John Farrow | |
|---|---|
 Farrow in 1934 | |
| Born | John Villiers Farrow (1904-02-10)10 February 1904 Sydney,New South Wales, Australia |
| Died | 27 January 1963(1963-01-27) (aged 58) |
| Resting place | Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1927–1962 |
| Spouses | |
| Partner | Lila Lee (1928–1933)[1] |
| Children | 8, includingPatrick,Mia,Prudence, andTisa |
| Relatives | Ronan Farrow (grandson) |
John Villiers Farrow,KGCHS (10 February 1904 – 27 January 1963)[2] was an Australian film director, producer, and screenwriter. Spending a considerable amount of his career in the United States, he was nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Director in 1942 forWake Island, and in 1957, he won theAcademy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay forAround the World in Eighty Days. He had seven children by his wife, actressMaureen O'Sullivan, including actressMia Farrow.[3]
Farrow was born inMarrickville, a suburb ofSydney, Australia, the son of Lucy Villiers (née Savage; 1881–1907), a dressmaker, and Joseph Farrow (1880–1925), a tailor's trimmer. His parents were both of English descent.[4] Farrow was educated at Newtown Public School andFort Street Boys' High School, and then started a career in accountancy.
He claimed to have run away to sea in an Americanbarquentine, sailed "all over the Pacific", and fought in revolts inNicaragua andMexico. ReachingCalifornia, he enrolled at St. Ignatius College (later known as theUniversity of San Francisco) in 1923, but left after one month.[5]
He travelled throughout the Pacific, includingFiji,Hawaii, andGuam.[6] On arrival in Hollywood, Farrow fabricated his education, saying he had attendedNewington College in Sydney, Australia (he lived in a street below its ovals),Winchester College inEngland, and theUS Naval Academy inAnnapolis,Maryland. Many publications and websites still contain this misinformation.[7]
Farrow started writing while working as a sailor, and became interested in screenwriting after a chance voyage in theSouth Seas with the filmmakerRobert J. Flaherty. Re-entering the United States, allegedly by jumping ship at San Francisco, he found his way to Hollywood, where from 1927, his nautical expertise brought him work as a script consultant andtechnical adviser. He had already earned minor recognition as a poet and writer of short stories. Some of his stories were sold to Hollywood.[8]
He soon established himself as a notable screenwriter.[9] He worked forDeMille Productions, doing titles forWhite Gold (1927) (his first credit) andThe Wreck of the Hesperus (1927).[10][11]
He adaptedRichard Connell's 1923 short story "A Friend of Napoleon",[12][13] but it does not appear to have been made.[original research?] He also wrote the original story forThe Blue Danube and the script forThe Bride of the Colorado, both of which were released in 1928.[14] At Warner Bros., he wroteA Sailor's Sweetheart (1927) for directorLloyd Bacon.[15]
Farrow wrote the screenplays forThree Weekends,The Woman from Moscow,The First Kiss,Ladies of the Mob,The Showdown,The Four Feathers,The Wheel of Life,A Dangerous Woman,Wolf Song,The Bad One,Shadow of the Law andSeven Days' Leave.[16]
Farrow wrote an English-French-Tahitian dictionary, as well as a novel,Laughter Ends (1934).[17] In 1932, he went to England, where he wroteThe Impassive Footman (1932) forBasil Dean.[18] He worked as a writer and assistant director onG. W. Pabst's filmDon Quixote (1933), and briefly visited Tahiti again.[19]
Farrow returned to Hollywood and re-established himself as a screenwriter. On 27 January 1933, while dancing at theCocoanut Grove nightclub, he was arrested for breach of his visa, as part of a general crackdown against illegal immigrants in the film industry.[20] Farrow was charged with making a false statement while entering the US, having claimed he wasRomanian.[21] Although threatened with deportation, eventually he was given five years' probation,[22] before being acquitted of the charges the following year.[23]
AtMGM, Farrow wroteLast of the Pagans (1935), partly set in Tahiti, and directed a short, "The Spectacle Maker" (1934). He received a plum appointment to work onTarzan Escapes (1936), but the film was subsequently rewritten and reshot.[24]
In 1930, Farrow was announced as directing his own story,First Love, but this did not materialise.[25] He signed toWarner Bros. in 1936, looking to direct, and was linked with a number of projects, including aForeign Legion story and an adaptation ofEdgar Allan Poe's 1842 short story "The Pit and the Pendulum".[26] Farrow finally made his directorial debut in 1937 withMen in Exile, a remake ofSafe in Hell (1931).
