–1981
| spouse = {{plainlist|
- {{marriage|Jesse Lydell Peck|1929|1933|end=divorced}}
- {{marriage|Adrian|1939|1959|end=died}}
- {{marriage|Paul Gregory|1964}}
}}
| children = 1
}}
Janet Gaynor (born Laura Augusta Gainor; October 6, 1906 – September 14, 1984) was an American actress. She began her career as an extra in shorts and silent films. After signing with Fox Film Corporation (later 20th Century-Fox) in 1926, she rose to fame and became one of the biggest box office draws of the era. In 1929, she became the first recipient of the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performances in 7th Heaven, Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (both 1927) and Street Angel (1928), the only occasion an actress won one Oscar for multiple film roles. Her success continued into the sound film era; for A Star Is Born (1937), she received a second Best Actress Academy Award nomination.
After retiring from acting in 1939, Gaynor married film costume designer Adrian, with whom she had a son. She briefly returned to acting in films and television in the 1950s and later became an accomplished oil painter. In 1980, Gaynor made her Broadway debut in the stage adaptation of the 1971 film Harold and Maude, and appeared in the touring theatrical production of On Golden Pond in February 1982.
In 1982, Gaynor was severely injured when a drunken driver struck the taxicab in which she and two others were passengers. Two years later, on September 14, 1984, she died of health issues stemming from the injuries sustained in the accident.
Early life
File:Janet Gaynor - Sunrise (1927).jpg's Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)]]
Gaynor was born Laura Augusta Gainor (some sources stated Gainer) in Germantown, Philadelphia.{{cite book|last= Ellenberger|first=Allan R.|title=Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory|year=2001|publisher=McFarland & Company Incorporated Pub|isbn=0-786-40983-5|page=128}} Nicknamed "Lolly" as a child, she was the younger of two daughters born to Laura (Buhl) and Frank De Witt Gainor.{{cite web|url=http://pabook2.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/bios/Gaynor__Janet.html|title=Janet Gaynor}}{{Dead link|date=July 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Frank Gainor worked as a theatrical painter and paperhanger. When Gaynor was a toddler, her father began teaching her how to sing, dance, and perform acrobatics.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1928&dat=19310123&id=CB4gAAAAIBAJ&pg=2956,1822374|title=Stage and Screen|date=January 23, 1931|work=The Lewiston Daily Sun|page=4|access-date=March 30, 2015|location=Lewiston, Maine}} As a child in Philadelphia, she began acting in school plays. After her parents divorced in 1914, Gaynor, her sister, and her mother moved to Chicago. Shortly thereafter, her mother married electrician Harry C. Jones.{{cite book|last=Parish|first=James Robert|author-link=James Robert Parish|title=The Fox Girls|year=1971|publisher=Arlington House|isbn=0-870-00128-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/fdr00farr/page/50 50]|url=https://archive.org/details/fdr00farr/page/50}} The family later moved to San Francisco.{{cite book|last=Menefee|first=David W.|author-link=David W. Menefee|title=The First Female Stars: Women of the Silent Era|year=2004|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=0-275-98259-9|page=83}}
After graduating from San Francisco Polytechnic High School in 1923, Gaynor spent the winter in Melbourne, Florida, where she did stage work. Upon returning to San Francisco, Gaynor, her mother, and stepfather moved to Los Angeles, where she could pursue an acting career. She was initially hesitant to do so and enrolled at Hollywood Secretarial School. She supported herself by working in a shoe store and later as a theatre usher. Her mother and stepfather continued to encourage her to become an actress and she began making the rounds to the studios (accompanied by her stepfather) to find film work.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1301&dat=19370803&id=P1BVAAAAIBAJ&pg=7354,321949|title=Hollywood, Mecca of the Hopeful|date=August 3, 1937|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|page=9|access-date=March 30, 2015|location=Sydney, Australia}}
