The luminous star of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Shane , and other classic films was, as the subtitle aptly puts it, “the actress nobody knew.” Jean Arthur (1900-91) kept her personal life private, disdained the Hollywood publicity machine, and was called “difficult” because of her perfectionism and remoteness from costars on the movie set. John Oller, a lawyer, tracked down kinsfolk and friends never before interviewed to capture the elusive personality of a free spirit best embodied in her favorite role, Peter Pan. Arthur herself might have appreciated his warm, respectful portrait. “...âAnã insightful, painstakingly researched analysis of Arthur's life and career raises the curtain on the complex, conflicted person behind the screen persona...Captures the special shine of a unique star who turned out to be a genuine eccentric.” – Chicago Tribune Jean Arthur The Actress Nobody Knew By John Oller Limelight Editions Copyright © 1999 John Oller All right reserved. ISBN: 9780879102784 Chapter One ANIMAL INSTINCTS It was 6 a.m. on Sunday, April 1, 1973, when the phone rangin Pete Ballard's apartment in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, wakinghim from a sleep that had begun only three hours earlier. Ballard, ateacher at the North Carolina School of the Arts, had been out latecelebrating his forty-second birthday and he was in no mood for any AprilFool's jokes. He soon learned that this was no joking matter. Ballard immediately recognized the cracked, child-woman voice at theother end of the line. But he could not fathom why his friend Jean Arthurwould be calling at such an hour. "Well, how was your party?" she asked, softly. "Fine," he responded,half-asleep. "What did you have to eat," she inquired further, sounding distracted. "Jean, not at six o'clock in the morning," he snapped, and pausedbefore adding, "and where the hell were you?" Despite the irritation in his voice, Ballard was neither surprised noroffended by Arthur's failure to show at his birthday party after promisingto attend; he was aware of her track record in such matters. What didtake him aback was her response. "I was in jail," she said, so matter-of-factly that it did not register atfirst. Then she said, in a suddenly plaintive voice, "I really was in jail andI need to talk to you right now!" Whereupon Ballard shot out of bed,threw a coat over his pajamas and raced over to Arthur's apartment tohear her story. It had started a few weeks earlier and it had to do with a certainGerman shepherd dog named Major, whose owners were a youngworking couple living in Winston-Salem. They generally kept the year-oldpuppy chained up in the backyard, from where it could frequency beheard barking and crying, much to the chagrin of a certain elderly womanwho lived next door. The couple did not know that she was aonce-famous movie star now teaching drama as an artist-in-residence atthe School of the Arts. They also did not know that Jean Arthur had a legendary reputation forrefusing to tolerate inhumane treatment of any creature, however lowly,that fell within her reach. At one point in the filming of Shane, forexample, she refused to do another scene until dummy chickens weresubstituted for the real ones whose eyes had begun to bleed duringrehearsals from being carried upside down the way farmers do. While onlocation for the picture Arizona, she hired a veterinarian, at her expense,to cure the pigs of a skin disease which she noticed was afflicting them.Another time, she spent nearly four hours on a Long Island beach picking uphorseshoe crabs that lay helplessly overturned on their backs, andthrowing them back into the water; she proudly counted more than sixhundred whose lives she had saved. Thus, when Jean Arthur saw a young pup whimpering sadly next doorto her, she naturally took action. Her overtures began innocently enough,with her taking the dog food each day, as she did with other animals in theneighborhood. The dog's owners, however, were not amused by theseacts of charity. She next offered to build a fenced run for the dog so thatit could roam the backyard without having to be tied up all day while thecouple was at work. But they did not appreciate their lives being intrudedupon, and they told her to stop coming over. She accused them ofmistreating the dog, and threatened to call the Humane Society. They inturn threatened to call the police if she set foot on their property again. On the afternoon of March 31, 1973, she was in the couple's yardagain, making the rounds, when they pulled in the driveway and saw her,barefoot, consoling the dog. Twenty-five-year-old Ronald Ray Douglasgot out of the car and twice told the nameless old woman to get off hisland. After she finally left, he called the police and said he wanted toprosecute. Arthur always left the front and back doors to her apartment open soher cats could come and go as they pleased. Thus, when two officersshowed up at her doorstep to serve a trespass warran