Английская Википедия:Frances Farmer

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Шаблон:Short description Шаблон:For Шаблон:Use mdy dates Шаблон:Infobox person Frances Elena Farmer (September 19, 1913Шаблон:SpndAugust 1, 1970) was an American actress. She appeared in over a dozen feature films over the course of her career, though she garnered notoriety for sensationalized accounts of her life, especially her involuntary commitment to psychiatric hospitals and subsequent mental health struggles.

A native of Seattle, Washington, Farmer began acting in stage productions while a student at the University of Washington. After graduating, she began performing in stock theater before signing a film contract with Paramount Pictures on her 22nd birthday in September 1935.Шаблон:Sfn She made her film debut in the B film Too Many Parents (1936), followed by another B picture, Border Flight, before being given the lead role opposite Bing Crosby in the musical Western Rhythm on the Range (1936).Шаблон:Sfn Unhappy with the opportunities the studio gave her, Farmer returned to stock theater in 1937 before being cast in the original Broadway production of Clifford Odets's Golden Boy, staged by New York City's Group Theatre. She followed this with two Broadway productions directed by Elia Kazan in 1939, but a battle with depression and binge drinking caused her to drop out of a subsequent Ernest Hemingway stage adaptation.

Farmer returned to Los Angeles, earning supporting roles in the comedy World Premiere (1941) and the film noir Among the Living (1941). In 1942, publicity of her reportedly erratic behavior began to surface and, after several arrests and committals to psychiatric institutions, Farmer was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. At the request of her family, particularly her mother, she was committed to an institution in her home state of Washington, where she remained a patient until 1950. Farmer attempted an acting comeback, mainly appearing as a television host in Indianapolis on her own series, Frances Farmer Presents. Her final film role was in the 1958 drama The Party Crashers, after which she spent the majority of the 1960s occasionally performing in local theater productions staged by Purdue University. In the spring of 1970, she was diagnosed with esophageal cancer, from which she died on August 1, 1970, aged 56.

Farmer has been the subject of two feature films and several books focusing on her time spent institutionalized, during which she claimed to have been subjected to systemic abuse.[1] Her posthumously released, ghostwritten, and widely discredited autobiography, Will There Really Be a Morning? (1972), details these claims, but has been exposed as a largely fictional work by a friend of Farmer's to clear debts.[2] Another discredited 1978 biography of her life, Shadowland, alleged that Farmer underwent a transorbital lobotomy during her institutionalization, but the author has since stated in court that he fabricated this incident and several other aspects of the book. A 1982 biographical film based on this book depicted these events as true, resulting in renewed interest in her life and career.

Life and career

1913–1935: Early life

Frances Elena FarmerШаблон:Sfn was born on September 19, 1913, in Seattle, Washington, the daughter of Cora Lillian (née Van Ornum; 1873Шаблон:En dash1955), a boardinghouse operator and dieticianШаблон:Sfn and Ernest Melvin Farmer (1874Шаблон:En dash1956), a lawyer.Шаблон:Sfn Her father was originally from Spring Valley, Minnesota,Шаблон:Sfn while her mother was from Oregon and a descendant of pioneers.Шаблон:Sfn Lillian's maternal grandparents were John and Jemima (Skews) Rowe, who came to Waldwick, Wisconsin, from Truro, England, in 1849. Farmer had an older sister, Edith; an older brother, Wesley;Шаблон:Sfn and an older half-sister, Rita, conceived during her mother's first marriage.Шаблон:Sfn Before the birth of Wesley and Edith, Lillian had given birth to a daughter who died of pneumonia in infancy.Шаблон:Sfn When she was four years old, Farmer's parents separated, and her mother moved with the children to Los Angeles, where her sister Zella lived.Шаблон:Sfn In early 1925, the family moved north to Chico, California, where Lillian pursued a career in nutrition research.Шаблон:Sfn Shortly after arriving in Chico, Lillian concluded that caring for the children was interfering with her ability to work.Шаблон:Sfn The children's Aunt Zella then drove them to Albany, Oregon, where they boarded a train back to Seattle to live with their father.Шаблон:Sfn