Gaynor won her first professional acting job on December 26, 1924, as an extra in a Hal Roach comedy short. This led to more extra work in feature films and shorts for Film Booking Offices of America and Universal. Universal eventually hired her as a stock player for $50 a week. Six weeks after being hired by Universal, an executive at Fox Film Corporation offered her a screen test for a supporting role in the film The Johnstown Flood (1926).{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1350&dat=19811111&id=Rj5PAAAAIBAJ&pg=6937,6936019|title=Janet Gaynor In 'Pictures' But Only Those She Paints|last=Tedric|first=Dan|date=November 12, 1981|work=Toledo Blade|pages=P–2|access-date=March 30, 2015|location=Toledo, Ohio}} Her performance in the film caught the attention of Fox executives, who signed her to a five-year contract and began to cast her in leading roles.{{cite book|editor=Monush, Barry |title=Screen World Presents the Encyclopedia of Hollywood Film Actors: From the silent era to 1965|volume=1|year=2003|publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation|isbn=1-557-83551-9|page=272}}{{cite book|last=Lowe|first=Denise|title=An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Women in Early American Films, 1895-1930|year=2005|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=0-789-01843-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9790874369709_b7n2/page/230 230]|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9790874369709_b7n2/page/230}}
Later that year, Gaynor was selected as one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars (along with Joan Crawford, Dolores del Río, Mary Astor, and others).{{cite book|last=Liebman|first=Roy|title=The Wampas Baby Stars: A Biographical Dictionary, 1922-1934|year=2000|publisher=McFarland|isbn=0-786-40756-5|pages=8, 90}}
Career
By 1927, Gaynor was one of Hollywood's leading ladies. Her image was that of a sweet, wholesome and pure young woman, who was notable for playing her roles with depth and sensitivity.{{cite book|last=Haver|first=Ronald|title=A Star Is Born: The Making of the 1954 Movie and Its 1983 Restoration|year=2002|publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation|isbn=1-557-83563-2|page=44}} Her performances in 7th Heaven, the first of 12 films she would make with actor Charles Farrell; Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, directed by F. W. Murnau; and Street Angel, also with Charles Farrell, earned her the first Academy Award for Best Actress in 1929,{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/09/15/obituaries/janet-gaynor-is-dead-at-77-first-best-actress-winner.html|title=Janet Gaynor Is Dead At 77; First 'Best Actress' Winner|last=Bird|first=David|date=September 15, 1984|newspaper=nytimes.com|access-date=March 30, 2015}} when for the first and only time the award was granted for multiple roles, on the basis of total recent work rather than for one particular performance. This practice was prohibited three years later by a new Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences rule. Gaynor was not only the first actress to win the award, but at 22, was the youngest until 1986, when actress Marlee Matlin, 21, won for her role in Children of a Lesser God.{{cite book|last=Holden|first=Anthony|title=Behind the Oscar: The Secret History of the Academy Awards|year=1993|publisher=Simon & Schuster|isbn=0-671-70129-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/behindoscarsecre00hold/page/94 94]|url=https://archive.org/details/behindoscarsecre00hold/page/94}}
File:Janet Gaynor Argentinean Magazine AD.jpg
Gaynor was one of only a handful of established lead actresses who made a successful transition to sound films. In 1929, she was re-teamed with Charles Farrell (the pair was known as "America's favorite love birds") for the musical film Sunny Side Up.
