And The Winner is.....Joanne Woodward won an Oscar for THE THREE FACES OF EVE

Just saw the 1957 film The Three Faces Of Eve for the first time in about 15 years and it's still just a good as I remembered. Joanne Woodward is positively amazing as Eve, a young Georgia housewife suffering from multiple personalities. A psychiatrist (played by Lee J. Cobb) is asked to help and he does and finds that each of Eve's personalities is aware of the other's existence, but none are related. After months of therapy, Eve is purged of her negative selves and is totally cured. Woodward gives a powerhouse performance and won a Best Actress Oscar for her work, which is easy to see why. Each personality is different and she plays them all with great intensity and effect. She would later come back to this genre 20 years later for the TV movie Sybil, this time as the doctor treating Sally Field. This is one of the best film performances I have ever seen. Kudos to Joanne. And Lee J. Cobb is just as good as always.
B+

And The Winner Is... Director John Ford.

John Ford (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), was famous for his westerns, Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and The Grapes of Wrath. His four Academy Award for Best Directors (1935, 1940, 1941, 1952) is a record, and one of those films, How Green Was My Valley, also won Best Picture.

In a career that spanned more than 50 years, Ford directed more than 140 films and he is one of the most influential filmmakers of his era.

Ford was one of the first directors to go on location shooting and the long shot which frames his characters against the rugged natural terrain.

John Ford won the most Oscars by any director with 4 films:

The Informer (1935), dramatic film. The film takes place during the Irish War of Independence, set in 1922. Cast: Victor McLaglen, Heather Angel, Preston Foster, Margot Grahame, Wallace Ford, Una O'Connor and J.M. Kerrigan. The screenplay was written by Dudley Nichols from the novel The Informer by Liam O'Flaherty.

The story is about Irishman, Gypo Nolan , who turns in his best friend Frankie McPhillip, who is a member of the Irish Republican Army, in order to collect the reward and sail to the United States with his girlfriend . His conscience begins to bother him, which eventually gets the better of him.

The Grapes of Wrath (1940), drama film based on John Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize winning novel of the same name. The screenplay was written by Nunnally Johnson and the executive producer was Darryl F. Zanuck.

The film tells the story of the Joads, an Oklahoma family, who, after losing their farm during the Great Depression in the 1930s, become migrant workers and travel to California, in search of work and a brighter future.

How Green Was My Valley (1941), drama film based on the Richard Llewellyn novel of the same name. Cast: Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O'Hara, Anna Lee, Donald Crisp, and Roddy McDowall. It was nominated for ten Academy Awards, winning five and beating out such classics as Citizen Kane, The Maltese Falcon, Suspicion and Sergeant York for Best Picture.

The story is told through a voice-over narration of Huw Morgan, now a middle-aged man leaving his home and remembering his life growing up:

His first memories are of the marriage of his brother, Ivor and the forbidden romance of his sister, Angharad, with the new preacher, Mr. Gruffydd . Angharad marries another man, whom she later divorces, and Mr. Gruffydd leaves the chapel because of the untrue town gossip about his romance with Angharad. Still too young to work in the local coal mine like his father, Gwilym, and his five older brothers, know the seriousness of the strike and the problems it will create when three of the boys move out on their own.

The Quiet Man (1952). Romantic comedy-drama film. Cast: John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Victor McLaglen and Barry Fitzgerald. It was based on a 1933 Saturday Evening Post short story by Maurice Walsh. The film is best known for its lush photography of the Irish countryside and the semi-comic fist fight between Wayne and McLaglen.

The story begins when, Sean Thornton , an Irish-born American from Pittsburgh, returns to Ireland to live at his family's farm. He meets and falls in love with the fiery Mary Kate Danaher, the sister of the bad tempered, Will Danaher.

Danaher, angry with Sean for outbid him for the land adjacent to his property, at first refuses to accept the marriage until the parish priest, tricks him into believing that the wealthy Widow Tillane wants to marry him, but only if Mary Kate is no longer living in the house. After learning the truth, Will refuses to give his sister her dowry. Sean, cares nothing about the dowry, but Mary Kate, believes that it represents her independence. Heartbroken, by Sean's refusal to demand what is legally hers, she calls him a coward and boards a train headed to Dublin. Sean, arrives just in time and drags her off the train, followed by the townspeople, forcing her to walk the five miles home. Sean demands that Will hand over her dowry. Will Mary Kate, receive her dowry?

