Her first really great role, the one that cemented the Jean Arthur character, was as the wisecracking big-city reporter who eventually melts for country rube Gary Cooper in Frank Capra’s Mr. Deeds Goe...
I guess I became an actress because I didn’t want to be myself, [Jean Arthur] later conjectured.
Talking films revealed [Jean Arthur]'s quirky, remarkable voice: nasal, raspy, querulous— an odd, expressive voice which somehow fit her intense, funny and very smart screen persona.
I bumped into every kind of disappointment, and was frustrated at every turn. Roles promised me were given to other players, pictures that offered me a chance were shelved, no one was particularly int...