Jean Arthur

Great actress?\ \ Discuss!!

OK, she''s Dead!
Gay actress?
Could only be filmed or photographed from one side profile. Evidently, she looked like a horse from the other profile.
Norma Shearer''s dead eye
She was **FIRED** from ''Born Yesterday''
Fabulous comedienne.
R5 If she was such a ''Fabulous'' (your word) comedienne, why was she **FIRED** from Born Yesterday, and replaced by a then unknown Judy Holiday?
I thought the story with "Born Yesterday" was she had paralyzing stage fright.\ \ Don''t know if she could have done the kind of things that Davis, Crawford, and Hepburn did, but she was a gifted comedienne, as R5 said. "A Foreign Affair" is a good example.\ \ Been years since I''ve seen it, but I think she did pretty well as the mother in "Shane."
Jean Arthur was a Broadway Vet with Six Broadway shows to her credit up to that point.\ \ So she didn''t have stage fright, she just sucked in the role of Billie Dawn, and replaced by an unknown.
Did she really suck or was she getting near 40 and wasn''t photographing well?
It was the play ''Born Yesterday'' that she was ***FIRED** from.
She used to be one my favorites, but lately her voice just starts driving me crazy 20 minutes into the movie.
Marlene Dietrich was a total bitch to her during the filming of "Foreign Affair." In her daughter''s book, Dietrich referred to Arthur as "a plucked chicken."
She''s wonderful. Her voice is so great.
Love her in everything she did. My favorite may be "The Talk Of The Town" with Cary Grant & Ronald Colman, which is an all-round excellent story with perfect casting -- but she was wonderful no matter the role or movie.
Loved her in "Easy Living" with Ray Miland and Edward Arnold. She was charming!
Nancy Snodrass
She was at one time one of Mary Martin''s lovers. It''s a Peter Pan drag kinda thing.
I loved her in everything also. Anything with her in it that was on Netflix I''ve watched. She was her day''s Sandra Bullock just a little funnier. Her performance in Shane was an act of subtlety that every actress should watch. \ \ Here''s one of my favorite clips. Her and Cary had great chemistry together. I find it amazing that she was such a big box office draw for so long and then was just forgotten.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdXFBhEVMAw
I can''t believe she was tested (and apparently seriously considered) for the role of Scarlett O''Hara in GWTW.
Dietrich absolutely HATED her. Always referred to her as "that ugly, UGLY Jean Arthur".\ \ I''m a Dietrich fan, so that has always colored my view of Arthur.
For my money, one of the sexiest scenes ever put on film:\ \ With Joel McCrea in "The More the Merrier" where he can''t keep is big beautiful hands off her.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZyxrUDspLQ
Why did Marlene hate her? Bad break up?
inquisitive
Unfortunately, my late friend, Richard Chandler wrote her final stage appearance, "The Freaking Out of Stephanie Blake".
Dietrich admired women who were either very beautiful (Dolores del Rio) or very secure (Hepburn). Arthur was neither, and I think Dietrich just had no use for her.
Marlene Dietrich disliked almost all of her peers in Hollywood. If you read her daughter''s bio, Marlene had a lot of bitchy and hilarous quotes about her fellow stars of the 30s and 40s. Mae West and Katharine Hepburn were apparently the only female stars Dietrich liked and had good things to say about.\ \ Off the top of my head, she considered Charlie Chaplin "a low-class circus performer," Joan Crawford "a cheap tap dancer" and though Carole Lombard "is always copying me."
I wish I could articulate why Jean Arthur bugs me. I''m a big TCM queen and love most of the actresses from that era, but whenever she shows up on the screen, I cringe. The only movie in which I can stand her is "You Can''t Take It With You," and even then I think about how much better it would have been with anyone else in her role.\ \ I admit it''s an irrational feeling. Maybe she reminds me of someone I''ve forgotten.
Those two clips are great.\ \ And Joel McCrea is dreamier every time I see him.
She did develop severe stage fright later in her career.
She also vomited before going in front of the camera.
Had her own TV show in the 60s. Didn''t last.\ \ "The Jean Arthur Show"\ \ It actually doesn''t look too bad.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aM6B93cyKbI
I''m with R25, I just don''t love her and I''m not sure why. Perhaps she was just so one-note, every fucking movie she had the same little shy mannerisms.
Another big TCM Queen
She felt that Billy Wilder was favoring Dietrich during the making of "A Foreign Affair" and was pretty miserable.\ \ I think she''s terrific in it.
Ron Harper plays her HOT son in The JA Show, for which JA got her first face-lift!
Candi Rue
Fans have got to see HISTORY IS MADE AT NIGHT, with Charles Boyer. Difficult to fine but intoxicating.