During the early 1930s, Gaynor was one of Fox's most popular actresses and one of Hollywood's biggest box-office draws. In 1931 and 1932, she and Marie Dressler were tied as the number-one draw at the box office. After Dressler's death in 1934, Gaynor held the top spot alone. She often was cited as a successor to Mary Pickford, and was cast in remakes of two Pickford films: Daddy Long Legs (1931) and Tess of the Storm Country (1932). Gaynor drew the line at a proposed remake of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, which she considered "too juvenile".{{cite book|last=Hatch|first=Kristen |title=Shirley Temple and the Performance of Girlhood|year=2015|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=978-0-813-56327-5|page=42}}
Gaynor continued to garner top billing for roles in State Fair (1933) with Will Rogers and The Farmer Takes a Wife (1935), which introduced Henry Fonda to the screen as Gaynor's leading man. However, when Darryl F. Zanuck merged his fledgling studio, Twentieth Century Pictures, with Fox Film Corporation to form 20th Century-Fox, her status became precarious, and even tertiary to those of burgeoning actresses Loretta Young and Shirley Temple. According to press reports at the time, Gaynor held out on signing with 20th Century-Fox until her salary was raised from $1,000 per week to $3,000. The studio quickly issued a statement denying that Gaynor was holding out for more money. She quietly signed a new contract, the terms of which were never made public.{{cite book|last=Soloman|first=Aubrey|title=The Fox Film Corporation, 1915-1935: A History and Filmography|year=2011|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-786-48610-6|page=119}}
File:James Dunn Janet Gaynor 1934.JPG in Change of Heart (1934)]]
Gaynor received top billing above Constance Bennett, Loretta Young, and Tyrone Power in Ladies in Love (1937), but her box-office appeal had begun to wane: Once ranked number one, she had dropped to number 24. She considered retiring due to her frustration with studio executives, who continued to cast her in the same type of role that brought her fame, while audiences' tastes were changing. After 20th Century-Fox executives proposed that her contract be re-negotiated, and that she be demoted to featured player status, Gaynor left the studio, but her retirement plans were quashed when David O. Selznick offered her the leading role in a new film to be produced by his company, Selznick International Pictures.{{cite magazine|date=May 3, 1937|title=In A Star Is Born Janet Gaynor Is a Star Reborn|magazine=Life|volume=2|issue=18|page=41|issn=0024-3019|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vUQEAAAAMBAJ&q=janet+gaynor+mary+pickford&pg=PA41}} Selznick, who was friendly with Gaynor off-screen, was convinced that audiences would enjoy seeing her portray a character closer to her true personality. He believed that she possessed the perfect combination of humor, charm, vulnerability, and innocence for the role of aspiring actress Esther Blodgett (later Vicki Lester) in A Star Is Born. Gaynor accepted the role. The romantic drama was filmed in Technicolor, and co-starred Fredric March. Released in 1937, it was an enormous hit, and earned Gaynor her second Academy Award nomination for Best Actress; she lost to Luise Rainer for The Good Earth.
A Star Is Born revitalized Gaynor's career, and she was cast in the screwball comedy The Young in Heart (1938) with Paulette Goddard. That film was a modest hit, but by then, Gaynor had definitely decided to retire. She later explained: "I had been working steadily for 17 long years; making movies was really all I knew of life. I just wanted to have time to know other things. Most of all, I wanted to fall in love. I wanted to get married. I wanted a child. And I knew that in order to have these things, one had to make time for them. So, I simply stopped making movies. Then, as if by a miracle, everything I really wanted happened." At the top of the industry, she retired at age 33.
Later years
File:Janet Gaynor in A Star is Born.jpg (1937)]]
In August 1939, Gaynor married Hollywood costume designer Adrian, with whom she had a son in 1940. The couple divided their time between their 250-acre cattle ranch in Anápolis, Brazil, and their homes in New York and California. Both were also heavily involved in the fashion and arts community.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1955&dat=19590915&id=PQMrAAAAIBAJ&pg=4627,5514598|title=Hollywood Fashion Designer Dies|date=September 15, 1959|work=Reading Eagle|page=1|access-date=March 30, 2015|location=Reading, Pennsylvania}}{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1350&dat=19840915&id=RT9PAAAAIBAJ&pg=7070,2497178|title=Janet Gaynor|date=September 15, 1984|work=Toledo Blade|page=6|access-date=March 30, 2015|location=Toledo, Ohio}} Gaynor returned to acting in the early 1950s with appearances in live television series, including Medallion Theatre, Lux Video Theatre, and General Electric Theater. In 1957, she appeared in her final film role as Dick Sargent's mother in the musical comedy Bernardine, starring Pat Boone and Terry Moore. In November 1959, she made her stage debut in the play The Midnight Sun in New Haven, Connecticut.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19591106&id=fvQlAAAAIBAJ&pg=7240,2767033|title=Janet Gaynor's First Stage Effort Opens Try-Out Tour|date=November 8, 1959|work=St. Petersburg Times|pages=8–B|access-date=March 30, 2015|location=St. Petersburg, Florida}} The play, which Gaynor later called "a disaster", was not well received and closed shortly after its debut.