John Ford's Trade Mark:

It did not matter where his westerns were set, filming exteriors at Monument Valley, Arizona/Utah, USA.

Funeral goers in his movies usually sing the hymn, "Shall We Gather at the River."

If a doomed character plays poker, the last hand he plays before going to his death will be the "death hand" (two aces, one of them the ace of spades, and two 8s; so-called because Wild Bill Hickok held this hand when he was murdered). The hand will be shown in close-up.

Frequently cast: John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Ward Bond, and James Stewart.

Rarely used camera movements in his films, reserving them only for very specific moments. Also avoided close-ups as much as possible.

Westerns and war movies.

Trivia:

There was a group of actors, known as the John Ford Stock Company (John Wayne, Harry Carey, John Carradine, Henry Fonda ) that turned up regularly in Ford's films. They knew how to work with Ford and each other, which suited Ford's directing style: "I tell the actors what I want and they give it to me, usually on the first take.".

Supporting members of Ford's "Stock Company" include Ward Bond, Ken Curtis, Jane Darwell, Francis Ford, Ben Johnson, Victor McLaglen, Mae Marsh, Mildred Natwick, John Qualen, Woody Strode, Tom Tyler, and Patrick Wayne.

Ford often used members of his family (including his two brothers, Francis Ford and Edward O'Fearna) in his films, but only in subordinate roles. Patrick Ford recalled, "My conversations with him, as his only son -- that I know of -- were always 'Yessir', until one day I said 'no sir', and then I was no longer around. Our family life was pretty much that of a ship master and his crew, or a wagon master and his people. He gave the orders, and we carried them out".

He was an infamously prickly personality, having constantly mocked John Wayne as a "big idiot" and having punched an unsuspecting Henry Fonda during the shooting of the film, Mister Roberts (1955).

When his western, Hell Bent (1918) for Universal was released, "Motion Picture News" praised Ford's direction, writing, "Few directors put such sustained punch in their pictures as does this Mr. Ford." It was the ninth in a series of films featuring Harry Carey as "Cheyenne Harry," who was more of a saddle tramp than a conventional western hero.

Directed 10 different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Victor McLaglen, Thomas Mitchell, Edna May Oliver, Jane Darwell, Henry Fonda, Donald Crisp, Sara Allgood, Ava Gardner, Grace Kelly and Jack Lemmon. McLaglen, Mitchell, Darwell, Crisp and Lemmon won Oscar for one of their roles in one of Fords movies.

Prior to making The Searchers (1956), Ford entered the hospital for the removal of cataracts. While recuperating after the surgery, he became impatient with the bandages covering his eyes and tore them off earlier than his doctors told him to. The result of that rash action was that Ford suffered a total loss of sight in one eye, which is how he came to wear his famous eyepatch.

Was the first director to win back-to-back Best Director Oscars (having won in 1941 and 1942).

A young would-be director once came to him for advice, and Ford pointed out two landscape photographs in his office. One had the horizon at the top of the picture, and the other had it at the bottom of the picture. Ford said "when you know why the horizon goes at the top of the frame or the bottom of a frame, then you're a director," and threw the kid out of his office. The would-be director was Steven Spielberg.

His favorite actress was Maureen O'Hara and his favorite actor was John Wayne.

Personal Quotes:

I love making pictures but I don't like talking about them.

Anybody can direct a picture once they know the fundamentals. Directing is not a mystery, it's not an art. The main thing about directing is: photograph the people's eyes.

It is easier to get an actor to be a cowboy than to get a cowboy to be an actor.

I didn't show up at the ceremony to collect any of my first three Oscars. Once I went fishing, another time there was a war on, and on another occasion, I remember, I was suddenly taken drunk.

For a director there are commercial rules that it is necessary to obey. In our profession, an artistic failure is nothing; a commercial failure is a sentence. The secret is to make films that please the public and also allow the director to reveal his personality.

On John Wayne: Duke is the best actor in Hollywood.

As a beauty, Dolores del Rio is in a class with Greta Garbo. Then she opens her mouth and becomes Minnie Mouse.