Love her. Yes, R20, all 3 leads were wonderful in "The More the Merrier". \ \ \ I haven''t seen Talk of the Town in years. I will have to request that on the TCM website.
non-talent
R4 (and others) -- Arthur was *not* fired from Born Yesterday. During out of town try outs, she grew increasingly anxious about acting onstage and withdrew from the production -- much to the great distress of playwright Garson Kanin and the rest of the Born Yesterday tream. Fortunately, though, Judy Holliday took over the part and was brilliant in it, and the play was a smash anyway, without Arthur. Sadly for Arthur, though, her stage fright continued to get worse and the same thing that happened with Born Yesterday would happen with other plays. She opened on Broadway in Peter Pan to excellent reviews and strong box office, but left the production long before her contract was up, due to her emotional issues. And in subsequent years, in Broadway previews or out of town try-outs, she walked out on productions of Shaw's Saint Joan, an awful-sounding play called The Freaking Out of Stephanie Blake, and a play that eventually made it to Broadway, First Monday in October (Jane Alexander played the part that Arthur originated). John Oller's biography Jean Arthur: The Actress Nobody Knew is the best source for info about this enigmatic woman. She was a wonderful actress who could be pure magic in romantic comedy.
I liked her in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.\ \ I just realized how similar those titles are for the first time.
I was going to post that awesome piano scene with Cary Grant. What a foxy dyke JA was. And I recommend the bio of her. She had terrible stage fright, as has been mentioned. She also, by the end of the bio, comes across as a pain in the ass, as much as I wanted to love her. A mess.
I adore her. She''s the best thing about Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
I adore her, as well. One of the great screen comediennes; she shoulda won the Oscar for The More the Merrier.\ \ But she was also great in drama; her performance in Shane has so many layers to it, simply heartbreaking.
Jean Arthur was top-billed over Marlene in 1948 when A Foreign Affair was made. Jean was still an A list Hollywood star and Marlene was making a comeback, which because of her performance, was indeed a sensational comeback. \ \ But when the film was shot, Jean was the nominal star....enough of a reason right there for Marlene (who NEVER took 2nd billing to ANY actress!) to hate her.\ \ And they were about as different as two Hollywood actresses could be in every way, professionally and personally.
Gary Cooper (I knew ''em both!)
Except that they both liked the gals.
R36 fails to mention that the majority of reviews for her performance were pans. Leaving TOTB no choice but to replace her, as it was clear to all concerned that Jean Arthur was miscast in the part.
Marlene also took second billing below Jane Wyman in Hitchcock''s Stage Fright, and also had a catty comment about her:\ \ "I did one film for Alfred Hitchcock. Jane Wyman was in it. I heard she''d only wanted to do it if she were billed above me, and she got her wish. Hitchcock didn''t think much of her. She looks too much like a victim to play a heroine, and God knows she couldn''t play a woman of mystery - that was MY part. Miss Wyman looks like a mystery nobody has bothered to solve."
Jeez, Marlene sounds like a Grade A cunt. We would have got along fabulously.
Gwyneth
Marlene was far from a cunt. She was fabulous and her catty comments about other celebrities were pretty much on the mark.
What is TOTB that r43 refers to? I''m sure I will be embarrassed that I couldn''t figure it out when it is revealed.
I''m guessing r43 meant to type TPTB (The Powers That Be) but mistakenly typed O instead of P (they are right next to each other on the keyboard).
OK, I''ll bite. What was The Powers That Be?
Poor Jean.
Marlene D.
Ugly, boring, no charisma, no screen presence. Awful voice.
Jean had an entirely different career as a screen star in late silent films as just sort of a run-of-the-mill ingenue. \ \ It wasn''t until she reinvented herself as a screwball comedienne with a raspy voice in the mid-30s in The Plainsman (as Calamity Jane) and Frank Capra''s Mr. Deeds and Mr Smith that her career really took off as an audience favorite.
Jean suffered from Horse-face.
Joel McCrea was such a handsome guy. I find him much more appealing than other male stars of the era who were considered bigger stars.
McRea was HOT!
Great weekend zig-zagging between the Jean Arthur, Paulette Goddard and Mary Astor threads! Thanks to whoever started them and all those who''ve contributed so much insight and snark.
Joel McCrea was gorgeous. I also find him more appealing than some of the bigger stars of his era.
http://www.briansdriveintheater.com/westerns/joelmccrea/joelmccrea10.jpg
I want McCrea in me!!
There is a wonderful long interview with McCrea in John Kobal''s "People Will Talk.
\ Did PG fuck McCrea?
Love Jean Arthur. "The Devil and Miss Jones" is one of my favorites. It also stars a very young Robert Cummings. The beach scene is hysterical. You never see water, just people from the waist down.
Wasn''t Joel McCrea bi?
r60 you''ll have to return to the PG Thread to find the answer to that one!
