Janet Gaynor
| Janet Gaynor | |
 Janet Gaynor | |
| Background information | |
| Born as: | Laura Augusta Gainor |
| Born | Oct 6, 1906 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | Sep 14, 1984 - at age 78 Palm Springs, California "never recovered" from 1982 car wreck injuries. |
| Buried: | Hollywood Forever Cemetery |
| Spouse(s): |
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| Children: | 1 |
| Occupation: | Actress (1924–1939; 1950s–1981) |
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
Gaynor was born Laura Augusta Gainor (some sources stated Gainer) in Germantown, Philadelphia. Nicknamed "Lolly" as a child, she was the younger of two daughters born to Laura (Buhl) and Frank De Witt Gainor. 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. As a child in Philadelphia, she started 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. The family later relocated to San Francisco.
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, allowing her to pursue an acting career. Initially hesitant, she 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 visiting studios (accompanied by her stepfather) to find film work.
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). 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. Later that year, Gaynor was selected as one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars (along with Joan Crawford, Dolores del Río, Mary Astor, and others).
Career
- Wikipedia article: Janet Gaynor Career
Later years
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. They were also heavily involved in the fashion and arts community. Gaynor returned to acting in the early 1950s, appearing in live television series including Medallion Theatre, Lux Video Theatre, and General Electric Theater. In 1957, she had 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. 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. She sold over 200 paintings and held four exhibitions under the Wally Findlay Galleries banner in New York, Chicago, and Palm Beach from 1975 to February 1982.
In 1980, Gaynor made her Broadway debut portraying Maude in the stage adaptation of the 1971 film Harold and Maude. She received favorable reviews for her performance; however, the play faced widespread criticism and concluded after 21 performances. Later that year, she collaborated once again with her co-star from Servants' Entrance, Lew Ayres, to film an episode of the anthology series The Love Boat. This marked Gaynor's first television appearance since the 1950s and represented her final screen role. In February 1982, she starred in the touring production of On Golden Pond, which constituted her last acting role.
Personal life
Marriages and relationships
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."
According to Gaynor's biographer, Sarah Baker, Farrell proposed marriage during the filming of " Lucky Star, " but the two never followed through. In her later years, Gaynor held their differing personalities accountable for their eventual separation.
Gaynor experienced the journey of marriage three times and cherished one child. Her first wedding was to the lawyer Jesse Lydell Peck, a lovely union that began on September 11, 1929. Sadly, in late December 1932, Gaynor's attorney shared the news of their separation. By April 7, 1933, she received her divorce. On August 14, 1939, she joyously married the talented MGM costume designer Adrian in the beautiful town of Yuma, Arizona. Their relationship was notably referred to as a lavender marriage, reflecting the fact that Adrian was openly gay in the film community, while Gaynor was also rumored to embrace her bisexuality. Together, they welcomed a wonderful son, Robin Gaynor Adrian, who was born in 1940. Gaynor and Adrian shared a rich partnership that lasted until Adrian's passing from a stroke on September 13, 1959.
On December 24, 1964, Ms. Gaynor entered into matrimony with her longtime associate, stage producer Paul Gregory, to whom she remained wedded until her passing. The couple maintained a residence in Desert Hot Springs, California, and possessed 3,000 acres of land in Brazil, located in proximity to Brasília.
Friendship with Margaret Lindsay
Margaret Lindsay and Gaynor appeared together in the film Paddy the Next Best Thing (1933). For the next several years, Lindsay and Gaynor often vacationed together.
Friendship with Mary Martin
Gaynor and her husband frequently traveled with her close friend Mary Martin and her husband. 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) during 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.
Car wreck and eventual death
On the evening of September 5, 1982, Gaynor, her husband Paul Gregory, actress Mary Martin, and Martin's manager Ben Washer were en route to a Chinatown restaurant when they 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. Ben Washer was killed, Mary Martin sustained two broken ribs and a broken pelvis, while Gaynor's husband suffered two broken legs. Gaynor sustained several serious injuries, including 11 broken ribs, a fractured collarbone, pelvic fractures, a punctured lung, and injuries to her bladder and kidney. 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.
Cato, a former policeman, had been charged the previous year with two felonies for using his car as a deadly weapon against a woman motorist, Mellicent Wauters, a dental assistant and amateur actress, with whom he had argued over a parking spot. Cato was placed on informal probation; subsequently, the charges were dropped.
Cato pleaded not guilty and was later released on $10,000 bail (equivalent to $27,000 in 2023). On March 15, 1983, he was found guilty of drunk driving and vehicular homicide, receiving a sentence of three years in prison.
As a result of her injuries, Gaynor was hospitalized for four months and underwent two surgeries to repair a perforated bladder and internal bleeding. 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. In September 1984, these injuries were officially ruled to have caused her death.
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.
Honors
In 1929, at 23 years old, Gaynor won the first Academy Award for Best Actress.
For her contributions to the motion picture industry, Gaynor has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6284 Hollywood Blvd.
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".
In 1979, Gaynor was awarded the Order of the Southern Cross for her cultural contributions to Brazil.
Filmography
- Wikipedia article: Janet Gaynor Filmography
External links
- Janet Gaynor at the Internet Movie Database
- Janet Gaynor at the Internet Broadway Database
- Janet Gaynor at Rotten Tomatoes
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