(about the CinemaScope anamorphic aspect ratio) I hated it. You've never seen a painter use that kind of composition - even the great murals, it still wasn't this huge tennis court. Your eyes pop back and forth, and it's very difficult to get a close-up.

A lone Western rider at John Ford's Point on the Utah/Arizona border.

And The Winner Is.... Edith Head.

I think the clothing or costuming in a movie is very important. If the clothing is wrong, especially in a period film, the whole feel of the movie would not be right. So where would we be without wonderful costume designer like, Edith Head? (October 28, 1897 – October 24, 1981), She had a long career in Hollywood, that won the most Oscars by any woman with 8 for her costume designs listed below:

The Heiress (1950)

Samson and Delilah (1951)

All About Eve (1951)

A Place In The Sun (1952)

The Greatest Show on earth (1953)
(no photo)



Carrie (1953)

Roman Holiday (1954)

















Sabrina (1955)

The Facts of Life (1961)
(no picture)



The Sting (1974)

She received a BA in Spanish at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1918 and earned an MA in Romance Languages from Stanford University in 1920 and then became a Language teacher. She wanted to improve her drawing skills so she took evening art classes at, Chouinard Art College.

In 1924, Head was hired as a costume sketch artist at Paramount Pictures, in the costume department. She began designing costumes for silent films starting with film, The Wanderer (1925) and by the 1930s was known as one of Hollywood's leading costume designers. She worked at Paramount for 44 years until she went to Universal Pictures on March 27, 1967, to work for director, Alfred Hitchcock.

Head was originally over-shadowed by Paramount's Head Designers, Howard Greer then Travis Banton. It was only after Banton's resignation in 1938 that she became famous as a designer. Her design of the "sarong" dress made for Dorothy Lamour, in the film,The Hurricane, made her well-known among the women of the era.

In 1944 she designed the top mink-lined gown she was credited with designing for Ginger Rogers in the film, Lady in the Dark.

The institution of an Academy Award for Costume Designer, in 1949 helped her career as it began her record breaking run of Award nominations and awards, beginning with her nomination for the film, The Emperor Waltz.

Head, was well loved by actress because she consulting with them while designing their costumes. Some of her favorite clients were: Ginger Rogers, Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck, Shirley MacLaine, Anne Baxter, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor. Head, was frequently 'loaned' out by Paramount to other studios at the request of their female stars. In the 1950s she was famous for her "queen of the shirtwaisters".

She was one of Alfred Hitchcock's favorite costume designers. While filming, Rear Window, sometimes, problems would emerge on set concerning the wardrobe. Like when rehearsing one scene the sheer nightgown that Grace Kelly was wearing, Hitchcock, decided to contact Edith Head and said, "Look, the bosom is not right, we're going to have to put something in there." While in Grace Kelly's dressing room Edith said, "Mr. Hitchcock is worried because there's a false pleat here. He wants me to put in falsies." Grace Kelly said, "You can't put falsies in this, it's going to show and I'm not going to wear them." And Edith said, "What are we going to do?" So they made some adjustments and Grace Kelly stood as straight as possible without her falsies. When Grace Kelly walked out onto the set Hitchcock looked at her and at Edith and said, "See what a difference they make?"

She also worked with Hal Wallis, who was head of production at Warners. His spanned more than fifty years and he was involved with more than 400 movies. Head, had been famous for her work with Audrey Hepburn in the film, Roman Holiday. She designed the costumes for many Jerry Lewis films, while he was at Paramount.

In 1967, she left Paramount Pictures, and joined Universal Pictures, where she remained until her death in 1981. As many of her stars retired, Head became more active as a television costume designer, often designing costumes for film actresses, like Olivia De Havilland, who began working in television series. In 1974, Head won her final Oscar for her work on, The Sting.

During the late 1970s, Edith Head was asked to design a woman's uniform for the United States Coast Guard. Head called the assignment a highlight in her career, and she was awarded the Meritorious Public Service Award for her work. Her last film project was the black and white comedy, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, starring Steve Martin and Carl Reiner, in which she re-created fashions of the 1940s, using film clips from classic film noirs. It was released shortly after her death and dedicated to her memory.

Dark sunglasses became her trademark. Originally the lenses were blue, but later they were dark shades of gray. They were worn to see how the clothing would appear in black and white. The glasses and her unchanging hair style helped her to hide her true age. In the 1920s, she wore a Colleen Moore Dutch boy cut, but in the 1930s she noticed Anna May Wong's style and copied it: flat bangs with a chignon at the back. She would wear it for the rest of her life.

