Born 1925 in San Jose, California, American actor Farley Granger was first noticed in a small stage production in Hollywood by a Goldwyn casting director, and given a significant role in The North Star (1943). Another war film, The Purple Heart (1944), followed, before Granger’s naval service in Honolulu, in a unit that arranged troop entertainment in the Pacific. Here he made useful contacts, including Bob Hope, Betty Grable and Rita Hayworth. It was also where he began exploring his bisexuality, which he said he never felt any need to conceal.
His role in Hitchcock’s Rope, a fictionalized account of the Leopold and Loeb murder case of 1924, earned him much critical praise though the film got mixed reviews. Hitchcock then cast him again in Strangers on a Train, as a tennis star drawn into a double murder plot by a wealthy psychopath, played by Robert Walker. Granger would describe this as his happiest film-making experience, and was deeply saddened by Walker’s death shortly after shooting.
Granger continued to appear on stage, film and television well into his 70s. His work ranged from classical drama on Broadway to several Italian-language films and major documentaries about Hollywood. He made his last film appearance in Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There.
Granger died of natural causes in his Manhattan apartment in 2011, at age 85. For his contribution to television, he has a star located at 1551 Vine Street on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Take a look at these vintage photos to see portraits of a young and handsome Farley Granger in the 1940s and 1950s.
0 comments:
Post a Comment