Janet Gaynor

Acting

Janet Gaynor

Born — Died

1906-10-06 — 1984-09-14

Place of birth

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Known for

Acting

Credits

66 titles

Janet Gaynor (October 6, 1906 – September 14, 1984) was an American actress and painter. One of the most popular actresses of the silent film era, in 1928 Gaynor became the first winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performances in three films: Seventh Heaven (1927), Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) and Street Angel (1928). This was the only occasion on which an actress has won for multiple roles. This rule would be changed three years later by AMPAS. Her career continued with the advent of sound film, and she achieved a notable success in the original version of A Star Is Born (1937). She worked only sporadically after the late 1930s. Severely injured in a 1982 vehicle…

Known for

The Love Boat poster
6.2

Passengers who search for romantic nights aboard a beautiful ship travelling to tropical or mysterious countries, decide to pass their vacation aboard the "Love Boat", where Gopher, Dr. Bricker, Isaac, Julie, and Captain Stubing try their best to please them, and sometimes help them fall in love. Things are not always so easy, but in the end, love wins.

The Love Boat

1977

The Oscars poster
7.1

An annual American awards ceremony honoring cinematic achievements in the film industry. The various category winners are awarded a copy of a statuette, officially the Academy Award of Merit, that is better known by its nickname Oscar.

The Oscars

1953

Lux Video Theatre poster
6.7

Lux Video Theatre is an American anthology series that was produced from 1950 until 1959. The series presented both comedy and drama in original teleplays, as well as abridged adaptations of films and plays.

Lux Video Theatre

1950

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans poster
7.8

A married farmer falls under the spell of a slatternly woman from the city, who tries to convince him to drown his wife.

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

1927

Hollywood poster
8.4

A 1980 documentary series exploring the establishment and development of the Hollywood studios and its impact on 1920s culture.

Hollywood

1980

A Star Is Born poster
7.2

Esther Blodgett is just another starry-eyed farm kid trying to break into the movies. Waitressing at a Hollywood party, she catches the eye of her idol Norman Maine, is sent for a screen test, and before long attains stardom as newly minted Vicki Lester. She and Norman marry, though his career soon dwindles to nothing due to his chronic alcoholism.

A Star Is Born

1937

Film credits

1930s · 18 titles

A Star Is Born poster
7.2

Esther Blodgett is just another starry-eyed farm kid trying to break into the movies. Waitressing at a Hollywood party, she catches the eye of her idol Norman Maine, is sent for a screen test, and before long attains stardom as newly minted Vicki Lester. She and Norman marry, though his career soon dwindles to nothing due to his chronic alcoholism.

A Star Is Born

1937

Ladies in Love poster
6.5

Three young women in Budapest share living quarters while searching for romance.

Ladies in Love

1936

The Young in Heart poster
6.7

A family of confidence tricksters sets their sights on a very rich, very lonely old lady named Miss Fortune.

The Young in Heart

1938

One More Spring poster
6.2

Three people live together in the maintenance shed at Central Park as an alternative to living on the streets.

One More Spring

1935

Tess of the Storm Country poster
7.0

When Captain Howland decides that his daughter Tess is getting a bit to old to continue to go to sea with him, they move into a small cottage on the coast of Maine, but not for long. A local millionaire, Frederick Garfield, lays a false claim to the property and has them evicted. Later, when Tess saves a young man about her age from drowning, she is a bit dismayed to learn that he is Garfield's son. But when her father is jailed on a false-accusation charge of murder, the younger Garfield comes to their aid and proves he himself.

Tess of the Storm Country

1932

Carolina poster
6.7

During Civil War Reconstruction, the Connelly family is romantically restored to their former glory when Will Connelly marries a Yankee farm girl, Joanna Tate, despite the objects of his temperamental father Bob Connelly.