Файл:Frances Farmer 1935 newspaper photo.png
Farmer in a press photo for her winning the Voice of Action writing contest, April 10, 1935

Farmer's inconsistent home life had a notable effect on her and, upon returning to Seattle, she recalled: "In certain ways, that train trip represented the end of my dependent childhood. I began to understand that there were certain things one could expect from adults, and others that one could not expect...being shunted from one household to another was a new adjustment, a fresh confusion, and I groped for ways to compensate for the disorder."Шаблон:Sfn The next year, her mother returned to Seattle after her home in Chico burned down.Шаблон:Sfn In Seattle, the family shared a household, but Lillian and Ernest remained separated despite his attempts to repair their marriage.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn In the fall of 1929, when Farmer was 16, Lillian and Ernest divorced, and Lillian moved to a cottage in Bremerton, Washington, while the children remained with their father.Шаблон:Sfn

In 1931, while a senior at West Seattle High School, Farmer entered and won $100 from The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, a writing contest sponsored by Scholastic Magazine, with her controversial essay "God Dies".[3] It was a precocious attempt to reconcile her wish for, in her words, a "superfather" God, with her observations of a chaotic and godless world. In her autobiography, she wrote that the essay was influenced by her reading of Friedrich Nietzsche: "He expressed the same doubts, only he said it in German: Gott ist tot. God is dead. This I could understand. I was not to assume that there was no God, but I could find no evidence in my life that He existed or that He had ever shown any particular interest in me. I was not an atheist, but I was surely an agnostic, and by the time I was 16, I was well indoctrinated into this theory."Шаблон:Sfn

After graduating from high school, Farmer enrolled at the University of Washington, initially majoring in journalism.Шаблон:Sfn She worked various jobs to pay her tuition, including as an usherette in a cinema, a waitress, a tutor, a laborer in a soap factory,Шаблон:Sfn and a singing waitress at Mount Rainier National Park.Шаблон:Sfn During her sophomore year, Farmer became involved with the university's drama department productions. She starred in numerous UW plays, including Helen of Troy, Everyman, and Uncle Vanya.Шаблон:Sfn In late 1934, she starred in UW's production of Alien Corn,[4] which earned her favorable reviews in local press.Шаблон:Sfn

During her final year of college in 1935, Farmer won a subscription contest for the leftist newspaper The Voice of Action.Шаблон:Sfn The first prize was a trip to the Soviet Union. Farmer accepted the prize, despite her mother's strong objections, so that she could see the pioneering Moscow Art Theatre. Her interest in such topics fostered speculations that she was not only an atheist, but also a Communist.Шаблон:Sfn The same year, she graduated from the university with a Bachelor of Arts degree in drama.Шаблон:Sfn[5]

1935–1936: Early films and rise to fame

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Farmer in a publicity still. (1938)

Returning from the Soviet Union in the summer of 1935, Farmer stopped in New York City, hoping to launch a theater career.Шаблон:Sfn There, she met talent agent Shepard Traube,Шаблон:Sfn who referred her to Paramount Pictures talent scout Oscar Serlin, who arranged for a screen test.Шаблон:Sfn Paramount offered her a seven-year contract, which Farmer signed in New York City on her 22nd birthday.Шаблон:Sfn After completing screen tests on Long Island, Farmer moved to Los Angeles to begin working for Paramount.Шаблон:Sfn Upon arrival, she underwent dental surgery to fix a gap in her front teeth, and she spent long hours screen-testing and training on the Paramount studio lot.Шаблон:Sfn In November 1935, she was cast in the B-movie Too Many Parents (1936), a comedy about young men in military school.Шаблон:Sfn The film was a box-office success.Шаблон:Sfn After completing it in February 1936, Farmer wed fellow Paramount contract player Leif Erickson, whom she met on the studio lot.Шаблон:Sfn She was then cast in a lead role in the drama Border Flight.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn

