Editing Janet Gaynor (section)

==Career==
[[File:Janet gaynor 1927.jpg|thumb|upright|1927 studio portrait]]

By 1927, Gaynor was one of Hollywood's leading ladies. Her image was that of a sweet, wholesome and pure young woman, who was notable for playing her roles with depth and sensitivity.<ref name="haver">{{cite book|last=Haver|first=Ronald|title=A Star Is Born: The Making of the 1954 Movie and Its 1983 Restoration|year=2002|publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation|isbn=1-557-83563-2|page=44}}</ref> Her performances in ''[[7th Heaven (1927 film)|7th Heaven]]'', the first of 12 films she would make with actor [[Charles Farrell]]; ''[[Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans]]'', directed by [[F. W. Murnau]]; and ''[[Street Angel (1928 film)|Street Angel]]'', also with Charles Farrell, earned her the first [[Academy Award for Best Actress]] in 1929,<ref name="bird">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/09/15/obituaries/janet-gaynor-is-dead-at-77-first-best-actress-winner.html|title=Janet Gaynor Is Dead At 77; First 'Best Actress' Winner|last=Bird|first=David|date=September 15, 1984|newspaper=nytimes.com|access-date=March 30, 2015}}</ref> when for the first and only time the award was granted for multiple roles, on the basis of total recent work rather than for one particular performance. This practice was prohibited three years later by a new [[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]] rule.<ref name="monush"/> Gaynor was not only the first actress to win the award, but at 22, was the youngest until 1986, when actress [[Marlee Matlin]], 21, won for her role in ''[[Children of a Lesser God (film)|Children of a Lesser God]]''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Holden|first=Anthony|title=Behind the Oscar: The Secret History of the Academy Awards|year=1993|publisher=Simon & Schuster|isbn=0-671-70129-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/behindoscarsecre00hold/page/94 94]|url=https://archive.org/details/behindoscarsecre00hold/page/94}}</ref>

[[File:Janet Gaynor Argentinean Magazine AD.jpg|upright|right|thumb|Gaynor, c. 1931]]

Gaynor was one of only a handful of established lead actresses who made a successful transition to sound films. In 1929, she was re-teamed with Charles Farrell (the pair was known as "America's favorite love birds") for the musical film ''[[Sunny Side Up (1929 film)|Sunny Side Up]]''.
During the early 1930s, Gaynor was one of [[Fox Film|Fox]]'s most popular actresses and one of Hollywood's biggest box-office draws. In 1931 and 1932, she and [[Marie Dressler]] were tied as the number-one draw at the box office. After Dressler's death in 1934, Gaynor held the top spot alone.<ref name="lowe"/> She often was cited as a successor to [[Mary Pickford]], and was cast in remakes of two Pickford films: ''[[Daddy Long Legs (1931 film)|Daddy Long Legs]]'' (1931) and ''[[Tess of the Storm Country (1932 film)|Tess of the Storm Country]]'' (1932). Gaynor drew the line at a proposed remake of ''[[Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1917 film)|Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm]]'', which she considered "too juvenile".<ref>{{cite book|last=Hatch|first=Kristen |title=Shirley Temple and the Performance of Girlhood|year=2015|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=978-0-813-56327-5|page=42}}</ref>

Gaynor continued to garner top billing for roles in ''[[State Fair (1933 film)|State Fair]]'' (1933) with [[Will Rogers]] and ''[[The Farmer Takes a Wife (film)|The Farmer Takes a Wife]]'' (1935), which introduced [[Henry Fonda]] to the screen as Gaynor's leading man. However, when [[Darryl F. Zanuck]] merged his fledgling studio, [[Twentieth Century Pictures]], with Fox Film Corporation to form [[20th Century-Fox]], her status became precarious, and even tertiary to those of burgeoning actresses [[Loretta Young]] and [[Shirley Temple]]. According to press reports at the time, Gaynor held out on signing with 20th Century-Fox until her salary was raised from $1,000 per week to $3,000. The studio quickly issued a statement denying that Gaynor was holding out for more money. She quietly signed a new contract, the terms of which were never made public.<ref>{{cite book|last=Soloman|first=Aubrey|title=The Fox Film Corporation, 1915-1935: A History and Filmography|year=2011|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-786-48610-6|page=119}}</ref>
[[File:James Dunn Janet Gaynor 1934.JPG|thumb|right|With [[James Dunn (actor)|James Dunn]] in ''[[Change of Heart (1934 film)|Change of Heart]]'' (1934)]]
Gaynor received top billing above [[Constance Bennett]], Loretta Young, and [[Tyrone Power]] in ''[[Ladies in Love]]'' (1937), but her box-office appeal had begun to wane: Once ranked number one, she had dropped to number 24. She considered retiring due to her frustration with studio executives, who continued to cast her in the same type of role that brought her fame, while audiences' tastes were changing.<ref name="haver"/> After 20th Century-Fox executives proposed that her contract be re-negotiated, and that she be demoted to featured player status, Gaynor left the studio, but her retirement plans were quashed when [[David O. Selznick]] offered her the leading role in a new film to be produced by his company, [[Selznick International Pictures]].<ref>{{cite magazine|date=May 3, 1937|title=In A Star Is Born Janet Gaynor Is a Star Reborn|magazine=Life|volume=2|issue=18|page=41|issn=0024-3019|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vUQEAAAAMBAJ&q=janet+gaynor+mary+pickford&pg=PA41}}</ref> Selznick, who was friendly with Gaynor off-screen, was convinced that audiences would enjoy seeing her portray a character closer to her true personality. He believed that she possessed the perfect combination of humor, charm, vulnerability, and innocence for the role of aspiring actress Esther Blodgett (later Vicki Lester) in ''[[A Star Is Born (1937 film)|A Star Is Born]]''.<ref name="haver"/> Gaynor accepted the role. The romantic drama was filmed in [[Technicolor]], and co-starred [[Fredric March]]. Released in 1937, it was an enormous hit, and earned Gaynor her second Academy Award nomination for Best Actress; she lost to [[Luise Rainer]] for ''[[The Good Earth (film)|The Good Earth]]''.<ref name="monush"/><ref name="haver"/>

''A Star Is Born'' revitalized Gaynor's career, and she was cast in the [[screwball comedy]] ''[[The Young in Heart]]'' (1938) with [[Paulette Goddard]]. That film was a modest hit, but by then, Gaynor had definitely decided to retire.<ref name="monush"/> She later explained: "I had been working steadily for 17 long years; making movies was really all I knew of life. I just wanted to have time to know other things. Most of all, I wanted to fall in love. I wanted to get married. I wanted a child. And I knew that in order to have these things, one had to make time for them. So, I simply stopped making movies. Then, as if by a miracle, everything I really wanted happened."<ref name="bird"/> At the top of the industry, she retired at age 33.