Carolina

1934

Paddy the Next Best Thing poster
3.0

In Ireland, Major Adair’s older daughter Eileen is about to marry Lawrence Blake for his money in order to pay off her father’s debts, even though she really loves Jack Breen.

Paddy the Next Best Thing

1933

Three Loves Has Nancy poster
4.2

A small-town country homebody goes to New York to find her missing fiancé and gets romantically involved with two sophisticated men.

Three Loves Has Nancy

1938

Small Town Girl poster
6.0

Kay is a girl living in a small rural town whose life is just too dull and repetitious to bear. One night, she meets young, handsome, and rich Bob Dakin, who asks her for directions while drunk and then proceeds to take her out on a night on the town. Kay likes the stranger, and when the drunken Bob decides that they should get married, Kay hesitates little before consenting. The morning after the affair, Bob, once sober, regrets his mistake. His strict and upright parents, however, insist that the young couple pretend marriage for 6 months before divorcing, in order to avoid bad publicity. Bob resents Kay for standing in the way of him and his fiancée, Priscilla, but Kay still hopes that he'd have a change of heart.

Small Town Girl

1936

The Farmer Takes a Wife poster
6.2

A farmer tries to convince a girl to leave her life on a canal boat to live with him on his farm.

The Farmer Takes a Wife

1935

The Man Who Came Back poster
4.3

A spoiled carefree rich kid gets into too much trouble for his father who sends him out on his own to prove himself capable of making a respectable man of himself.

The Man Who Came Back

1931

State Fair poster
6.4

The children of Iowa farmers find love, with mixed results, at the state fair.

State Fair

1933

The First Year poster
10.0

Grace Livingston is leading a happy life in her small town, with her mother and father, being courted by two men, the steady but predictable Tommy Tucker and the more ambitious, flashy, and worldly Dick Loring, who seems closer to Grace in his desire for travel and adventure.

The First Year

1932

Servants' Entrance poster
8.0

Heiress Hedda Nillson certain that her family is about to lose all its money, takes a job as a maid. After the usual trials and tribulations, Hedda falls in love with humble chauffeur Eric Landstrom.

Servants' Entrance

1934

Daddy Long Legs poster
4.7

Wealthy Jervis Pendleton acts as benefactor for orphan Judy Abbott, anonymously sponsoring her in her boarding school. But as she grows up, he finds himself falling in love with her, and she with him, though she does not know that the man she has fallen for is her benefactor.

Daddy Long Legs

1931

Change of Heart poster
6.3

Catherine and Mack and their close friends Chris and Madge graduate from a West Coast college and fly to New York City to find work.

Change of Heart

1934

Merely Mary Ann poster
9.0

Orphan drudge Mary Ann finds love and hope in the arms of a promising but poor composer, John Lonsdale.

Merely Mary Ann

1931

High Society Blues poster
8.0

After selling his business in Iowa, Eli Granger and his family move to an exclusive Scarsdale area in New York, where by chance he occupies a house adjacent to Horace Divine, a wealthy businessman with whom he made his business transaction...

High Society Blues

1930

1920s · 34 titles

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans poster
7.8

A married farmer falls under the spell of a slatternly woman from the city, who tries to convince him to drown his wife.

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

1927

Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ poster
7.3

Erstwhile childhood friends, Judah Ben-Hur and Messala meet again as adults, this time with Roman officer Messala as conqueror and Judah as a wealthy, though conquered, Israelite. A slip of a brick during a Roman parade causes Judah to be sent off as a galley slave, his property confiscated and his mother and sister imprisoned. Years later, as a result of his determination to stay alive and his willingness to aid his Roman master, Judah returns to his homeland an exalted and wealthy Roman athlete. Unable to find his mother and sister, and believing them dead, he can think of nothing else than revenge against Messala.

Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ

1925

7th Heaven poster
7.3

In 1910s Paris, a sewer worker disillusioned with Christianity feels his prayers have been answered when he chances upon a street waif and they fall in love.