Later that year, Farmer was cast in her first "A" feature, Rhythm on the Range, a Western starring Bing Crosby.Шаблон:Sfn She recalled of the film: "I had had a crush on him [Crosby] since my high school days, and stood in awe of the fact that in my first important film I was actually working as his leading lady."Шаблон:Sfn Rhythm on the Range earned favorable reviews and brought Farmer an enhanced public reputation.Шаблон:Sfn After its release, Paramount studio head Adolph Zukor phoned her and told her, "now that she was a rising star she'd have to start acting like one."Шаблон:Sfn Farmer was resistant, however, and spent most of her time at her home in Laurel Canyon with Erickson, forgoing invitations to Hollywood parties and events.Шаблон:Sfn In an attempt to make her marketable, Paramount chose to brand her in press releases as "the star who would not go Hollywood," focusing on her "eccentric" fashion tastes.Шаблон:Sfn

During the summer of 1936, she was lent to Samuel Goldwyn to appear in Come and Get It, based on the novel by Edna Ferber, in which she portrayed a young woman pursued by her mother's former lover. Howard Hawks was originally signed to direct, but was replaced by William Wyler midway through production; Farmer was indignant and clashed with Wyler during filming.Шаблон:Sfn He later said, "The nicest thing I can say about Frances Farmer is that she is unbearable."Шаблон:Sfn Though her working relationship with Wyler was tumultuous, Hawks remembered Farmer with admiration, saying that she "had more talent than anyone I ever worked with."Шаблон:Sfn Producers chose to premiere the film in Seattle, Farmer's hometown.Шаблон:Sfn At the premiere, Farmer was notably quiet and spoke little to reporters, which resulted in news reports that she was cold and aloof.Шаблон:Sfn Nevertheless, Come and Get It earned praise from the public and critics, with several reviews greeting Farmer as a newfound star, some likening her to Greta Garbo.Шаблон:Sfn

In 1937, she was lent to RKO to star opposite Cary Grant in The Toast of New York, the story of a Wall Street tycoon.Шаблон:Sfn The film's production was turbulent as Farmer was unhappy with the rebranding of her character from a hard-edged vixen to "an ingénue fresh from Sunnybrook."Шаблон:Sfn On set, she argued with director Rowland V. Lee and gave belittling interviews to the press.Шаблон:Sfn Unsatisfied with her career direction after The Toast of New York, Farmer resisted the studio's control and every attempt it made to glamorize her private life. A 1937 Collier's article, though, sympathetically described her as indifferent to the clothing she wore and said she drove an older-model "green roadster".Шаблон:Sfn Also in 1937, she appeared in the crime drama Exclusive opposite Fred MacMurray and the Technicolor adventure film Ebb Tide opposite Ray Milland.Шаблон:Sfn

1937–1941: Transition to theater

Файл:Group-Theatre-1938.jpg
Leif Erickson and Farmer (front row, far left) with members of the Group Theatre in 1938

Unsatisfied with the expectations of the studio system and wanting to enhance her reputation as a serious actress, Farmer left Hollywood in mid-1937 to do summer stock on the East Coast, performing in Westchester, New York, and Westport, Connecticut.Шаблон:Sfn There, she attracted the attention of director Harold Clurman and playwright Clifford Odets, who invited her to appear in a three-month production of Odets' play Golden Boy,Шаблон:Sfn produced by the Group Theatre.Шаблон:Sfn The play opened in November 1937 and ran for a total of 248 performances.Шаблон:Sfn Her performance at first received mixed reviews, with Time commenting that she had been miscast.Шаблон:Sfn Due to Farmer's box-office appeal, however, the play became the biggest hit in the group's history. By 1938, when the production had embarked on a national tour, regional critics from Washington, DC, to Chicago gave her rave reviews.[6]