Following this, he accompanied his wife, Maureen O'Sullivan, to Europe, where she was makingA Yank at Oxford (1938), lectured onFather Damien, about whom Farrow had written a book (published in 1937), and received a papal knighthood.[27]
On his return to Hollywood, Farrow resumed working as aB-picture director for Warner Bros., withWest of Shanghai (1937) withBoris Karloff andShe Loved a Fireman (1937) withDick Foran andAnn Sheridan. He was reunited with Karloff inThe Invisible Menace (1938), then madeLittle Miss Thoroughbred (1938) withJohn Litel and Sheridan, the first film forPeggy Ann Garner.[28]
Farrow left his contract for a number of months, ostensibly to finish a book he was writing on the history of the papacy, and also due to disputes over the script for his next film, another starring Kay Francis,Women in the Wind (1939).[29]
Farrow re-emerged as a contract director for RKO,[30] directing the highly profitableThe Saint Strikes Back (1939), the second in the"Saint" series and the first to starGeorge Sanders in the lead. He followed it withSorority House (1939), from a script byDalton Trumbo and produced byRobert Sisk. RKO then announced Farrow would direct a film version of the director's bookDamien the Leper produced by Sisk and starringJoseph Calleia,[31] but it was never made.[original research?]
"I deliberately set out to become the damnedest commercial director in the business", he said later. "The only way to get anywhere in Hollywood is to make money pictures. Then, you can get some measure of respect and authority from the studio bosses, and little by little you get to do more of the things you want to do."[32]
Despite his flourishing career and recently having become a father for the first time, Farrow was keen to be involved inWorld War II. He went to Vancouver in November 1939 and enlisted in theRoyal Canadian Navy.[33] He went back to RKO to finishBill of Divorcement, then joined the navy. RKO promised to hold his job when he returned.[34]
Farrow was appointed lieutenant in March 1940, and was assigned to Naval History and the Controller of Information unit. He worked on antisubmarine patrols, and in April 1941, was lrnt to theRoyal Navy and appointed to HMSGoshawk naval base in Trinidad, and served as assistant to the Senior British Naval Officer, Curaçao. He contractedtyphus fever and returned to Naval Headquarters, Ottawa, in late 1941.[35]
He was to direct a Canadian war film starring his wife, Maureen O'Sullivan, while on leave, but this did not happen.[36]
Farrow was invalided out of the Royal Canadian Navy with typhus in January 1942 at the rank of commander, but remained in the naval reserve.[37] He was gravely ill when he returned, but was nursed back to health by his wife. His illness meant he was unable to return to active service.[38]
Farrow resumed his directing career at Paramount, whose head of production,Buddy de Sylva, had been impressed byFive Came Back and offered Farrow a contract.[39] For the first time, Farrow was directing nothing but A movies. The association began brilliantly withWake Island (1942), which earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Director, and was one of the year's biggest hits.[3]
Farrow followed it with another war film shot in Canada for Columbia,Commandos Strike at Dawn (1942), which also proved popular.China (1943), withAlan Ladd andLoretta Young, was another big hit.[40]
In February 1943, Farrow signed a long-term contract with Paramount.[41] In July 1943, he served as technical consultant for the proposed Royal Canadian Navy show.[6] He directedThe Hitler Gang (1944),Two Years Before the Mast (filmed 1944, not released until 1946) with Ladd, andYou Came Along (1945), from a script co-written byAyn Rand.
In May 1945, Farrow was briefly recalled to active duty, travelling to Britain for work in connection with the director of special services.[6][42] Shortly after, he madeCalcutta (1947) with Ladd, though it was not released until two years later, to strong box-office receipts.