7th Heaven

1927

Happy Days poster
6.3

In Fox's contribution to the all-star revue cycle of early talkies, showboat singer Margie, hearing that the show is in arrears, goes to New York to gather all of the former stars to stage a minstrel show as a benefit.

Happy Days

1929

45 Minutes from Hollywood poster
5.3

A young man visiting Hollywood on family business gets into trouble when he sees a bank robbery in progress, and thinks it is a movie scene.

45 Minutes from Hollywood

1926

The Plastic Age poster
6.2

Hugh Carver is an athletic star and a freshman at Prescott College. He falls in love with Cynthia Day, a popular girl who loves to party, and finds that it's impossible to please her and still keep up with his studies and athletic training. Soon the two face some difficult decisions.

The Plastic Age

1925

A Punch in the Nose poster
10.0

A troupe of actors stranded in a small town take job as recreation directors in a sanitarium and hilarity ensues.

A Punch in the Nose

1926

The Man in the Saddle poster
10.0

A party of campers return to Tom Stewart's ranch resort to report they have been held up by bandits. Lawrence, their guide, explains that it is a staged stunt for their benefit; Stewart confirms this and refunds the losses but writes to his old pal Jeff Morgan, a former gunfighter, telling him of his predicament. Morgan sends his son, Jeff, Jr., a superb rider and dead shot but otherwise an awkward lout; at the insistence of Pauline, Stewart places Jeff in charge of a camping party. Laura Mayhew, a city girl in league with Lawrence, sends up a flare signal at night, and while Jeff chases some bears into the woods, Lawrence and his men hold up the camp.

The Man in the Saddle

1926

Street Angel poster
7.1

A spirited young woman finds herself destitute and on the streets before joining a traveling carnival, where she meets a vagabond painter.

Street Angel

1928

Lucky Star poster
7.6

Mary, a poor farm girl, meets Tim just as word comes that war has been declared. Tim enlists in the army and goes to the battlefields of Europe, where he is wounded and loses the use of his legs. Home again, Tim is visited by Mary, and they are powerfully attracted to each other; but his physical handicap prevents him from declaring his love for her. Deeper complications set in when Martin, Tim's former sergeant and a bully, takes a shine to Mary.

Lucky Star

1929

The Johnstown Flood poster
7.0

A dramatic recreation of the Johnstown Flood of 1889.

The Johnstown Flood

1926

Skinner's Dress Suit poster
7.5

Honey Skinner is proud of her successful husband. When he tells her he's going to ask for a raise, she knows he'll get it. He asks his boss just as their big client announces he's not renewing his contract. He doesn't get the raise, but he's too embarrassed to tell his wife the truth. She starts making plans to spend that extra $10 a week; the first thing is a new dress suit for him and a new outfit for her so they can fit in at a swanky party. They're the hit of the party, and Honey is embraced by the 'smart set.' Meanwhile, business is bad and Skinner loses his job. The tailor is after him for payment on the suit, and Honey is still spending the salary he doesn't have.

Skinner's Dress Suit

1926

Sunny Side Up poster
7.1

Molly and Bee, sweet young 'working girls,' live in a cheap room over a New York grocery store. Molly's idol, wealthy Jack Cromwell, lives in a Long Island mansion but is markedly less happy, since his fiancée Jane won't discourage her other admirers. Fleeing in his car, Jack ends up in an urban block party where he meets you-know-who.

Sunny Side Up

1929

Martin of the Mounted poster
7.0

Martin, the heroine's father is falsely believed to be in league with fur thieves, but the real villain, not content with robbing the old man of his furs, also plots the theft of his fair daughter. He nearly succeeds, but the resourceful Martin blocks both games.

Martin of the Mounted

1926

The Blue Eagle poster
5.4

Waterfront rivals George Darcy and Big Tim Ryan are both in love with Rose Kelly, and continue their feud when they join the Navy. After the war, they call a temporary truce to take on dope peddlers who are destroying their neighborhood.

