Janet Gaynor

Birth Name:

Laura Augusta Gainor

Birth Date:

October 6, 1906

Birth Place:

Germantown, Philadelphia

Death Date:

September 14, 1984

Place of Death:

Desert Hospital, Palm Springs, California

Age:

Cause of Death:

Long term effects of car accident two years prior

Cemetery Name:

Hollywood Forever Cemetery

Claim to Fame:

Show Business

Associates:

Adrian

Gaynor was the first actress to win the Academy Award as best actress. She won for Sunrise (1927), 7th Heaven (1927) and Street Angel (1928) and continued a successful film career until a near fatal auto accident in San Francisco.

Fun Facts

Janet Gaynor was a bisexual whose early strategy was to divert fan mag questions about her romantic life to discussions of her work. This was less necessary when she was married. Between marriages, and sometimes during them, she apparently had reasons to be discreet that went beyond simply her well-known penchant for privacy.

William Mann’s meticulously researched book Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood 1910-1969 says that Gaynor was a lifelong lesbian, seriously involved with at least two other stars, Margaret Livingston and, most significantly, Mary Martin.

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

Hollywood Forever Cemetery

6000 Santa Monica Blvd.

Los Angeles, California, 90038

USA

North America

Map:

Cemetery map of Hollywood Forever Cemetery, 6000 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, California, 90038

Grave Location:

Garden of Legends, Lot 193, Grave 4

Grave Location Description

As you drive through the entrance take your first left and drive towards the lake. Keep driving until you see Cecil B. Demille’s tomb. Walk to the left of DeMille’s tomb towards the lake. Janet is buried about 10 rows from the water next to two very large evergreen plants.