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Janet Gaynor (born October 6, 1906; died September
14, 1984) was an actor|actress who in 1929 was the
first winner of the Academy Award for Best
Actress.


Born Laura Gainor in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
her family moved west to San Francisco,
California|San Francisco when she was a child.
Upon graduating from high school, Gaynor decided
to pursue a career in acting. For two years, she
supported herself with odd jobs in Los Angeles,
California|Los Angeles while taking minor roles in
films. Finally, in 1926, she was cast in the lead
role in a silent film called The Johnstown Flood,
the same year she was selected as one of the
WAMPAS Baby Stars. Her outstanding performance won
her the attention of producers, who cast her in a
series of films.

Within one year, Gaynor was one of Hollywood's
leading ladies. Her performances in Seventh Heaven
(the first of twelve movies she would make with
Charles Farrell) and both Sunrise (movie)|Sunrise
and Street Angel (in 1927, also with Charles
Farrell) earned her the first Academy Award for
Best Actress in 1928. It was the only time in
Oscar history that this prestigious award was
given for multiple roles. The award was given on
the basis of the actor's total work over the year,
and not just for one particular performance. 

Gaynor was one of only a handful of leading ladies
who made a successful transition to sound movies
over the next decade. In 1937, she was again
nominated for an Academy Award, this time for her
role in A Star Is Born. Soon after, she left film
for almost twenty years, returning one last time
in 1957 in Bernardine. Her departure was in part
related to her bisexuality, which made her
somewhat of an outcast in Hollywood.

She died in 1984 and was interred in the Hollywood
Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California.

==Filmography==
*1926 The Blue Eagle
*1926 The Johnstown Flood
*1926 The Midnight Kiss
*1926 The Return of Peter Grimm
*1926 The Shamrock Handicap
*1927 Seventh Heaven (Academy Award for Best
Actress)
*1927 Sunrise (movie)|Sunrise (Academy Award for
Best Actress)
*1927 Two Girls Wanted
*1928 Four Devils
*1928 Street Angel (Academy Award for Best
Actress)
*1929 Christina (movie)|Christina
*1929 Happy Days (movie)|Happy Days
*1929 Lucky Star
*1929 Sunny Side Up
*1930 High Society Blues
*1931 Daddy Long Legs
*1931 Delicious
*1931 The Man Who Came Back
*1931 Merely Mary Ann
*1932 The First Year
*1932 Tess of the Storm Country
*1933 Adorable
*1933 Paddy the Next Best Thing
*1933 State Fair
*1934 Carolina (movie)|Carolina
*1934 Change of Heart
*1934 La Ciudad de Carton
*1934 Servant's Entrance
*1935 The Farmer Takes a Wife
*1935 One More Spring
*1936 Ladies in Love
*1936 Small Town Girl/One Horse Town
*1937 A Star Is Born (1937)|A Star Is Born
*1938 Three Loves Has Nancy
*1938 The Young in Heart
*1957 Bernardine

==External links==
* http://www.classicactresses.com/janet.html Janet
Gaynor at Classic Actresses
*imdb name|id=0310980|name=Janet Gaynor