Three woman posed in shawls
Left to right: Martha Scott, Uta Hagen, Farmer, and Julie Haydon posed in Stage magazine, 1938

During the run of Golden Boy, Farmer began a romantic affair with Odets, but he was married to actress Luise Rainer and did not offer Farmer a commitment.Шаблон:Sfn Farmer felt betrayed when Odets suddenly ended the relationship, and when the group chose another actress for its London runШаблон:En dashan actress whose family helped secure funds for the playШаблон:En dashshe came to believe that the group had used her drawing power selfishly to further the success of the play.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Disheartened, Farmer returned to Los Angeles to star opposite husband Erickson in Ride a Crooked Mile (1938).Шаблон:Sfn In April 1939, she performed in a short-run Broadway production of Quiet City, an experimental play directed by Elia Kazan.Шаблон:Sfn In November that year, she returned to Broadway, portraying Melanie in Thunder Rock, also directed by Kazan, and produced by the Group Theater.Шаблон:Sfn The play was not well received, and Farmer was profoundly unhappy after its closing in December 1939.Шаблон:Sfn She subsequently accepted a role in a Broadway adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's The Fifth Column, for which she was scheduled to begin rehearsing in early 1940.Шаблон:Sfn During rehearsals, Farmer began binge drinking in an effort to alleviate her depression.Шаблон:Sfn She ultimately chose to withdraw from the production, resulting in a $1,500 fine from the Theater Guild, for "unprofessionalism".Шаблон:Sfn

She returned to Paramount, which assigned her a role in South of Pago Pago (1940), in which she portrayed Ruby, a woman traveling with a group of adventurers searching for pearls on an island.Шаблон:Sfn She was then lent to Warner Bros. to star in Flowing Gold, an adventure drama set against the oil industry, opposite John Garfield.Шаблон:Sfn After completing the film, Farmer returned to the East Coast to appear in summer-stock theater.Шаблон:Sfn Following a "lonely winter" spent living in New York City, Farmer drove back to Los Angeles in the spring of 1941, and rented a lavish mansion in Santa Monica.Шаблон:Sfn Her next film was World Premiere (1941), a comedy starring John Barrymore.Шаблон:Sfn She followed this with a supporting part in the film noir Among the Living (1941), co-starring with Susan Hayward and Albert Dekker.Шаблон:Sfn

During this time, Farmer was "seeking in work a respite from her personal struggles."Шаблон:Sfn Clurman temporarily moved into her Santa Monica home to keep her company while she completed filming of Badlands of Dakota, a Western in which she starred as Calamity Jane opposite Robert Stack.Шаблон:Sfn Farmer again fought with the studio over the role, which she felt was over-glamorized, further damaging her reputation with studio executives.Шаблон:Sfn She next appeared opposite Tyrone Power and Roddy McDowall in the film Son of Fury (1942) (on loan to 20th Century Fox), portraying the scheming daughter of a British aristocrat.Шаблон:Sfn Later that year, Paramount suspended her after she refused to accept a part in the film Take a Letter, Darling and voided her contract.[7][8] Meanwhile, her marriage to Erickson had disintegrated, and he began dating actress Margaret Hayes.Шаблон:Sfn Their divorce was finalized on June 12, 1942,[9] and Erickson married Hayes the same day.Шаблон:Sfn

1942–1949: Legal troubles and psychiatric confinement

On October 19, 1942, Farmer was stopped by Santa Monica police for driving with her headlights on high beam in the wartime blackout zone that affected most of the West Coast.[10] Some reports stated she was unable to produce a driver's license, and was verbally abusive to the officers.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn The police suspected her of being drunk and she was jailed overnight.Шаблон:Sfn Farmer was fined $500 and given a 180-day suspended sentence.Шаблон:Sfn She immediately paid $250 and was put on probation.[11]Шаблон:Sfn With her vehicle impounded and her driver's license suspended, Farmer holed up in her Santa Monica home and denied the press interviews.Шаблон:Sfn

