William Farnum
William Farnum | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | June 5, 1953 | (aged 76)
Resting place | Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale |
Years active | 1900–1952 |
Spouse(s) | Mabel Eaton (divorced) Olive White (1906–1931; 1 daughter) Isabelle Major (1932–1953) (his death) |
William Farnum (July 4, 1876 – June 5, 1953) was an American stage and film actor. He was a star of American silent film cinema and became one of the highest-paid actors during that time.
Biography
One of three brothers, Farnum grew up in a family of actors. He made his acting debut at the age of ten in Richmond, Virginia in a production of Julius Caesar, with Edwin Booth playing the title character.
His first major success was as the title character of Ben-Hur in 1900 though replacing the original actor Edward Morgan who premiered the character in 1899. Later plays Farnum appeared in were the costume epic The Prince of India (1906), The White Sister (1909) starring Viola Allen, The Littlest Rebel (1911) co-starring his brother Dustin and a child actress named Mary Miles Minter (then nine years old) and Arizona (1913) with Dustin and stage beauty Elsie Ferguson. In The Spoilers in 1914, Farnum and Tom Santschi staged a classic movie fight which lasted for a full reel. In 1930, Farnum and Santschi coached Gary Cooper and William Boyd in the fight scene for the 1930 version of The Spoilers. Other actors influenced by the Farnum/Santschi scene were Milton Sills and Noah Beery in 1923 and Randolph Scott and John Wayne in 1942.[1]
From 1915 to 1952, Farnum devoted his life to motion pictures. While becoming one of the biggest sensations in Hollywood, he also became one of the highest-paid actors, earning $10,000 a week. Farnum's silent pictures: the western Drag Harlan (1920) and the drama-adventure If I Were King (1921) survive from his years contracted to Fox Films.
Personal life
Married three times, Farnum had a daughter, Sara Adele, with his second wife, Olive White. He had three children with his third wife, Isabelle, named Isabelle, Elizabeth, and William Farnum Jr.[2]
Farnum died from uremia and cancer on June 5, 1953 at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital.[3][4] He is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.[5]
On February 8, 1960, Farnum received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the motion pictures industry at 6322 Hollywood Boulevard.[6][7]
He was the younger brother of major film actor Dustin Farnum. He had another brother, Marshall Farnum, who was a silent film director who died in 1917.
Filmography
Silent
- The Redemption of David Corson (1914, Short) as David Corson
- The Spoilers (1914) as Roy Glenister
- The Sign of the Cross (1914, extant; Library of Congress) as Marcus Superbus
- Samson (1915) as Maurice Brachard
- A Gilded Fool (1915) as Chauncey Short
- The Governor (1915) as Philip Morrow
- The Plunderer (1915) as Bill Matthews
- The Wonderful Adventure (1915) as Martin Stanley / Wilton Demarest
- The Broken Law (1915) as Daniel Esmond - later Known as Lavengro
- A Soldier's Oath (1915) as Pierre Duval
- Fighting Blood (1916) as Lem Hardy
- The Bondman (1916) as Stephen Orry / Jason Orry
- A Man of Sorrow (1916) as Jack Hewlitt
- The Battle of Hearts (1916) as Martin Cane
- The Man from Bitter Roots (1916) as Bruce Burt
- The End of the Trail (1916) as Jules Le Clerq
- The Fires of Conscience (1916) as George Baxter
- The Price of Silence (1917) as Senator Frank Deering
- A Tale of Two Cities (1917) as Charles Darnay / Sydney Carton
- American Methods (1917) as William Armstrong
- The Conqueror (1917) as Sam Houston
- When a Man Sees Red (1917) as Larry Smith
- Les Misérables (1917) as Jean Valjean
- The Heart of a Lion (1917) as Barney Kemper
- Rough and Ready (1918) as Bill Stratton
- True Blue (1918) as Bob McKeever
- Riders of the Purple Sage (1918) as Lassiter
- The Rainbow Trail (1918) as Lassiter / Shefford
- For Freedom (1918) as Robert Wayne
- The Man Hunter (1919) as George Arnold
- The Jungle Trail (1919) as Robert Morgan