Jean Arthur, Queen of my Thread
My favorite thing to tell people when they''re in my way is "I''ll mow ya down" but I just can''t say it like Jean.
Love Jean Arthur! One of my favorite old-time actresses.%0D\ I read somewhere that she taught acting in her later years and one of her students was Meryl Streep.
Anonymous
Not true, R65 - Jean was never a teacher, and certainly never taught M.\ \ Why is "A Foreign Affair" the ONLY Billy Wilder film not available on DVD???? Arthur is very funny in it, and Dietrich is just divine. Even "Fedora" can be had...
Hey mister, check out her bio! She taught drama at Vassar and at North Carolina! And, yes, Meryl Streep was one of her students. Look it up if you don''t believe me!
Anonymous
Link, please, R67.\ \ Put your proof where your mouth is.
decent actress, comedic and otherwise, but that weird ass voice. oy.
Joel McCrea was pure sex. His earlier movies especially feature a lot of gratuitous shirtlessness, clearly intended to get the female audience hot and bothered. He and Jean have fabulous chemistry in More the Merrier.\ \ Don''t know if he was bi, but Connie Bennett and Dolores Del Rio were known to have partaken. \ \ Bright Lights Film Journal did a piece a few years ago about his sex appeal:
http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/50/mccrea.php
Mary Martin was so captivated by Jean Arthur''s speaking voice that she copied that girlish nasal honk for the rest of her career.
nasal honk is right, it was soo unsexy and just icky.
r66, are you being serious? Did you even try to google the information first? Lazy.
Hey R66--%0D\ If you would just look at Wikipedia, for example, or any good online bio of Jean Arthur, you will find what she did after she retired from films--i.e., taught drama!
Anonymous
I am a serious actress, well trained in my craft.\ \ People who "teach drama" work in junior high schools.\ \ I don''t know who this Arthur Jean woman even is.
M.
Marlene Dietrich disliked Jean Arthur during the filming of "A Foreign Affair." Dietrich always referred to Arthur as "that ugly, ugly woman" behind her back.
Jean Arthur commissioned Garson Kanin to write a play for her and was disapointed when he presented her with "Born Yesterday". Jean felt that the role was undignified and wanted out way before she finally dropped out of it. She said that Judy Holiday was much better and suited then she for the role. For you hags that said she wasn''t much of an actress, Frank Capra said she was his favorite actress and George Stevens said that she was the best comedienne actress ever. Throughout the forties until the seventies she turned down several roles saying that the roles were just not good enough.%0D
Anonymous
Jean didn''t like being an actress - she would get very anxious and upset before filming. She had to cajoled into giving those performances. Capra knew how to get the best out of her. In later years, if I recall, she often dropped out of things after signing for them. She did do a sitcom in the 60s, which I think would be interesting to watch. I like her voice - it was distinctive and she knew how to use it to comic effect.
Joel McCrea was a refuglican.
Joel McCrea was fucking hot!
I eat shit.
R66/68/75
Marlene was fab. She told Elizabeth Taylor that she was very courageous to appear next to "real" actors in "Who''s afraid". \ \ *snap*
Marlene was a no talent cunt.
Constance Bennett
Jean Arthur claimed to not like making movies, not like being in Hollywood, not able to deal with her so called "stage fright'' she''d go on and on and on about that shit yet she made movie after movie after movie. She was a fake bitch. Not an honest one either but a behind the back kind.
BORN YESTERDAY is for an ingenue. Love Arthur, but why would she accept the ingenue role in her - what, 40s?
She''s magical with Herbert Marshall in "If You Could Only Cook" and any actress who can make Herbert Marshall likeable has got something on the ball.\ \ If you want to see great comic acting, though, watch EASY LIVING. She plays against the hysteria and as a result, is hilarious and utterly enchanting. \ \ And yes, she had issues, but who in Hollywood, other than Carole Lombard did not?\ \ And why the fuck would Carole Lombard need to copy that kraut?
[quote]Marlene was fab. She told Elizabeth Taylor that she was very courageous to appear next to "real" actors in "Who''s afraid".\ \ \ Marlene fell in love with Burton and she hated Elizabeth because she had him.
Here''s her house in the 70s. \ \ I like it.
http://warymeyers.blogspot.com/search?q=arthur
Did Joel McCrea possess sizemeat?
r84, please hush until you have experienced what she did. She obviously liked acting and kept at it. It IS possible to love to act and be extremely shy about exposing yourself in front of others.
R86, Carole had issues too. Not as many as Jean Arthur but she had them.
[quote]And why the fuck would Carole Lombard need to copy that kraut? Best. line. ever.
She's absolutely, unbelievably fantastic!!!!
J.%20Michael%20smith