Janet Gaynor started out as an extra in silent pictures—two-reelers as well as features—before earning her break with a small but crucial part in The Johnstown Flood (1926). A long-term contract with Fox led to starring roles in several more studio movies which brought her to the attention of directors F.W. Murnau and Frank Borzage. Gaynor made two films for Murnau, including the masterpiece Sunrise (1927), and three with Borzage, who first paired her with leading man Charles Farrell in 7th Heaven (1927). Her combined work in those films, along with Borzage’s Street Angel (1928), famously won her the first ever Academy Award for Best Actress.

	Janet Gaynor and Charles Ferrell

Gaynor and Farrell made twelve films together and crossed over successfully from silent pictures to the sound era. Indeed, Gaynor remained a top box-office draw well into the 1930s, portraying variants on her sincere but spunky waif persona in a series of popular musicals, melodramas and romantic comedies conceived especially for her at Fox. Her career in talkies peaked with an Oscar-nominated performance in A Star Is Born (1937), and she retired from show business shortly thereafter. A perennial favorite of the American public, Gaynor projected real emotions in a naturalistic, down-to-earth style. She was vulnerable yet strong, demure yet vivacious. In short, Janet Gaynor was a genuine movie star—she charmed, she appealed and she endured.

Street Angel

Cast: Janet Gaynor, Charles Farrell, Henry Armetta, Louis Liggett, Alberto Rabagaliati, Guido Trento, Helen Herman, Natalie Kingston, Milton Dickinson, Jennie Bruno, David Kashner.

Directed by Frank Borzage; Scenario by Marion Orth; Titles by Katherine Hilliker, H.H. Caldwell; Adapted by Phillip Klein, Henry Roberts Symonds; Story by Monckton Hoffe; From the play “The Lady Cristilinda”; Settings designed by Harry Oliver; Photography by Ernest Palmer; Editor Barney Wolf; Assistant Director Lew Borzage; Presented by William Fox. Fox, 1928. Black and white. 35mm. Running Time: 85 mins. Print courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art and the Mayer Foundation.

Academy Award® Winner 1927/28 for: Actress (Gaynor, for her performances in Street Angel, 7th Heaven and Sunrise).

Academy Award consideration 1928/29 for: Art Direction (Harry Oliver); Cinematography (Ernest Palmer)(for his work in both Street Angel and Four Devils).

The Academy’s presentation of Street Angel launches a retrospective of Gaynor’s films at the James Bridges Theater at the UCLA Film and Television Archive. For ticket and parking information, please contact (310) 206-FILM or www.cinema.ucla.edu.