Gaynor also became an accomplished oil painter of vegetable and flower still lifes.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1961&dat=19820227&id=OsxVAAAAIBAJ&pg=3210,3647650|title=Findlay Galleries Sets Janet Gaynor Exhibit|date=February 27, 1982|work=Palm Beach Daily News|page=D7|access-date=March 30, 2015|location=Palm Beach, Florida}}{{Dead link|date=December 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} She sold over 200 paintings and had four showings under the Wally Findlay Galleries banner in New York, Chicago, and Palm Beach from 1975 to February 1982.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2209&dat=19811117&id=n6ErAAAAIBAJ&pg=4545,3535465|title=Janet Gaynor Earns Applause For Paintings|date=November 17, 1981|work=The Telegraph|page=27|access-date=March 30, 2015|location=Nashua, New Hampshire}}
In 1980, Gaynor made her Broadway debut as Maude in the stage adaptation of the 1971 film Harold and Maude. She received good reviews for her performance, but the play was panned by critics and closed after 21 performances. Later that year, she reunited with her Servants' Entrance co-star Lew Ayres to film an episode of the anthology series The Love Boat.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19801228&id=o4UqAAAAIBAJ&pg=5224,4186110|title=Janet Gaynor Ends 42-Year Retirement|date=December 28, 1980|work=The Pittsburgh Press|page=TV4|access-date=March 30, 2015|location=Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania}} It was the first television appearance Gaynor had made since the 1950s and was her last screen role. In February 1982, she starred in the touring production of On Golden Pond.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1964&dat=19820223&id=KcgyAAAAIBAJ&pg=2961,2118882|title=Janet Gaynor's Star At Home On Stage|last=Hubbard Burns|first=Diane|date=February 23, 1982|work=The Palm Beach Post|page=B1|access-date=March 30, 2015|location=West Palm Beach, Florida}}{{Dead link|date=December 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} This was her final acting role.
Personal life
=Marriages and relationships=
File:Charles Farrell NM230.jpg
Gaynor was romantically involved with her friend and frequent co-star Charles Farrell during their work together in silent films until she married her first husband. Choosing to keep their relationship out of the public eye, Gaynor and Farrell were often assisted by a mutual friend Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in maintaining the ruse. Looking back, Fairbanks would later recall, "We three were so chummy that I became their 'beard,' the cover-up for their secret romance. I would drive them out to a little rundown, wooden house well south of Los Angeles, near the sea. I'd leave them there and go sailing or swimming until [it was] time to collect them and then we'd all have a bit of dinner."{{cite book|last1=Baker|first1=Sarah|title=Lucky Stars: Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell|date=2009|publisher=BearManor Media|location=Albany, GA|page=82}}
According to Gaynor's biographer Sarah Baker, Farrell proposed marriage during the filming of Lucky Star, but the two never followed through with it. In her later years, Gaynor would hold their different personalities accountable for their eventual separation.
Gaynor was married three times and had one child. Her first marriage was to lawyer Jesse Lydell Peck, whom she married on September 11, 1929. Gaynor's attorney announced the couple's separation in late December 1932.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19321221&id=ZahQAAAAIBAJ&pg=5926,6714298|title=Janet Gaynor, Peck Announce Separation|date=December 21, 1932|work=The Milwaukee Journal|page=8|access-date=March 30, 2015|location=Milwaukee, Wisconsin}}{{Dead link|date=December 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} She was granted a divorce on April 7, 1933.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1913&dat=19330407&id=7UEpAAAAIBAJ&pg=6299,427539|title=Janet Gaynor Is Granted Divorce|date=April 7, 1933|work=Lewiston Evening Journal|page=1|access-date=March 30, 2015|location=Lewiston, Maine}} On August 14, 1939, she married MGM costume designer Adrian in Yuma, Arizona.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=897&dat=19390815&id=YzZNAAAAIBAJ&pg=3314,3377967|title=Janet Gaynor Weds Adrian In Yuma|date=August 15, 1939|work=Prescott Evening Courier|page=1|access-date=March 30, 2015|location=Prescott, Arizona}} This relationship has been called a lavender marriage because Adrian was openly gay within the film community, and Gaynor herself was rumored to be bisexual.