Jean Arthur as Peter Pan

Jean ArthurAt the age of 49 in 1950 Jean Arthur starred on Broadway in the role of Peter Pan with Boris Karloff playing Captain Hook. In later life Miss Arthur taught at Vassar, one of her students was Meryl Streep.

“I guess I became an actress because I didn’t want to be myself.” Jean Arthur

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11 Comments

  1. George Kaplan
    March 28, 2013

    Oh, Jean! I love Jean Arthur; I would have liked to have seen her as Pan as well as old Bill Pratt, the Great Karloff, as Hook.
    I know I’m desperately predictable but I adore the quotation too, Ma’mselle Vickie. As for the photo it goes without saying… Forgive me, I can’t help but be enthusiastic.

    • March 28, 2013

      Such a long and varied career – she’s an inspiration.

  2. March 28, 2013

    Actually one of my favourite actresses. 😀

  3. March 28, 2013

    Dearest V
    The most beautiful picture so far.
    The Dandy is a most adoring fan of the use of stark shadow backgrounds and “ballet boom” lighting (I’m sure there must be a cinematic equivalent for this theatre term).
    And what a hat – I might like one of those for myself.
    Yours ever
    The Perfumed Dandy

    • March 28, 2013

      Dramatic lighting is called Caravaggio, and the thing that casts a shadow on the background is a cucoloris. It’s a very dashing hat, perfect for a Dandy!

      • March 28, 2013

        Fascinating, in old money the lighting in side profile is from a ‘ballet boom’ denoting the style in which dance is lit and the shaddow caster is a ‘gobo’.
        Spot the older and Anglo-Saxon art form and check cinema with its classical pretensions.
        He giggles.
        Yours ever
        The Perfumed Dandy

      • March 28, 2013

        Gobo, cucoloris, now — why couldn’t we just call it a shadow caster???

  4. January 24, 2015

    FORTY-NINE?

  5. jack
    October 4, 2015

    loved her roles and pardon for being crass, but WOW she has some serious leg shape/muscle tone for 49! She plays her last role on Shane (53) and had to be 52-53, and played woman meant to be mid-to late 30s, and pulled it off admirably. She even came off a bit homely, as the role required it.

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