Among the actresses Edith Head designed for were:

Mae West in She Done Him Wrong, 1933, and Myra Breckinridge, 1970, and Sextette in 1979

Frances Farmer in Rhythm on the Range, 1936 and Ebb Tide, 1937

Paulette Goddard in The Cat and the Canary, 1939

Veronica Lake in Sullivan's Travels, 1941 and I Married a Witch, 1942

Barbara Stanwyck in The Lady Eve and Ball of Fire both 1941 and Double Indemnity, 1944

Ginger Rogers in Lady in the Dark, 1944
Ingrid Bergman in Notorious, 1946

Dorothy Lamour in The Hurricane, 1937, and in most of "The Road" movies.

Betty Hutton in Incendiary Blonde, 1945 and The Perils of Pauline, 1947

Loretta Young in The Farmer's Daughter, 1947

Bette Davis in June Bride (1948) and All About Eve, 1950

Olivia de Havilland in The Heiress, 1949
Hedy Lamarr and Angela Lansbury in Samson and Delilah, 1949
Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard, 1950

Elizabeth Taylor in A Place in the Sun, 1951 and Elephant Walk, 1954

Joan Fontaine in Something to Live For, 1952

Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday, 1953 Sabrina, 1954 and Funny Face, 1957

Ann Robinson in The War of the Worlds, 1953

Grace Kelly in Rear Window, 1954, and To Catch a Thief, 1955

Doris Day in The Man Who Knew Too Much, 1956
Anne Baxter in The Ten Commandments, 1956
Marlene Dietrich in Witness for the Prosecution, 1957
Rita Hayworth in Separate Tables, 1958
Kim Novak in Vertigo, 1958
Sophia Loren in That Kind of Woman, 1959
Patricia Neal in Breakfast at Tiffany's, 1961

Natalie Wood in Love With The Proper Stranger, 1963 Sex and the Single Girl 1964, Inside Daisy Clover, 1965, The Great Race, 1965, Penelope, 1966, This Property Is Condemned, 1966, The Last Married Couple in America, 1980


Tippi Hedren in The Birds, 1963 and Marnie, 1964

Claude Jade in Topaz, 1969
Katharine Hepburn in Rooster Cogburn, 1975
Jill Clayburgh in Gable and Lombard, 1976
Valerie Perrine in W.C. Fields and Me, 1976

Head received 35 Academy Awards nominations for Best Costume Design for the films:

1949 – Color – The Emperor Waltz
1950 – Black and White – The Heiress – won
1951 – Color – Samson and Delilah – won
1951 – Black and White – All About Eve – won
1952 – Black and White – A Place in the Sun – won
1953 – Color – The Greatest Show on Earth
1953 – Black and White – Carrie
1954 – Black and White – Roman Holiday – won
1955 – Black and White – Sabrina – won

Note: Although Edith Head won an Oscar for Best Costumes, most of Audrey Hepburn's "Parisian" ensembles were, in fact, designed by Hubert de Givenchy.  Because the costumes were made in Edith Head's Paramount Studios costume department, some felt that doing so created enough of a technicality to nominate Edith, instead of Monsieur Givenchy. Edith Head refused to be shown alongside Givenchy in the credits, so she was given credit for the costumes. Edith Head did not refuse the Oscar.

1956 – Color – To Catch a Thief
1956 – Black and White – The Rose Tattoo
1957 – Color – The Ten Commandments
1957 – Black and White – The Proud and Profane
1958 – Best Costume Design – Funny Face
1959 – Best Costume Design, Black and White or Color – The Buccaneer
1960 – Color – The Five Pennies
1960 – Black and White – Career
1961 – Color – Pepe
1961 – Black and White – The Facts of Life – won
1962 – Color – Pocketful of Miracles
1963 – Color – My Geisha
1963 – Black and White – The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
1964 – Color – A New Kind of Love
1964 – Black and White – Wives and Lovers
1964 – Black and White – Love with the Proper Stranger
1965 – Color – What a Way to Go!
1965 – Black and White – A House Is Not A Home
1966 – Color – Inside Daisy Clover
1966 – Black and White – The Slender Thread
1967 – Color – The Oscar

Note: The Academy no longer distinguished between awards for Color and awards for Black and White films.

