Janet Gaynor

Janet Gaynor (born October 6, 1906; died September 14, 1984) was an actress who in 1928 was the first winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress.

Related Topics:
October 6 - 1906 - September 14 - 1984 - Actress - 1928 - Academy Award for Best Actress

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Born Laura Gainer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, her family moved west to San Francisco when she was a child. Upon graduating from high school, Gaynor decided to pursue a career in acting. For two years, she supported herself with odd jobs in Los Angeles while taking minor roles in films. Finally, in 1926, she was cast in the lead role in a silent film called The Johnstown Flood, the same year she was selected as one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars. Her outstanding performance won her the attention of producers, who cast her in a series of films.

Related Topics:
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - San Francisco - Los Angeles - The Johnstown Flood - WAMPAS Baby Stars

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Within one year, Gaynor was one of Hollywood's leading ladies. Her performances in Seventh Heaven (the first of twelve movies she would make with Charles Farrell) and both Sunrise and Street Angel (in 1927, also with Charles Farrell) earned her the first Academy Award for Best Actress in 1928. It was the only time in Oscar history that this prestigious award was given for multiple roles. The award was given on the basis of the actor's total work over the year, and not just for one particular performance.

Related Topics:
Hollywood - Seventh Heaven - Charles Farrell - Sunrise - Street Angel - Academy Award for Best Actress

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Gaynor was one of only a handful of leading ladies who made a successful transition to sound movies over the next decade. In 1937, she was again nominated for an Academy Award, this time for her role in A Star Is Born. Soon after, despite the success of the film and the acclaim for her performance, she left film for almost twenty years, returning one last time in 1957 in Bernardine. Her departure was possibly related to her bisexuality, despite the fact that she was married with children but which may have threatened to cause the studio bad publicity or embarrassment; otherwise bisexuality and homosexuality were open secrets usually tolerated provided discretion was exercised and protected whenever possible, but sometimes destructive to the career of someone who violated the protocol and let the mask slip in front of the gimlet eyes of the columnists, paparazzi, blackmailers, etc in that "less enlightened" time.

Related Topics:
A Star Is Born - Bernardine

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She died in 1984 at the age of 77 partly as the aftermath of a traffic accident in San Francisco in which a driver running a red light crashed into her taxi, killing one of the passengers, and injuring the rest; she never fully recovered.

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She was interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California.

Related Topics:
Hollywood Forever Cemetery - Hollywood, California

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