I did a search and did not find a thread for Jean. She should definitely have one. The quintessential screwball comedy acress!
Jean Arthur (17 October 1900â??19 June 1991) was an American actress and a major film star of the 1930s and 1940s. She remains arguably the epitome of the female screwball comedy actress. "No one was more closely identified with the screwball comedy than Jean Arthur. So much was she part of it, so much was her star personality defined by it, that the screwball style itself seems almost unimaginable without her."[1] Arthur has been called "the quintessential comedic leading lady."[2]
Arthur is best known for her feature roles in three Frank Capra films: Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), You Can't Take It With You (1938), and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), films that championed the everyday heroine. A memorable later performance was in George Stevens' Shane (1953), her last screen appearance.
Arthur was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1944 for her performance in The More the Merrier (1943).
Interesting tidbit:
Arthur decided to teach drama, first at Vassar College and then the North Carolina School of the Arts. While teaching at Vassar, she stopped a rather stridently overacted scene performance and directed the students' attention to a large tree growing outside the window of the performance space, advising the students on the art of naturalistic acting: "I wish people knew how to be people as well as that tree knows how to be a tree."
Her students at Vassar included the young Meryl Streep. Arthur recognized Streep's talent and potential very early on. After watching Streep's performance in a Vassar play, Arthur said it was "like watching a movie star."