1970 – Sweet Charity
1971 – Airport
1974 – The Sting – won
1976 – The Man Who Would Be King
1978 – Airport '77

This video is a mini bio.



Made cameo appearance as herself in one of my favorite TV shows Columbo: Requiem for a Falling Star(1973) as the clothing designer for Anne Baxter's character. Her Oscars were displayed on a desk in the scene.

Appeared as herself in the film, Lucy Gallant (1955). Jane Wyman, plays the main character, Lucy Gallant. The story about how Lucy Gallant, is left at the altar and she moves to a oil town, where she opens up a boutique. Rancher Casey Cole (Charlton Heston) does not believe in "working women", but he's madly in love with her. Lucy nearly loses her business due to financial problems, but Casey secretly pumps money into her operation.

And The Winner is... Most Film Nominations:

Most Film Nominations:

All ABout Eve (1950) and Titanic (1997) with 14 each.

All About Eve (1950). Written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, based on the 1946 short story "The Wisdom of Eve", by Mary Orr.

Bette Davis, plays the character Margo Channing, who is a successful aging Broadway star. Anne Baxter plays Eve Harrington, an overly helpful young woman who, threatens Channing's career and her relationships.

All About Eve, was nominated for 14 Academy Awards (was unmatched until the 1997 film, Titanic) and won six, including Best Picture. As of 2010, All About Eve is still the only film in Oscar history to receive four female acting nominations (Davis and Baxter as Best Actress, Holm and Ritter as Best Supporting Actress).

Titanic (1997). A epic/romance/disaster film. Directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. A fictionalized story of the sinking of the RMS Titanic. Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson and Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater, who come from different social classes and fall in love aboard the ship. Some characters are based on real historical people. Gloria Stuart, play the elderly Rose, who narrates the film and Billy Zane plays Cal Hockley, the fiance of the younger Rose.

Cameron shot footage of the actual Titanic wreck and on board the Akademik Mstislav Keldysh, which was used as a base when filming the actual wreck. A reconstruction of the Titanic was built at Playas de Rosarito, Baja California and scale models and computer-generated imagery were also used to recreate the sinking.

The film Titanic, was nominated for fourteen Academy Awards, winning eleven, including Best Picture and Best Director.

9 amazing Movies not far behind with 13 Nominations:

Chicago(2002), with 6 wins.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button(2008), with 3 wins.
Forrest Gump(1994), with 6 wins.
From Here to Eternity(1953), with 8 wins.
Gone with the Wind(1939), with 8 wins.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring(2001), with 4 wins.
Mary Poppins(1964), with 5 wins.
Shakespeare in Love(1998), with 7 wins.
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?(1966), with 5 wins.

And The Winner Is...Youngest Oscar Winners

For my first post in me and Dawn's series of stories dedicated to all things Oscars, I will be listing Oscar youngest winners...actors and actresses. So without further adieu, here we go...


CLARK GABLE

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE (YOUNGEST)

1. Adrien Brody (The Pianist, 2002) 29 years old
2. Richard Dreyfuss (The Goodbye Girl, 1977) 30 years old
3. Marlon Brando (On The Waterfront, 1954) 30 years old
4. Maximillian Schell (Judgement at Nuremberg, 1961) 31 years old
5. Nicolas Cage (Leaving Las Vegas, 1995) 32 years old
6. James Stewart (The Philadelphia Story, 1940) 32 years old
7. Daniel Day-Lewis (My Left Foot, 1989) 32 years old
8. Clark Gable (It Happened One Night, 1934) 34 years old
9. Charles Laughton (The Private Life of Henry VIII, 1933) 34 years old
10. Robert Donat (Goodbye, Mr. Chips, 1939) 34 years old



JACK LEMMON

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE (YOUNGEST)

1. Timonthy Hutton (Ordinary People, 1980) 20 years old
2. George Chakiris (West Side Story, 1961) 27 years old
3. Cuba Gooding, Jr. (Jerry Maguire, 1996) 29 years old
4. Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight, 2008) 29 years old
5. Jack Lemmon (Mister Roberts, 1955) 31 years old
6. Robert DeNiro (The Godfather Part II, 1974) 31 years old
7. Van Heflin (Johnny Eager, 1942) 32 years old
8. Harold Russell (The Best Years Of Our Lives, 1946) 33 years old
9. Benicio Del Toro (Traffic, 2000) 34 years old
10. Denzel Washington (Glory, 1989) 35 years old