Two Years Before the Mast, released in 1946, became the tenth-most popular movie of the year. In 1946, Farrow was reportedly writing a biography ofJunípero Serra, but it appears to have never been made.[43]
Farrow became an American citizen in July 1947.[44]
In 1947, Farrow made one of his most highly regarded films,[3] the noirThe Big Clock (1948) with Ray Milland and O'Sullivan. He was reunited with Ladd for a military drama,Beyond Glory (1948), then returned to noir withNight Has a Thousand Eyes (1948), starringEdward G. Robinson from aCornell Woolrich novel, andAlias Nick Beal (1949), with Milland.
Back at Paramount, he madeSubmarine Command (1951) withWilliam Holden. He wound up his contract with a final movie with Ladd,Botany Bay (1952), a half-successful attempt to repeatTwo Years Before the Mast.[45] It was one of his few movies to have a connection to his native Australia.[46]
Farrow directed Robert Taylor and Ava Gardner in theMGM Western,Ride, Vaquero! (1953), which was a hit. He made two produced by John Wayne for Wayne's company,Batjac:Plunder of the Sun (1953), an adventure story with Glenn Ford, andHondo (1953) with Wayne, from a story byLouis L'Amour; the latter especially was popular at the box office.
Farrow was the original director ofAround the World in 80 Days (1956), but was fired by producerMichael Todd shortly after filming commenced, but Farrow remained credited for his contribution to the screenplay, which won an Oscar in 1956.[47]
Farrow signed a three-picture deal with RKO.[48] He only made two of them, neither successful:Back from Eternity (1956), a remake ofFive Came Back, andThe Unholy Wife (1957), a failed attempt to launchDiana Dors to US audiences.
Farrow was a notorious playboy in his youth, being linked toDolores del Río andDiana Churchill[49] among others.[50] He married Felice Lewin on 18 August 1924. They had one daughter, Felice Patricia Farrow (1925–1997). The marriage ended in divorce in September 1927. Farrow began a relationship withLila Lee in 1928, and they became engaged.[51] However, they never married and their relationship ended in 1933 after Lee discovered Farrow was being unfaithful to her.
In 1934, he became engaged to actressMaureen O'Sullivan[52] and they married on 12 September 1936, after he converted toCatholicism and received an annulment of his first marriage.[53] Farrow and O'Sullivan had seven children: four daughters, who became actresses,Mia[3] (born 1945),Prudence (born 1948), Stephanie (born 1949),Tisa (1951-2024); and three sons, Michael Damien (1939–1958),Patrick Villiers (1942–2009), and John Charles (born 1946).[54]
Farrow often wrote about Catholic themes.[55] He would later deny he was a convert to Catholicism. He claimed that he had been baptised as an infant by his Irish nurse. He was not raised Catholic, and did not learn of his infant baptism until after his 1929 adult baptism.[56]
Death
John Farrow died of a heart attack[57] inBeverly Hills, California on 27 January 1963 at the age of 58, and was buried in theHoly Cross Cemetery, Culver City.
As one of the few high-profile Australians in Hollywood during the 1930s, Farrow's activities were well covered by the Australian media. He accepted the Oscar won by the Australian documentaryKokoda Front Line! (1943),[60] met Australian SenatorRichard Keane, the Minister for Trade and Customs, when he visited Hollywood during the war[61] and offered to assist in the establishment of theAustralian Information Service in the US.[62] He also often expressed a desire to make a film back in Australia[63] and later made two films with Australian connections,Botany Bay (1953) andThe Sea Chase (1955), despite having ceased to be aBritish subject in 1947, thus never acquiringAustralian citizenship when it was created in 1949.
In 1927, he was described as an Australian member of Hollywood, along withMay Robson, New ZealanderRupert Julian, Josephine Norman, and director E. O. Gurney.[64]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)This article was published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 14, (Melbourne University Press), 1996. Published online in 2006
An inventory of the John Villiers Farrow Papers at the Special Collections of the University Libraries at The Catholic University of America.