{{cite book|last=Stern|first=Keith |title=Queers in History: The Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Historical Gays, Lesbians and Bisexuals|year=2013|publisher=BenBella Books, Inc.|isbn=978-1-935-25183-5|page=6}}{{cite journal|last=Habib|first=John Phillip|date=July 9, 2002|title=Dressmaker for Stars and Secretaries|journal=The Advocate|publisher=Here Publishing|issue=867|page=61|issn=0001-8996|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eGQEAAAAMBAJ&q=janet+gaynor+gay&pg=PA60}}{{cite news|last1=Lyttle|first1=John|title=The bride and groom wore lavender|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/the-bride-and-groom-wore-lavender-1598474.html|access-date=March 18, 2015|work=The Independent|date=August 29, 1995}}{{cite book|last=Lord|first=M. G.|title=The Accidental Feminist: How Elizabeth Taylor Raised Our Consciousness and We Were Too Distracted by Her Beauty to Notice|year=2012|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA|isbn=978-0-802-71669-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/accidentalfemini0000lord/page/25 25]|url=https://archive.org/details/accidentalfemini0000lord/page/25}} The couple had one son, Robin Gaynor Adrian, born in 1940. Gaynor and Adrian remained married until Adrian's death from a stroke on September 13, 1959.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1873&dat=19590914&id=cFcrAAAAIBAJ&pg=4075,2233970|title=Adrian, Fashion Designer, Dies|date=September 14, 1959|work=Daytona Beach Morning Journal|page=1|access-date=March 30, 2015|location=Daytona Beach, Florida}}
On December 24, 1964, Gaynor married her longtime friend, stage producer Paul Gregory, to whom she remained married until her death. The two maintained a home in Desert Hot Springs, California, and owned 3,000 acres of land in Brazil, situated near Brasília.{{cite book |last=Wallace |first=David |title=A City Comes Out |year=2008 |publisher=Barricade |location=Fort Lee, NJ |isbn=978-1569803493 |page=123 |lccn=2008022210 |url=http://www.barricadebooks.com/index.php/books/single/a_city_comes_out/ |oclc=209646547 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130617074829/http://www.barricadebooks.com/index.php/books/single/a_city_comes_out |archive-date=June 17, 2013}}
=Friendship with Margaret Lindsay=
Margaret Lindsay and Gaynor appeared together in the film Paddy the Next Best Thing (1933). Lindsay and Gaynor often vacationed together for the next several years.{{cite web |title=Margaret Lindsay, Janet Gaynor at the Desert Inn |url=https://www.bridgemanimages.com/en/noartistknown/margaret-lindsay-janet-gaynor-at-the-desert-inn-palm-springs-california-1934/photo/asset/5802923 |website=bridgemanimages.com |access-date=July 20, 2023 |location=Palm Springs, California |language=en |date=1934 |archive-date=June 27, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230627100045/https://www.bridgemanimages.com/en/noartistknown/margaret-lindsay-janet-gaynor-at-the-desert-inn-palm-springs-california-1934/photo/asset/5802923 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |last1=Sercu |first1=Kurt |title=Margaret Lindsay (Sept 19, 1910 – May 8, 1981) |url=http://queen.spaceports.com/List%20of%20Suspects_5_Lindsay.html |website=Ellery Queen |access-date=July 20, 2023}}
=Friendship with Mary Martin=
Gaynor and her husband traveled frequently with her close friend Mary Martin and her husband.{{cite book|last1=Faderman|first1=Lillian|last2=Timmons|first2=Stuart|title=Gay L.A.: A History of Sexual Outlaws, Power Politics, and Lipstick Lesbians|year=2006|publisher=Basic Books|isbn=0-465-02288-X|page=[https://archive.org/details/gaylahistoryofse00lill/page/55 55]|url=https://archive.org/details/gaylahistoryofse00lill/page/55}}{{cite web|last1=McCroy|first1=Winnie|title=Hollywood Celesbians :: Then and Now|url=http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ch=entertainment&sc=celebrities&sc3=&id=102593&pg=2|website=The Edge|publisher=Edge Media Network|access-date=March 18, 2015|archive-date=April 3, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150403005940/http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ch=entertainment&sc=celebrities&sc3=&id=102593&pg=2|url-status=dead}}{{cite book|last1=Secrest|first1=Meryle|title=Somewhere for Me: A Biography of Richard Rodgers|date=2002|publisher=Applause Theatre & Cinema Books|location=NY|isbn=1557835810|page=292|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RHAaz72MYAAC&q=janet+gaynor+mary+martin&pg=PA292}} A Brazilian press report noted that Gaynor and Martin briefly lived with their respective husbands in Anápolis, state of Goiás at a ranch (fazenda in Portuguese) in the 1950s and 1960s. Both houses remain intact as of 2021. There is a project by the Jan Magalinski Institute to restore their houses to create a Cinema Museum of Goiás.