Historical Figures Codexery

Janet Gaynor

First Oscar winner for Best Actress

Janet Gaynor was the first winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress, receiving the honor in 1929 for her work in multiple films.[1] Gaynor ended her film career at age 33, following a second Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for A Star Is Born (1937).[2][3]

Quick Facts

Birth name
Laura Augusta Gainor
Born
6 October 1906
Birthplace
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died
14 September 1984
Place of death
Palm Springs, California, U.S.
Resting place
Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Occupation
Actress
Years active
1924–1939; 1950s–1982

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

Born Laura Augusta Gainor in Philadelphia, she was nicknamed "Lolly" and was the younger of two daughters.[4] A Fox Film Corporation executive offered her a screen test for The Johnstown Flood (1926), leading to a five-year contract.[5] She was selected as a WAMPAS Baby Star later that year.[5] Her performances in 7th Heaven, Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, and Street Angel earned her the first Academy Award for Best Actress.[1]

She married lawyer Jesse Lydell Peck on September 11, 1929, and was granted a divorce on April 7, 1933.[6] Gaynor died on September 14, 1984, at age 77, from injuries sustained in a 1982 car wreck.[7] Following the divorce of her parents in 1914, Gaynor relocated with her mother and sister to Chicago, and later the family moved to San Francisco.[8] On December 26, 1924, Gaynor secured her first paid acting job as an extra; subsequently, Universal engaged her as a stock player at a weekly salary of $50.[9]

What the cited sources add

A 1995 article in The Independent described Gaynor as "petite - five foot nuthin' - but a giant at the box office" and noted that her marriage to Adrian was considered a lavender marriage because Adrian was openly gay and Gaynor was rumored to be bisexual.[10] The same source stated that "Adrian made the trousers and Janet wore them"[10] An encyclopedic dictionary of women in early American films confirms that Gaynor was one of the few established lead actresses to successfully transition to sound films and that she was Fox's most popular actress in the early 1930s.[11][12]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Janet Gaynor" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Haver, "A Star Is Born: The Making of the 1954 Movie and Its 1983 Restoration", Hal Leonard Corporation, 2002, p. 44; Bird, "Janet Gaynor Is Dead At 77; First 'Best Actress' Winner", nytimes.com, September 15, 1984 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Janet Gaynor" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Screen World Presents the Encyclopedia of Hollywood Film Actors: From the silent era to 1965", Hal Leonard Corporation, 2003, p. 272; Haver, "A Star Is Born: The Making of the 1954 Movie and Its 1983 Restoration", Hal Leonard Corporation, 2002, p. 44 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Janet Gaynor" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Bird, "Janet Gaynor Is Dead At 77; First 'Best Actress' Winner", nytimes.com, September 15, 1984 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Janet Gaynor" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ellenberger, "Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory", McFarland & Company Incorporated Pub, 2001, p. 128; "Janet Gaynor" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Janet Gaynor" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Tedric, "Janet Gaynor In 'Pictures' But Only Those She Paints", Toledo Blade, November 12, 1981, p. P–2; "Screen World Presents the Encyclopedia of Hollywood Film Actors: From the silent era to 1965", Hal Leonard Corporation, 2003, p. 272; Lowe, "An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Women in Early American Films, 1895-1930", Psychology Press, 2005, p. 230; Liebman, "The Wampas Baby Stars: A Biographical Dictionary, 1922-1934", McFarland, 2000, p. 8, 90 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Janet Gaynor" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Janet Gaynor, Peck Announce Separation", The Milwaukee Journal, December 2021, p. 8; "Janet Gaynor Is Granted Divorce", Lewiston Evening Journal, April 7, 1933, p. 1; "Janet Gaynor Weds Adrian In Yuma", Prescott Evening Courier, August 15, 1939, p. 1; Stern, "Queers in History: The Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Historical Gays, Lesbians and Bisexuals", BenBella Books, Inc., 2013, p. 6; Habib, "Dressmaker for Stars and Secretaries", The Advocate, July 9, 2002, p. 61; Lyttle, "The bride and groom wore lavender", The Independent, August 29, en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Janet Gaynor" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Janet Gaynor dies 'never recovered' from car accident", The Miami News, December 2021, p. 4A (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Janet Gaynor" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Parish, "The Fox Girls", Arlington House, 1971, p. 50; Menefee, "The First Female Stars: Women of the Silent Era", Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004, p. 83 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Janet Gaynor" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Hollywood, Mecca of the Hopeful", The Sydney Morning Herald, August 3, 1937, p. 9; Parish, "The Fox Girls", Arlington House, 1971, p. 50 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Lyttle, "The bride and groom wore lavender", The Independent, August 29, 1995. facts only, no text reused. independent.co.uk
  11. Lowe, "An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Women in Early American Films, 1895-1930", Psychology Press, 2005, p. 230. facts only, no text reused. archive.org
  12. Wikipedia, "Janet Gaynor" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Lowe, "An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Women in Early American Films, 1895-1930", Psychology Press, 2005, p. 230 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Janet Gaynor (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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