Frances Farmer

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Frances Elena Farmer (born September 19, 1913 in Seattle , Washington , † August 1, 1970 in Indianapolis , Indiana ) was an American actress .

Life

The daughter of a lawyer studied acting at the University of Washington in Seattle with the aim of becoming a stage actress. She came to Hollywood in 1935 via New York , where first attempts to gain a foothold on Broadway failed . The Paramount Studios gave her a seven-year contract and tried to form a new movie star of her. She played some hopeful roles, but without resounding success. Her actual goal of acting was not in Hollywood, so she went back to New York. There she played in the Group Theater under the direction of the young director Elia Kazan . However, Hollywood did not let her out of her contract and forced her to keep making films. In 1940 she went back to the west coast and starred in some B-movies.

After various scandals it was declared in 1943, among other things because of their radical political views for mentally ill and in the mental hospital Western State Hospital in Lakewood admitted. An odyssey through psychiatry began that only ended after her discharge eleven years later. The fictional biography Shadowland by William Arnold , according to whether during their treatment and a lobotomy was performed on her. However, this is not the case.

She made another movie and even got her own show on American television in 1958, which aired for six years until 1964. In the last few years of her life, she kept her head above water by doing odd jobs.

Farmer was married to actor Leif Erickson from 1936 to 1942 , Alfred Lobley from 1953 to 1958, and Leland Mikesell from 1958 until her death. She died of esophageal cancer in 1970 .

Others

In 1982 she made a feature film about her life called Frances . Frances Farmer was played by Jessica Lange , who was first nominated for an Oscar for this role .

The Nirvana album In Utero also includes a song entitled Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle .

The British band Culture Club also released a song, The Medal Song , which is about her.

The French-Canadian singer Mylène Farmer has named herself after the actress. The pop singer, best known in the francophone world, was very touched by the fate of the actress.

The British folk-punk band The Men They Couldn't Hang refer to the fictional history of the lobotomy in their song Lobotomy, Gets' Em Home (released on the album Silvertown 1989).

Filmography (selection)

literature

  • Brigitte Tast, Hans Jürgen Tast: Frances Farmer. A photo story . Hildesheim 1979, ISBN 3-88842-010-5 .
  • Brigitte Tast, Hans Jürgen Tast: Frances Farmer. Googly eyes material collection No. 7 . Schellerten 1984, ISBN 3-88842-107-1 .

Web links

Commons : Frances Farmer  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. Jeffrey Kauffmann: Frances Farmer: Shedding Light on Shadowland. (No longer available online.) In: jeffreykauffman.net. 2004, archived from the original on July 21, 2015 ; accessed on December 4, 2008 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / jeffreykauffman.net
  2. FARMER, Frances . filmreference.com. Retrieved October 24, 2015.