[http://www2.correioweb.com.br/cw/EDICAO_20030408/pri_cid_080403_184.htm Glamour americano decorou o cerrado] Correio Braziliense. April 8, 2003. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090628182021/http://www2.correioweb.com.br/cw/EDICAO_20030408/pri_cid_080403_184.htm |date=June 28, 2009}}
Car wreck and eventual death
File:Grave of Janet Gaynor.jpg]]
File:A Star Is Born (1937 film, 1945 poster).jpg
On the evening of September 5, 1982, Gaynor, her husband Paul Gregory, actress Mary Martin, and Martin's manager Ben Washer, en route to a Chinatown restaurant,{{cite news |title=Martin to begin work on 'The Love Boat' |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DS19821215.2.36&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-------- |access-date=July 20, 2023 |work=The Desert Sun |agency=Associated Press |publisher=California Digital Newspaper Collection |date=December 15, 1982 |location=Palm Springs, California |quote=Number 114}} were involved in a serious car wreck in San Francisco. A van ran a red light at the corner of California and Franklin Streets and crashed into the Luxor taxicab in which the group was riding, knocking it into a tree.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/09/07/us/janet-gaynor-and-mary-martin-hurt-in-crash.html|title=Janet Gaynor and Mary Martin Hurt In Crash|last=Turner|first=Wallace|date=September 7, 1982|newspaper=nytimes.com|access-date=March 29, 2015}} Ben Washer was killed, Mary Martin sustained two broken ribs and a broken pelvis, and Gaynor's husband suffered two broken legs.{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1310&dat=19830104&id=r28RAAAAIBAJ&pg=2552,983752|title=Janet Gaynor leaves hospital after 4 months|date=January 4, 1983|work=Eugene Register-Guard|page=5C|access-date=March 30, 2015|location=Eugene, Oregon}} Gaynor sustained several serious injuries, including 11 broken ribs, a fractured collarbone, pelvic fractures, a punctured lung, and injuries to her bladder and kidney.{{cite magazine|title=Hospitalized |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,950804,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224220309/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,950804,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 24, 2009|magazine=Time |date=September 20, 1982|access-date=June 25, 2008}} Robert Cato, the driver of the van, was arrested on two counts of felony drunk driving, reckless driving, speeding, running a red light, and vehicular homicide.{{cite news |last1=Hilts |first1=Philip J. |title=Mary Martin and Janet Gaynor Hurt In San Francisco Traffic Accident |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1982/09/07/mary-martin-and-janet-gaynor-hurt-in-san-francisco-traffic-accident/0ee7aa27-c490-49cb-81ea-64dd67233ef9/ |access-date=July 19, 2023 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=September 7, 1982}}{{cite web |author1=Alan Eichler |title=Mary Martin, Janet Gaynor Car Accident in San Francisco |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoMF3jxtEaI |website=youtube |access-date=July 19, 2023 |language=en |date=1982 |quote=TV News}}
Cato, a former policeman, in the previous year, had been charged with two felonies for using his car as a deadly weapon against a motorist, Mellicent Wauters, a dental assistant and amateur actress,{{cite web |title=Tom Topor's 'Nuts'; Publicity Photo: Mellicent Wauters |url=https://www.ebay.com/itm/204315878614 |website=eBay |date=1983 |access-date=July 19, 2023 |quote=Photo by Ron Scherl; San Francisco Stage; Nuts (play); }} with whom he'd argued over a parking spot.{{cite news |title=The driver accused of causing the van-taxi collision that killed one man and seriously injured actresses Mary Martin and Janet Gaynor was charged last October with trying to run down a 30-year-old woman |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/09/08/The-driver-accused-of-causing-the-van-taxi-collision-that/4923400305600/ |access-date=July 19, 2023 |work=UPI Archives |date=September 8, 1982 |language=en}} Cato had been placed on informal probation; subsequently, the charges had been dropped.{{cite news |title=Robert Cato, the former policeman accused of ramming his van into the taxi carrying actresses Mary Martin and Janet Gaynor, pleaded innocent today to manslaughter charges for the death of Miss Martin's companion. |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/09/10/Robert-Cato-the-former-policeman-accused-of-ramming-his/6094400478400/ |access-date=July 19, 2023 |work=UPI Archives |date=September 10, 1982 |language=en}}