The Blue Eagle

1926

The Midnight Kiss poster
8.0

While vain Lenore Hastings busies herself with her romantic pursuits, Lenore's kid sister Mildred tries to keep the family of her boyfriend Thomas from going broke. Mildred works up a business arrangement, whereby she will sell Thomas' father's 250 pigs for a dollar each. Though Lenore is appalled by Mildred's "disgraceful" behavior, the younger girl quickly earns the respect of everyone in town

The Midnight Kiss

1926

With Love and Hisses poster
6.1

Dimwitted Cuthbert Hope is enlisted in the army, and gets himself and his sergeant in constant trouble.

With Love and Hisses

1927

The Shamrock Handicap poster
5.5

Because he refuses to collect rent payments from his impoverished tenants, kindly Irish nobleman Sir Miles Gaffney is in danger of losing his estate. He is forced to sell off part of his racing stable to a wealthy American, who takes along Gaffney's jockey Neil Ross as part of the bargain. When Neil is crippled in a racing accident, Sir Miles and his daughter Sheila sail to America with their prize horse "Dark Rosaleen" in tow. The first film having an Irish motif that John Ford directed, a six reel delight set in Eire's County Kildare and in the United States, with a steeplechase background, mixing charged elements of comedy and sentimental drama.

The Shamrock Handicap

1926

Oh! What a Nurse! poster
9.0

Oh! What a Nurse! is a 1926 American comedy film directed by Charles Reisner and written by Darryl F. Zanuck. The film stars Sydney Chaplin, Patsy Ruth Miller, Gayne Whitman, Matthew Betz, Edith Yorke, and David Torrence. The film was released by Warner Bros. on March 7, 1926.

Oh! What a Nurse!

1926

Christina poster
7.0

This part-talkie (17 minutes of dialogue in its 83-minute running time) tells the tale of Christina, the daughter of Dutch toymaker Niklaas. Much to her dad's dismay, Christina falls in love with sideshow huckster Jan. Likewise disapproving of the romance is Jan's jealous employer Mme. Bosman, who frames the young man on an embezzlement charge.

Christina

1929

4 Devils poster
7.6

Four orphans, raised by an aging clown, becomes a high wire act in a circus. Lost film.

4 Devils

1928

The Haunted Honeymoon poster
7.0

The Haunted Honeymoon is a 1925 American silent comedy film directed by Fred Guiol and Ted Wilde, starring Glenn Tryon and Blanche Mehaffey with Janet Gaynor in one of her first films. One of the first comedies to parody horror films, it was produced by Hal Roach and released by Pathé Exchange.

The Haunted Honeymoon

1925

All Wet poster
5.8

Charley Chase has car trouble.

All Wet

1924

Dangerous Innocence poster
8.0

Ann, a 19-year-old girl who looks much younger, meets a dashing army major on a boat sailing from Liverpool to Bombay, India, and falls in love with him. Her love appears to be unrequited, though, because the major thinks she is far too young--and also, unknown to her, because he had once been in love with her mother. When a fellow passenger on the ship takes advantage of the naive girl the major comes to her rescue, but in the process the girl finds out about the past relationship between he and her mother.

Dangerous Innocence

1925

Two Girls Wanted poster
9.0

Marianna Miller, who together with her sister Sarah pounds the pavements, looking for a job. After a period of starvation and deprivation Marianna is hired as secretary to duplicitous businessman Philip Hancock.

Two Girls Wanted

1927

Cupid's Rustler poster
9.0

Story of a cowboy who falls for a notorious dance-hall girl. The girl is brought back home to the farm, where a crooked ranch foreman who knew the girl before, tries to seduce her. Gilbert, alas, is reformed and remains faithful to her benefactor.