Шаблон:Multiple images In November 1942, her agent secured her a role in an independent film adaptation of John Steinbeck's Murder at Laudice, which was set to film in Mexico City.Шаблон:Sfn Upon arriving in Mexico, she discovered that the shooting script was unfinished, and the production never reached fruition.Шаблон:Efn While in Mexico City, Farmer was allegedly charged with drunk and disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace, and was forced by authorities to return to the United States.Шаблон:Sfn Upon returning to California, she found her Santa Monica home cleared of her possessions and inhabited by a strange family.Шаблон:Sfn Farmer later contended that her mother and sister-in-law had stripped the house and stored her belongings while she was gone.Шаблон:Sfn Her mother rented her a room at the Knickerbocker Hotel in Hollywood, where she temporarily took residence.Шаблон:Sfn

By January 1943, Farmer had failed to pay the remainder of her fine, and a bench warrant was issued for her arrest. At almost the same time,Шаблон:Sfn a studio hairdresser filed an assault charge alleging that Farmer had hit her in the face and dislocated her jaw on set.Шаблон:Sfn Shortly after, Farmer was allegedly seen running down Sunset Boulevard topless after getting into a brawl at a bar.Шаблон:Sfn On January 13, 1943, police went to the Knickerbocker to arrest her,Шаблон:Sfn but she did not surrender peacefully.[12]

At her hearing the following morning, Farmer behaved erratically. She claimed the police had violated her rights; demanded an attorney; and threw an inkwell at the judge.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn When asked about her drinking habits, Farmer told the judge: "I put liquor in my milkШаблон:Nbsp... in my coffee and in my orange juice."Шаблон:Sfn She also admitted to regularly drinking benzedrine.Шаблон:Sfn The judge sentenced her to 180 days in jail.Шаблон:Sfn While being taken from the courtroom, Farmer knocked down a policeman and bruised another, along with a matron; she ran to a phone booth where she tried to call her attorney, but was subdued by the police.Шаблон:Sfn When they physically carried her away, she shouted: "Have you ever had a broken heart?"[11]Шаблон:Sfn

Through the efforts of her sister-in-law, a deputy sheriff in Los Angeles County, Farmer avoided jail time and was instead transferred to the psychiatric ward of Los Angeles General Hospital on January 21.Шаблон:Sfn There, she was diagnosed with "manic depressive psychosis, probably the forerunner of a definite dementia praecox."Шаблон:Sfn Days later, with assistance from the Screen Actors Guild, she was transferred to the Kimball Sanitarium, a minimum-security psychiatric institute in the San Fernando Valley.Шаблон:Sfn Psychiatrists there diagnosed her with paranoid schizophrenia.Шаблон:Sfn She was administered insulin shock therapy, then a standard psychiatric procedure, whose side effects included intense nausea.Шаблон:Sfn Her family later claimed they did not consent to the treatment,Шаблон:Sfn as documented in her sister's self-published book, Look Back in Love, and in court records; Farmer herself later alleged that she was given insulin treatments for 90 consecutive days.Шаблон:Sfn After nine months at the Kimball Sanitarium, Farmer walked out of the institute one afternoon and traveled to her half-sister Rita's house, over Шаблон:Convert away. They called their mother in Seattle to complain about the insulin treatments.Шаблон:Sfn

Young woman (center) with older man and woman sitting on each side of her
Farmer was paroled into the care of her parents (pictured with her here in 1938) after her release from psychiatric confinement.