Cato pleaded not guilty and was later released on $10,000 bail (equivalent to ${{Format price|{{Inflation|US-GDP|10,000|1982|r=-3}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}). On March 15, 1983, he was found guilty of drunk driving and vehicular homicide and was sentenced to three years in prison.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1320&dat=19830316&id=KbcRAAAAIBAJ&pg=5667,239701|title=Man Sentenced for Accident|date=March 16, 1983|work=Gainesville Sun|page=2A|access-date=March 30, 2015|location=Gainesville, Florida}}{{cite news |last1=Opatrny |first1=Dennis J. |title=Sharply contrasting views of Robert Cato |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/56532302/cato/ |access-date=July 20, 2023 |work=The San Francisco Examiner |date=February 10, 1983 |location=San Francisco, California |page=21}}
As a result of her injuries, Gaynor was hospitalized for four months and underwent two surgeries to repair a perforated bladder and internal bleeding.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1454&dat=19820922&id=60dOAAAAIBAJ&pg=4491,5705369|title=Actress Gaynor worsens|date=September 22, 1982|work=Star-News|page=3B|access-date=March 29, 2015|location=Wilmington, North Carolina}} She recovered sufficiently to return to her home in Desert Hot Springs, but continued to experience health issues due to the injuries and required frequent hospitalizations. Shortly before her death, she was hospitalized for pneumonia and other ailments. On September 14, 1984, Gaynor died at Desert Hospital in Palm Springs at the age of 77. Her doctor, Bart Apfelbaum, attributed her death to the 1982 car wreck and stated that Gaynor "never recovered" from her injuries.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2206&dat=19840915&id=IAQtAAAAIBAJ&pg=3702,4034483|title=Janet Gaynor dies 'never recovered' from car accident|date=September 15, 1984|work=The Miami News|page=4A|access-date=March 29, 2015|location=Miami, Florida}}{{Dead link|date=December 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} In September 1984, these injuries were officially ruled to have caused her death.{{cite news |title=Coroner Rules Gaynor Death Was Result of '82 Accident |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/09/22/nyregion/coroner-rules-gaynor-death-was-result-of-82-accident.html |access-date=July 19, 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=September 22, 1984}}
Gaynor is buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery next to her second husband, Adrian. Her headstone reads "Janet Gaynor Gregory", her legal name after her marriage to her third husband, producer and director Paul Gregory.{{cite book|last=Bahn|first=Paul G.|title=The Archaeology of Hollywood: Traces of the Golden Age|year=2014|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|isbn=978-0-759-12378-6|page=177}}
Honors
In 1929, at 23 years old, Gaynor won the first Academy Award for Best Actress.
For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Gaynor has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6284 Hollywood Blvd.{{cite web|url=http://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/janet-gaynor/|title=Janet Gaynor - Hollywood Star Walk|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=March 30, 2015}}
On March 1, 1978, Howard W. Koch, then the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, presented Gaynor with a citation for her "truly immeasurable contribution to the art of motion pictures".{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2209&dat=19780302&id=xoRjAAAAIBAJ&pg=5972,418442|title=Janet Gaynor Honored; First Winner of Oscar|last=Thomas|first=Bob|date=March 2, 1978|work=The Telegraph|page=12|access-date=March 30, 2015|location=Nashua, New Hampshire}}
In 1979, Gaynor was awarded the Order of the Southern Cross for her cultural contributions to Brazil.