- The Lone Star Ranger (1919)[8] as Steele
- Wolves of the Night (1919) as Bruce Andrews
- The Last of the Duanes (1919) as Buck Duane
- Wings of the Morning (1919) as Capt. Robert Anstruther / Robert Jenks
- Heart Strings (1920) as Pierre Fournel
- The Adventurer (1920) as Don Caesar de Bazan
- The Orphan (1920) as The Orphan
- The Joyous Troublemaker (1920) as William Steele
- If I Were King (1920) as François Villon
- Drag Harlan (1920) as Drag Harlan
- The Scuttlers (1920) as Jim Landers
- His Great Silence (1921) as Richard Hall
- Perjury (1921) as Robert Moore
- A Stage of Romance (1922) as Edmund Kean (Character)
- Shackles of Gold (1922) as John Gibbs
- Moonshine Valley (1922) as Ned Connors
- Without Compromise (1922) as Dick Leighton
- Brass Commandments (1923) as Stephen 'Flash' Lanning
- The Gunfighter (1923) as Billy Buell
- The Man Who Fights Alone (1924) as John Marble
- Tropical Nights (1928)
Sound
- Du Barry, Woman of Passion (1930)
- The Spoilers (1930)
- The Painted Desert (1931)
- The Pagan Lady (1931)
- Ten Nights in a Barroom (1931)
- A Connecticut Yankee (1931)
- Law of the Sea (1932)
- Mr. Robinson Crusoe (1932)
- The Drifter (1932)
- Flaming Guns (1932)
- Supernatural (1933)
- Another Language (1933)
- Marriage on Approval (1933)
- Good Dame (1934)
- School for Girls (1934)
- Cleopatra (1934)
- The Brand of Hate (1934)
- Are We Civilized? (1934)
- The Silver Streak (1934)
- The Scarlet Letter (1934)
- Happy Landing (1934)
- The Count of Monte Cristo (1934)
- The Fighting Coward (1935)
- Million Dollar Haul (1935)
- The Crusades (1935)
- Powdersmoke Range (1935)
- Between Men (1935)
- The Irish Gringo (1935)
- The Eagle's Brood (1935)
- The Kid Ranger (1936)
- Undersea Kingdom (1936)
- Maid of Salem (1937)
- Git Along Little Dogies (1937)
- Public Cowboy No. 1 (1937)
- If I Were King (1938)
- Santa Fe Stampede (1938)
- Shine On, Harvest Moon (1938)
- Mexicali Rose (1939)
- Colorado Sunset (1939)
- Rovin' Tumbleweeds (1939)
- South of the Border (1939)
- Convicted Woman (1940)
- Hi-Yo Silver (1940)
- Kit Carson (1940)
- The Villain Still Pursued Her (1940)
- Cheers for Miss Bishop (1941)
- A Woman's Face (1941)
- Gangs of Sonora (1941)
- The Corsican Brothers (1941)
- Last of the Duanes (1941)
- The Lone Star Ranger (1942)
- Men of Texas (1942)
- Today I Hang (1942)
- The Silver Bullet (1942)
- Boss of Hangtown Mesa (1942)
- Tish (1942)
- Tennessee Johnson (1942)
- Deep in the Heart of Texas (1942)
- The Spoilers (1942)
- American Empire (1942)
- Frontier Badmen (1943)
- Calaboose (1943)
- Prairie Chickens (1943)
- Hangmen Also Die! (1943)
- Frontier Badmen (1943)
- The Mummy's Curse (1944)
- Wildfire (1945)
- Captain Kidd (1945)
- Rolling Home (1946)
- My Dog Shep (1946)
- God's Country (1946)
- The Perils of Pauline (1947)
- Heaven Only Knows (1947)
- Daughter of the West (1949)
- Bride of Vengeance (1949)
- Gun Cargo (1949)
- Samson and Delilah (1949)
- Trail of Robin Hood (1950)
- Hollywood Story (1951)
- Jack and the Beanstalk (1952)
- Lone Star (1952)
References
- ^ Griffith, Richard, &Arthur Mayer, The Movies (Bonanza Books, 1957), pp. 98-99
- ^ "The Times-News - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2016-06-26.
- ^ "The Evening Gazette - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2016-06-26.
- ^ "The Times-News - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2016-06-26.
- ^ Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries
- ^ "William Farnum | Hollywood Walk of Fame". www.walkoffame.com. Retrieved 2016-06-26.
- ^ "William Farnum". latimes.com. Retrieved 2016-06-26.
- ^ Wenzell, Nicolette (April 3, 2016). "1919 movie 'The Lone Star Ranger' shot in Palm Springs". The Desert Sun. Gannett.
External links
- William Farnum at IMDb
- William Farnum at Find a Grave
- William Farnum at the Internet Broadway Database
- William Farnum at Virtual History
- Bill Farnum at the end of his theater career and start of his movie career(moviecard)
- shipboard portrait of Mrs. William Farnum(Olive White) and daughter Adele Farnum(courtesy of eBay; scroll to bottom)