Jean Arthur

January 27, 2009


Jean Arthur really should be ranked with the top actresses ever. Katherine Hepburn, Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck, and Jean Arthur. She was that good. She was an insanely good actress. I think she was at her best in comedies like You Can't Take it With You or The Talk of the Town, but she was equally adept at playing dramatic roles like in The Plainsman and Only Angels Have Wings.

Strangely, she had major attacks of stage fright and occasionally had to be coaxed out of her dressing room before a scene. But watching her on screen you would never know it. She has so much energy, sass and pizazz you'd think that she lived to be on camera.

Please, please, I beg of you: rent The More the Merrier or Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. Then join my crusade to make Jean Arthur famous again.

Pencil Sketch.

9 comments:

Ginger Ingenue said...

My second favorite actress of all time.

And I actually feel closer to her, personality-wise, considering her stage-fright.

...

You have a remarkable talent for drawing eyes!

Jacqueline T. Lynch said...

Your work is remarkable.

Abe Lucas said...

She's famous at *my* house!;) One of my most-desired DVDs is 1936's "The Ex-Mrs Bradford."

Unknown said...

Ginger- Thanks, eyes are my favorite part to draw :)
Jaqueline- Thank you!
C.K. Dexter Haven- Do you have TCM? They play it every once in a while. I recorded it off of the tv and it's a really good movie!

Genevieve said...

Beautiful work! Her eyes really do pop!

I'm a huge Jean Arthur fan myself. Have you seen "The Devil and Miss Jones"? It's one of her lesser known works, but its pretty high on my list of her movies.

Unknown said...

Oh, I love that one! I think it's going to be on tv this month or next, and I'm really looking forward to seeing it again!

Jennifer said...

couldn't agree more. jean arthur rocks. nice sketch.

Unknown said...

Thanks Auntiemame!

Unknown said...

She was really such an actress. I Just love to see her in Billy Wilder's movie "Foreign Affair"
Peter the portuguese