JANET GAYNOR

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE (YOUNGEST)

1. Marlee Matlin (Children Of A Leser God, 1986) 21 years old
2. Janet Gaynor (Sunrise, 1927) 22 years old
3. Joan Fontaine (Suspicion, 1941) 24 years old
4. Audrey Hepburn (Roman Holiday, 1953) 24 years old
5. Jennifer Jones (The Song Of Bernadette, 1943) 25 years old
6. Julie Christie (Darling, 1965) 25 years old
7. Grace Kelly (The Country Girl, 1954) 25 years old
8. Hilary Swank (Boys Don't Cry, 1999) 25 years old
9. Vivien Leigh (Gone With The Wind, 1939) 26 years old
10. Jodie Foster (The Accused, 1988) 26 years old

PATTY DUKE
BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE (YOUNGEST)

1. Tatum O'Neal (Paper Moon, 1973) 10 years old
2. Anna Paquin (The Piano, 1993) 11 years old
3. Patty Duke (The Miracle Worker, 1962) 16 years old
4. Anne Baxter (The Razor's Edge, 1946) 23 years old
5. Teresa Wright (Mrs. Miniver, 1942) 24 years old
6. Goldie Hawn (Cactus Flower, 1969) 24 years old
7. Angelina Jolie (Girl, Interrupted, 1999) 24 years old
8. Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls, 2006) 25 years old
9. Shirley Jones (Elmer Gantry, 1960) 27 years old
10. Gloria Grahame (The Bad and the Beautiful, 1952) 27 years old

That's an impressive list of actors and actresses in their early years of their careers.

The Winner Is... Silent Film: Wings (1927). It was the first film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture and the only silent film ever to win Best Picture.

Wings (1927), Silent film about World War I fighter pilots, directed by William A. It was the first film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture and the only silent film ever to win Best Picture. Cast: Clara Bow, Charles "Buddy" Rogers and Richard Arlen. Gary Cooper appears in a scene which helped launch his career in Hollywood and also marked the beginning of his affair with Clara Bow.

In 1917, in a small town, Jack Powell works on his car, while daydreaming about airplanes. Jack names his car the "Shooting Star" while Mary Preston, paints a star on his car. Oblivious to Mary's feelings for him, Jack invites Sylvia Lewis, to join him on the first drive. Sylvia goes along, but she is in love with David Armstrong, who comes from a wealthy family. Later, when the United States enters World War I, Jack and David enlist in aviation school. Before they leave, Sylvia signs a picture of herself and puts it in a locket for David, but Jack thinks it is meant for him, she does not have the heart to tell him the truth. David, is hurt, but Sylvia explains that, although Jack has her picture, David has her heart. Jack almost forgets to say goodbye to Mary, but then runs back to tell her that she can use the car. During basic training, problems come between Jack and David, will they put their differences aside and become friends?

The air battles in this film I thought were amazing.

Jobyna Ralston (November 21, 1900 – January 22, 1967), parents who named her after a famous entertainer of the time, Jobyna Howland. Ralston's mother, a portrait photographer, carefully prepared her daughter for a show business career.

Comedian Max Linder, saw her on stage and thought she would be perfect for Hollywood, where she appeared in a number of his films. She also co-starred in, Humor Risk (1921), the lost comedy short film debut of the Marx Brothers. Soon director Hal Roach began to star the actress in one-reel comedies. She left the stage for the screen in 1922 when her mother's health began to decline and she needed to make more money to help pay the medical bills.

She starred with silent comedian Harold Lloyd in, Why Worry?(1923) and for the next five years appeared in six of Lloyd's films as his leading lady. It is for her onscreen chemistry with Lloyd that she is best remembered today. She would start the trend for romantic comedies with, Girl Shy.

Ralston co-starred with Richard Arlen, in the first Oscar-winning film, Wings (1927), with,Clara Bow, Gary Cooper, and Buddy Rogers. She would star in eleven more films . Her film career ended after when she became a mother. Her last talkie, Rough Waters (1930), with co star, Rin Tin Tin.