A Star is Born

A Star is Born, motion picture about the ruthlessness of Hollywood. Released in 1937, the film won Academy Awards for Original Story and Color Photography. Janet Gaynor portrays an aspiring actor who meets aging movie star Norman Maine (Fredric March) while working as a waiter. Maine promises to make her a star, and as she becomes more successful, his own stardom dwindles. Maine becomes an alcoholic, and his career continues to decline—until he drowns himself. American short-story writer Dorothy Parker and her husband Alan Campbell worked on the screenplay.

Director

• William Wellman

Cast

• Janet Gaynor (Esther Blodgett, Vicki Lester)
• Fredric March (Norman Maine)
• Adolphe Menjou (Oliver Niles)
• Andy Devine (Danny McGuire)
• May Robson (Lettie)
• Lionel Stander (Libby)
• Owen Moore (Casey Burke)
• Elizabeth Jenns (Anita Regis)
• J. C. Nugent (Theodore Smythe)
• Clara Blandick (Aunt Mattie)
• A. W. Sweatt (Alex)
• Peggy Wood (Central casting receptionist)
• Franklin Pangborn (Billy Moon)
• Edgar Kennedy (Pop Randall)
• Adrian Rosley (Makeup man)
• Arthur Hoyt (Makeup man)
• Edwin Maxwell (Voice coach)
• Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams (Posture coach)
• Vince Barnett (Photographer)
• Paul Stanton (Academy Awards speaker)
• Robert Emmett O'Connor (Bartender at Santa Anita)
• Olin Howlin (Rustic)
• Irving Bacon (Station agent)
• Clarence Wilson (Justice of the Peace)
• Jonathan Hale (Night court judge)
• Francis Ford (Prisoner)
• Kenneth Howell (Prisoner)
• Chris-Pin Martin (Prisoner)
• Robert E. Homans (Bailiff)
• Lee Phelps (Bailiff)
• Wade Boteler (Police officer)
• Marshall Neilan (Bert)
• Leonard Walker (Orchestra leader at Hollywood Bowl)
• Fred 'Snowflake' Toones (Black prisoner)
• Gayne Whitman (Announcer at Chinese Theater)
• Dennis O'Keefe (Person at Burke's party)
• Claude King (Person at Burke's party)
• David Newell (Person at Burke's party)
• Eddie Kane (Person at Burke's party)
• Carole Landis (Person at Santa Anita)
• Lana Turner (Person at Santa Anita)
• Jed Prouty (Artie Carver)
• George Chandler (Delivery boy)
• Trixie Friganza (Waiter)
• Jane Barnes (Waiter)
• Pat Flaherty (Cuddles)
• Charles Williams (Assistant camera operator)
• Carlton Griffin (Camera operator)
• Billy Dooley (Painter)

Awards

• Academy Award for Writing—Original Story (1937): William Wellman, Robert Carson
• Special Academy Award for Color Photography (1937): W. Howard Greene

Trivia

• The suicide scene near the end of the film is based on the death of actor Jim Bower in 1936.

Quote

• Libby (a ruthless Hollywood agent, commenting on the alcoholic actor’s death by drowning): “First drink of water he's had in 20 years, and then he had to get it by accident. How do you wire congratulations to the Pacific Ocean?'