Dustin Farnum

Dustin Farnum (1909)

Dustin Lancy Farnum (born May 27, 1874 in Hampton Beach , Rockingham County , New Hampshire , † July 3, 1929 in New York City , New York ) was an American film and stage actor .

Life

Dustin Farnum grew up as the eldest of three brothers in the state of Maine , where he left school at the age of 15 to concentrate on his passion, acting . With his brothers William and Marshall , who later also enjoyed success as actors, Dustin Farnum founded a vaudeville group with whom he toured the northeastern United States.

From January to March 1899 he was in the play A Romance of Athlone for the first time on Broadway on the stage. Because of its success, the piece was performed again from January to March 1900. In the first decade of the 20th century Farnum appeared in ten other plays, most recently from April to June 1913 in the play Arizona .

In 1913 Farnum moved to Cuba for a short time , where he made the feature film Soldiers of Fortune in 1914, making his debut as a film actor. In The Squaw Man , directed by Cecil B. DeMille , which was also produced in 1914, Farnum laid the foundation for a career as a western actor who, despite other film appearances, was always associated with this genre . In 1916 he played Davy Crockett in the film of the same name . He embodied another historical figure in his 42nd and last feature film in 1926. He appeared in The Flaming Frontier as General George Armstrong Custer .

Dustin Farnum was married a total of three times. In 1898 he married Agnes Christine Johnston, from whom he divorced in 1908. In 1909 he joined the actress Mary Cronwell in front of the altar; the couple divorced in 1924 after 15 years of marriage. In the same year Farnum married the British actress Winifred Kingston , with whom he had his only child, his daughter Dustine Farnum , in 1925 . Dustine Farnum (1925–1983) also worked for a short time as an actress in the 1940s.

Dustin Farnum, who increasingly withdrew into private life from 1926, died at the age of 55, in July 1929, of kidney failure . He is buried in Silver Lake Cemetery, Bucksport, Hancock County, Maine, USA.

A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is dedicated to him today .

Others

The mother of well-known actor Dustin Hoffman named her son after the silent film actor Dustin Farnum.

Filmography (selection)

1914: Soldiers of Fortune
1914: When We Were Young (Short)
1914: The Virginian
1914: The Lightning Conductor
1914: The Squaw Man
1923: The Grail
1923: The Man Who Won
1923: Kentucky Days
1924: My Man
1926: Little Big Horn's death ride

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Farnum, Dustin
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Farnum, Dustin Lancy (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American film and stage actor
DATE OF BIRTH	May 27, 1874
PLACE OF BIRTH	Hampton Beach , Rockingham County , New Hampshire
DATE OF DEATH	July 3, 1929
Place of death	New York City , New York