Trivia

Even though Jean and James Stewart never bonded off-screen, Jimmy called Jean "the finest actress I ever worked with. No one had her humor, her timing".

Director George Stevens called her "one of the greatest comediennes the screen has ever seen", Frank Capra credited her as "my favorite actress" and Billy Wilder called her one performance for him (in A Foreign Affair (1948)) "simply wonderful".

She was teaching at Vassar at the same time that Meryl Streep was studying there in her junior year. Upon seeing the young drama major rehearsing August Strindberg's play "Miss Julie", Arthur remarked it was "just like watching a movie star".

Gary Cooper and Joel McCrea were her favorite leading men.

Arthur was cold and unfriendly to Rita Hayworth when they worked together on Only Angels Have Wings (1939), which Arthur later said she regretted.

She taught drama at Vassar from 1968 till 1973.

Turned down Donna Reed's role in It's a Wonderful Life (1946) because she didn't want to work with James Stewart again.

Appeared in three Frank Capra movies: Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), You Can't Take It with You (1938) and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939).

She kept her natural dark hair color through the early part of her career and began bleaching her hair blonde in around 1930 to differentiate herself from Paramount starlet Mary Brian, whom she was said to resemble.

Quit movies at the height of her career in 1944, following her first (and only) Oscar nomination and while still Columbia Pictures' top female box-office attraction. She appeared in only two more films, both for Oscar-winning directors; Billy Wilder (A Foreign Affair (1948)) and George Stevens (Shane (1953)).

On the completion of her Columbia contract in 1944, she reportedly ran through the studio's streets, shouting "I'm free, I'm free!".

[May 1989] Suffered a significant stroke after falling and breaking a hip, spending the last two years of her life an invalid, cared for by her loyal friend and companion, Ellen Mastroianni (1911-1997).

Ashes scattered off of Point Lobos, California, USA.

Despite her confident on-screen persona, Arthur suffered from chronic stage fright and social anxiety. She loathed interviews, refused to do publicity and frequently vomited in the dressing room between takes. Frank Capra said, "[when you] push that neurotic girl forcibly but gently... in front of the camera she would magically blossom into a warm, lovely, poised and confident actress".

Starred in six Oscar Best Picture nominees: Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), You Can't Take It with You (1938), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), The Talk of the Town (1942), The More the Merrier (1943) and Shane (1953). You Can't It with You won in 1938.

For many years, during her lifetime, her date of birth listed in the World Almanac was given as1905; it was later "updated" to 1908; not until after her death did further research confirm that the correct year was 1900.

At the Yale Law School Film Society weekend with Frank Capra in 1972, she attended a small afternoon symposium on Saturday, February 5, at Capra's invitation. He urged her to stay for the screening that night, and assured her the audience would be delighted and overwhelmingly enthusiastic. She declined because, she said, she had to go home and feed her cats.

After leaving Hollywood in 1944, she was replaced by Rita Hayworth as Columbia's top female star. Coincidentally, the two stars shared the same birthday (October 17).

Allegedly took her stage name from two of her greatest heroes: Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc) and King Arthur.

As a result of being in the doghouse with studio boss Harry Cohn, her fee for starring in The Talk of the Town (1942) was only $50,000 while her male co-stars (Ronald Colman, Cary Grant) received upwards of $100,000 each.

After retiring from films she taught drama at Vassar and North Carolina School of the Arts from the late 1960s to 1973.

She has appeared in four films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: The Iron Horse (1924), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) and Shane (1953).

Her first marriage, to photographer Julian Ancker, was annulled after a day.

In 1936 she earned $119,000 dollars - far more than either the President of the United States or baseball legend Lou Gehrig.

Was a leading contender for the coveted role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939).

A voracious and adventurous reader, Arthur admired works by Erich Fromm, Henrik Ibsen, J.M. Barrie and George Bernard Shaw.

Like other well known actresses, most notably Claudette Colbert, Arthur was most frequently photographed from the left side, cinematographers having determined that this was her most favorable angle. As evidence of this fact, just take a look at Arizona (1940) or The Lady Takes a Chance (1943). Frank Capra, already having dealt with a similar issue with Colbert while photographing It Happened One Night (1934), had the procedure down pat by the time he did Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) with Arthur, and only rarely gave audiences a close look at her "evil" side, if and when the situation demanded it.

Arthur's family regarded the Washington Heights Section of Manhattan as home.

The two roles she always longed to play were Joan of Arc and Peter Pan. She played both on stage after leaving Columbia.

Turned down the role of the lady missionary in Lost Horizon (1973), the unsuccessful musical remake of the 1937 classic of the same name.

Although she came to Hollywood at 22 years old, Arthur didn't enjoy success in the movies until more than a decade later. In the mid Thirties she starred in a string of moderately successful movies at Columbia culminating in the hit Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), released when she was 36. Arthur said her early career mainly involved "playing colorless, vapid ingenues".

Arthur frequently intervened when she saw animals harmed on set. On both Arizona (1940) and Shane (1953) she arranged veterinary care for sick animals.

Honored with a day of her films being shown during TCM's "Summer Under the Start" month on 2 August 2022.

Coincidentally Jean Arthur's ex husband, producer Frank Ross, next married actress Joan Caulfield. Caulfield and Arthur died one day apart on 18 and 19 June 1991. Ross had died the previous year.

WAMPAS Baby Star of 1929.

Was in analysis for a year and a half with psychologist and philosopher Erich Fromm.

Profiled in book, "Funny Ladies", by Stephen M. Silverman. (1999)

For years, during her lifetime, her date of birth listed in the World Almanac was 1905.

Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume 3, 1991-1993, pages 29-31. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2001.

Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith. pg. 30-31. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387

Biography in: "American National Biography". Supplement 1, pp. 15-16. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.