Cupid's Rustler

1924

Don't Shoot poster
7.0

Nancy Burton, niece of the sheriff, is in love with Deputy Tom Farrell, but she as an aversion to bloodshed. She overhears that he shot and killed an outlaw three years in the past. He swears to her that it never happened but she does not believe him. Later her uncle tells he that it was he who killed the outlaw, Trevis, in the line of duty. She also learns that the brother of Trevis, seeking revenge, is on his way to kill Farrell.

Don't Shoot

1926

The Galloping Cowboy poster
8.0

Bill Crane is a fun-loving cowboy who likes to play pranks with an Australian bull-whip, much to the dismay of his ranch-owning uncle, Pete Perry. Bill and his cousin, Jack Perry, compete for the affections of Mary Pinkleby. Jack, unknown to Bill, is also an outlaw gang-leader, known as Poncho. The latter frames Bill as being the gang leader, and now Bill has to elude the sheriff and also prove his own innocence.

The Galloping Cowboy

1926

The Beautiful Cheat poster
10.0

A motion picture producer has press agent Jimmy Austin take Mary Callahan, a pretty shopgirl, to Europe. After an extensive publicity campaign, Mary returns to the United States as Maritza Callahansky, a Russian actress owning the crown jewels. To add support to her newly established identity, Maritza gives a party in a Long Island mansion in the rightful owner's absence. The owners return to find their home taken over by strangers and are about to call the police when it is discovered that they are the parents of one of the extras in the company.

The Beautiful Cheat

1926

Flaming Flappers poster
10.0

Glen and his friends are attending a co-ed school and are managing to have a very enjoyable time of it - in fact so much so - that Glen becomes engaged to one of the fair co-eds. His sister precedes him to the home town and breaks the news of his engagement to the family. In the meantime Glen and his sweetie enlist the aid of a rickety old flivver lo make the visit to the relatives. They have a tough time keeping the old car together and to further add to their difficulties, decide to adopt an orphan baby on the way home.

Flaming Flappers

1925

The Stolen Ranch poster
6.1

Returning home from the Great War, "Breezy" Hart (Fred Humes) and his shell-shocked buddy Frank Wilcox (Ralph McCullough) discover the Wilcox property in the hands of evil Sam Hardy (William Norton Bailey). Frank, who is the rightful heir to the ranch, goes into hiding, while "Breezy" takes a job in the ranch kitchen. Learning of Frank's whereabouts, Hardy plots to have the young heir killed. Luckily, Breezy overhears the villain plotting with his henchmen and is able to rescue his friend. Hardy and his men are arrested, and Frank, now cured of his illness, is reunited with his girl, June Marston (Nita Cavalier). Breezy, meanwhile, is busy romancing his kitchen staff colleague, Mary Jane (Louise Lorraine).

The Stolen Ranch

1926

The Return of Peter Grimm poster
8.0

"Old Peter Grimm makes his ward Katie promise to marry his nephew Frederik [ sic ] and then dies. Frederik proves to be a scapegrace and Peter's spirit returns to right matters and finally succeeds in doing so by communicating with Jimmie who is in a delirium." ( Moving Picture World, 20 Nov 1926, p164.) Peter thus thwarts selfishness and greed and rewards virtue.

The Return of Peter Grimm

1926

No artwork available
8.0

A band of desperadoes employed as cow punchers take advantage of an ordinance prohibiting the carrying of firearms to hold up the owner and escape with the payroll. The new foreman Jack trails them and in a running fight unhorses them, one by one. He fights with the leader of the outlaws but subdues him and wins the girl.

The Gunless Bad Man

1926

The Teaser poster
3.0

Ann Barton, the daughter of a once-wealthy family, is forced to clerk at the cigar counter of a village hotel, where she meets James McDonald, a breezy, handsome salesman. Ann is adopted by an aristocratic aunt, who disapproves of James's manners and breaks up Ann's relationship with him. Ann soon revenges herself on her aunt by placing both her aunt and herself in compromising positions.

The Teaser

1925

Series credits