BIO

Jean Arthur was born Gladys Georgianna Greene in Plattsburgh, New York, in 1900.   She lived off and on in Westbrook, Maine from 1908 to 1915 where her father worked as a photographer.

Discovered by Fox Film Studios while she was doing commercial modeling in New York City in the early 1920s, Arthur debuted in a silent film directed by John Ford in 1923, at the age of 23.   Her silent film career includes appearances in such films as Seven Chances (1925) with Buster Keaton.

Although she had appeared in more than 50 films by 1931, Arthur felt her career was stagnating.   Unlike her other contemporaries, Arthur headed east to the New York stage, making her Broadway debut in 1932, at the age of 32.

After several Broadway productions, Arthur returned to Hollywood and was soon cast in a co-starring role opposite Gary Cooper in Mr. Deeds Goes To Town in 1936.   She became a favorite of director Frank Capra who went on to cast her in You Can't Take It with You (1938) and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington in 1939, both opposite James Stewart.

She received an Academy Award nomination for Actress in The More The Merrier (1943).

Arthur appeared in 85 feature films during a movie career that stretched 3 decades.   Always publicity-shy, she developed a debilitating stage fright that ended her film career, for the most part, in 1944.   Her last motion picture, Shane, was released in 1953.

She starred in the Broadway revival of Peter Pan (1950-1951).

After retiring from film, Arthur taught acting at Vassar College and the North Carolina School of the Arts during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Arthur’s first marriage, to photographer Julian Ancker in 1928, was annulled after one day.   She then married the film producer Frank Ross in 1932.   They divorced in 1949.

Jean Arthur died from heart failure in 1991 at the age of 90.

Additional Broadway stage history is available at:

Additional biographical information is available at:

NOTED FILMS

Complete filmography at:

TV SERIES

The Jean Arthur Show