Editing Janet Gaynor (section)

==Car wreck and eventual death==
[[File:Grave of Janet Gaynor.jpg|thumb|right|Gaynor's grave at [[Hollywood Forever Cemetery]]]]

[[File:A Star Is Born (1937 film, 1945 poster).jpg|right|thumb|''A Star Is Born'' (1937 film, 1945 poster)]]

On the evening of September 5, 1982, Gaynor, her husband Paul Gregory, actress [[Mary Martin]], and Martin's manager Ben Washer, en route to a Chinatown restaurant,<ref name="cdnc/DS19821215.2.36">{{cite news |title=Martin to begin work on 'The Love Boat' |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DS19821215.2.36&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-------- |access-date=July 20, 2023 |work=[[The Desert Sun]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |publisher=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]] |date=December 15, 1982 |location=Palm Springs, California |quote=Number 114}}</ref> 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.<ref name="turner">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/09/07/us/janet-gaynor-and-mary-martin-hurt-in-crash.html|title=Janet Gaynor and Mary Martin Hurt In Crash|last=Turner|first=Wallace|date=September 7, 1982|newspaper=nytimes.com|access-date=March 29, 2015}}</ref> Ben Washer was killed, Mary Martin sustained two broken ribs and a broken pelvis, and Gaynor's husband suffered two broken legs.<ref name="eugene">{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1310&dat=19830104&id=r28RAAAAIBAJ&pg=2552,983752|title=Janet Gaynor leaves hospital after 4 months|date=January 4, 1983|work=Eugene Register-Guard|page=5C|access-date=March 30, 2015|location=Eugene, Oregon}}</ref> Gaynor sustained several serious injuries, including 11 broken ribs, a fractured collarbone, pelvic fractures, a punctured lung, and injuries to her bladder and kidney.<ref name=hosp>{{cite magazine|title=Hospitalized |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,950804,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224220309/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,950804,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 24, 2009|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=September 20, 1982|access-date=June 25, 2008}}</ref> 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]].<ref name="turner"/><ref name="eugene"/><ref name="wapo/1982/09/07/martin-gaynor-hurt-traffic">{{cite news |last1=Hilts |first1=Philip J. |title=Mary Martin and Janet Gaynor Hurt In San Francisco Traffic Accident |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1982/09/07/mary-martin-and-janet-gaynor-hurt-in-san-francisco-traffic-accident/0ee7aa27-c490-49cb-81ea-64dd67233ef9/ |access-date=July 19, 2023 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=September 7, 1982}}</ref><ref name="youtube=WoMF3jxtEaI">{{cite web |author1=Alan Eichler |title=Mary Martin, Janet Gaynor Car Accident in San Francisco |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoMF3jxtEaI |website=youtube |access-date=July 19, 2023 |language=en |date=1982 |quote=TV News}}</ref>

Cato, a former policeman, in the previous year, had been charged with two felonies for using his car as a deadly weapon against a motorist, Mellicent Wauters, a dental assistant and amateur actress,<ref name="ebay/204315878614">{{cite web |title=Tom Topor's 'Nuts'; Publicity Photo: Mellicent Wauters |url=https://www.ebay.com/itm/204315878614 |website=eBay |date=1983 |access-date=July 19, 2023 |quote=Photo by Ron Scherl; San Francisco Stage; [[Nuts (play)]]; }}<!-- https://www.ebay.com/itm/384818495523 https://www.jstor.org/stable/2869757 --></ref> with whom he'd argued over a parking spot.<ref name="upi/4923400305600">{{cite news |title=The driver accused of causing the van-taxi collision that killed one man and seriously injured actresses Mary Martin and Janet Gaynor was charged last October with trying to run down a 30-year-old woman |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/09/08/The-driver-accused-of-causing-the-van-taxi-collision-that/4923400305600/ |access-date=July 19, 2023 |work=UPI Archives |date=September 8, 1982 |language=en}}</ref> Cato had been placed on informal probation;  subsequently, the charges had been dropped.<ref name="upi/6094400478400/">{{cite news |title=Robert Cato, the former policeman accused of ramming his van into the taxi carrying actresses Mary Martin and Janet Gaynor, pleaded innocent today to manslaughter charges for the death of Miss Martin's companion. |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/09/10/Robert-Cato-the-former-policeman-accused-of-ramming-his/6094400478400/ |access-date=July 19, 2023 |work=UPI Archives |date=September 10, 1982 |language=en}}</ref>

Cato pleaded not guilty and was later released on $10,000 bail (equivalent to ${{Format price|{{Inflation|US-GDP|10,000|1982|r=-3}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}).<ref name="eugene"/> On March 15, 1983, he was found guilty of drunk driving and vehicular homicide and was sentenced to three years in prison.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1320&dat=19830316&id=KbcRAAAAIBAJ&pg=5667,239701|title=Man Sentenced for Accident|date=March 16, 1983|work=Gainesville Sun|page=2A|access-date=March 30, 2015|location=Gainesville, Florida}}</ref><ref name="newspapers.com/56532302">{{cite news |last1=Opatrny |first1=Dennis J. |title=Sharply contrasting views of Robert Cato |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/56532302/cato/ |access-date=July 20, 2023 |work=The San Francisco Examiner |date=February 10, 1983 |location=San Francisco, California |page=21}}</ref>

As a result of her injuries, Gaynor was hospitalized for four months and underwent two surgeries to repair a perforated bladder and internal bleeding.<ref name="eugene"/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1454&dat=19820922&id=60dOAAAAIBAJ&pg=4491,5705369|title=Actress Gaynor worsens|date=September 22, 1982|work=Star-News|page=3B|access-date=March 29, 2015|location=Wilmington, North Carolina}}</ref> 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.<ref name="miami">{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2206&dat=19840915&id=IAQtAAAAIBAJ&pg=3702,4034483|title=Janet Gaynor dies 'never recovered' from car accident|date=September 15, 1984|work=The Miami News|page=4A|access-date=March 29, 2015|location=Miami, Florida}}{{Dead link|date=December 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> In September 1984, these injuries were officially ruled to have caused her death.<ref name="nytimes/coroner-rules-death-result-82-accident">{{cite news |title=Coroner Rules Gaynor Death Was Result of '82 Accident |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/09/22/nyregion/coroner-rules-gaynor-death-was-result-of-82-accident.html |access-date=July 19, 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=September 22, 1984}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bahn|first=Paul G.|title=The Archaeology of Hollywood: Traces of the Golden Age|year=2014|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|isbn=978-0-759-12378-6|page=177}}</ref>