Janet Gaynor - ©Theda Bara

The actress I highlight in this post is Janet Gaynor, an American who, while still young, began her career as an extra in silent film short films. After signing with the Fox Film Corporation in 1926, she rose to fame and became one of the biggest box office draws of the time.

Janet Gaynor in 1929, was the first winner of the Oscar for Best Actress for her performances in three films: “7th Heaven” and “Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans” in 1927, where she played the roles of “Diane” and “The Wife Aurora” respectively, and in 1928 , in “Street Angel ”, played the role of “Angela”.

The actress has a star on the Los Angeles Walk of Fame, at 6284 Hollywood Boulevard, in the cinema category. 

Janet Gaynor, born Laura Augusta Gaynor, in Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, on October 6, 1906 and died in Palm Springs, California, United States, on September 14, 1984, aged 77.

Janet Gaynor was married three times. First with Jesse Lydell Peck (1899-1957), from 1929 to 1933; whom she divorced; then she married the American costume designer Adrian Adolph Greenburg, known as: Gilbert Adrian (1903-1959), from 1939 to 1959, of whom she was widowed, and finally, with the American film producer Paul Gregory (1920-2015), from 1964 to 1984, with whom he lived until the day of his death.