Filmography
| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Features |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
|---|
| 1924
| |Lost film |
| 1924
| |Uncredited |
| 1925
| |Lost film |
| 1925
| |Lost film |
| 1925
| |Lost film |
| 1925
| |Uncredited |
| 1926
|A Punch in the Nose |Bathing Beauty |Uncredited |
| 1926
| |Uncredited |
| 1926
|Anna Burger | |
| 1926
| |Lost film |
| 1926
| |Uncredited |
| 1926
|Lady Sheila O'Hara | |
| 1926
| |Lost film |
| 1926
| |Lost film |
| 1926
|Rose Kelly | |
| 1926
|Mildred Hastings |Lost film |
| 1926
|Catherine | |
| 1926
| |Uncredited |
| 1926
| |Uncredited |
| 1927
| Marianna Wright |Lost film |
| 1927
|Diane | rowspan=3 | Academy Award for Best Actress |
| 1927
|Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans | The Wife - Indre |
| 1928
| Angela |
| 1928
|Marion |Lost film |
| 1929
|Mary Tucker | Released as silent and sound versions, sound version is lost |
| 1929
|Herself | Lost film |
| 1929
|Christina |Lost film |
| 1929
|Molly Carr | |
| 1930
|Eleanor Divine | |
| 1931
|Angie Randolph | |
| 1931
|Judy Abbott | |
| 1931
|Mary Ann | |
| 1931
|Heather Gordon | |
| 1932
|Grace Livingston | |
| 1932
|Tess Howland | |
| 1933
|Margy Frake | |
| 1933
|Princess Marie Christine, aka Mitzi | |
| 1933
|Paddy Adair | |
| 1934
|Joanna Tate | |
| 1934
|The Cardboard City |Herself |Cameo |
| 1934
|Catherine Furness | |
| 1934
|Hedda Nilsson aka Helga Brand | |
| 1935
|Elizabeth Cheney | |
| 1935
|Molly Larkins | |
| 1936
|Katherine 'Kay' Brannan | |
| 1936
|Martha Kerenye | |
| 1937
|Esther Victoria Blodgett, aka Vicki Lester |Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actress |
| 1938
|Nancy Briggs | |
| 1938
|George-Anne Carleton | |
| 1957
|Mrs. Ruth Wilson | |
| 1961
|The Four of Us |Ann Hathaway, with George Murphy as Tom Hathaway |Ed James TV Pilot; Guest Stars: Herb Vigran Raymond Bailey |
| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ ! colspan="4" |Short subject |
| Year
!Title !Role !Notes |
|---|
| 1924
| |Uncredited |
| 1925
| |Uncredited |
| 1925
|The Crook Buster | |Uncredited |
| 1926
|WAMPAS Baby Stars of 1926 |Herself | |
| 1926
|Ridin' for Love | |Uncredited |
| 1926
|Fade Away Foster | |Uncredited |
| 1926
|The Fire Barrier | |Uncredited |
| 1926
|Don't Shoot | |Uncredited |
| 1926
|Pep of the Lazy J |June Adams |Uncredited |
| 1926
|Martin of the Mounted | |Uncredited |
| 1926
| |Uncredited |
| 1927
|The Horse Trader | |Uncredited |
| 1941
|Meet the Stars #2: Baby Stars |Herself | |
= Awards and nominations =
| class="wikitable sortable"
|+Awards |
| Year
!Award !Category !Production !Result |
|---|
| rowspan=2| 1927
| rowspan=4|Academy Awards | rowspan="4" |Best Actress | rowspan="3" {{won}} |
| Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans |
| 1928 |
| 1937
| {{nom}} |
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- {{cite book|last=Baker|first=Sarah J.|title=Lucky Stars: Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell|year=2009|publisher=Bean Manor Media|location=Albany, Georgia|isbn=978-1-59393-468-2 |others=Anders, Allison (foreword) |oclc=503442323 }}
External links
- {{commons category-inline}}
- {{wikisource author-inline}}
- {{IMDb name|0310980}}
- {{IBDB name}}
- {{rotten-tomatoes-person|janet_gaynor}}
{{AcademyAwardBestActress 1927-1940}}
{{Portalbar|biography|film}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaynor, Janet}}
Category:20th Century Studios contract players
Category:20th-century American actresses
Category:20th-century American painters
Category:20th-century American women painters
Category:Actresses from Philadelphia
Category:American film actresses
Category:American silent film actresses
Category:American stage actresses
Category:American television actresses
Category:Best Actress Academy Award winners
Category:Burials at Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Category:Deaths from pneumonia in California
Category:People from Desert Hot Springs, California