Lillian traveled to California and began a lengthy legal battle to take formal guardianship of Frances from the state of California. Although several psychiatrists testified that Farmer needed further treatment, her mother prevailed. The two of them left Los Angeles by train on September 13, 1943.[6] Farmer moved in with her parents in West Seattle, but her mother and she fought bitterly. Farmer wrote in her autobiography: "Mamma and I had fought, argued, threatened, and screamed until it had finally come down to a climax of two exhausted women sitting across from each other in a small, cluttered kitchen. We were enemies who had grown tired of pretending."Шаблон:Sfn After one violent physical attack, Lillian had Farmer committed to Western State Hospital at Steilacoom, Washington.Шаблон:Sfn In a 1958 television interview by Ralph Edwards on his This is Your Life program, Frances recalled her experience:

Шаблон:Blockquote

Three months later, in early July 1944, she was pronounced "completely cured" and released.Шаблон:Sfn Shortly after her release, on July 15, Farmer was arrested for vagrancy in Antioch, California.Шаблон:Sfn

In January 1945, Farmer's father brought her to stay at her aunt's ranch in Yerington, Nevada.[13]Шаблон:Sfn During her stay, Farmer ran away from the residence.Шаблон:Sfn She was discovered several days later at a movie theater in Reno, and returned by police to her aunt's home.[13] Several months later, on May 18, 1945, Lillian filed for a sanity hearing for Farmer after she ran away from their home in Seattle.[14] The hearing was held on May 21, during which the court ruled that Farmer was to be recommitted to Western State Hospital.[15] She remained an inmate of the hospital for the next five years, with the exception of a brief parole in 1946.[6] Throughout her internment, Farmer remained in the high-security ward for the hospital's "violent" patients.Шаблон:Sfn Her treatment at Western State was subject to significant public and critical discussion in the years after her death.Шаблон:Sfn

1950–1958: Post-hospitalization and comeback attempt

On March 23, 1950, at her parents' request, Farmer was paroled back into her mother's care.Шаблон:Sfn A year later, on March 25, 1951, Farmer was formally discharged from the jurisdiction of Western State, but was not made aware of it for two years; in the interim, she believed her recommitment to the hospital an imminent threat.Шаблон:Sfn In June 1953, upon discovering her discharge, Farmer requested that her mother's conservatorship be lifted, which the Superior Court did.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn With her freedom restored, Farmer took a job sorting laundry at the Olympic Hotel in Seattle,Шаблон:Sfn the same hotel where she had been fêted in 1936 at Come and Get It's premiere.Шаблон:Sfn While working at the Olympic Hotel, a co-worker set Farmer up on a blind date with Alfred H. Lobley, a 45-year-old city utility worker.Шаблон:Sfn The two married in April 1954,Шаблон:Sfn[16] and moved in with Lillian, who was growing senile and needed assistance at home.Шаблон:Sfn Within the year, Lillian was sent to a nursing home, after which Farmer's marriage to Lobley began to disintegrate.Шаблон:Sfn

Farmer remained estranged from her sister until Lillian's death from a stroke in March 1955. After their mother's death, Farmer's sister Edith moved to Portland, Oregon, to be nearer to their father, who died there on July 15, 1956, also of a stroke.Шаблон:Sfn During this time, Farmer and Edith occasionally corresponded.Шаблон:Sfn Edith claimed that on one occasion, Farmer visited her in Portland, where the two spent an afternoon at The Grotto, a Catholic sanctuary they had once visited with their father.Шаблон:Sfn

Woman with hair pinned up, smiling
Farmer circa 1958

In late 1957, Farmer separated from Lobley and relocated to Eureka, California, where she found work as a bookkeeper and secretary at a commercial photo studio.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn In Eureka, she met Leland C. Mikesell, an independent broadcast promoter from Indianapolis, who recognized her at a local bar.Шаблон:Sfn The two soon became romantically involved, and Mikesell envisioned a career comeback for her.Шаблон:Sfn They moved to San Francisco, where Farmer temporarily worked as a clerk at the Park Sheraton Hotel.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn In 1958, Mikesell and she married.Шаблон:Sfn

In a December 1957 interview with Modern Screen, Farmer said: "I blame nobody for my fall. I had to face agonizing decisions when I was younger. The decisions broke me. But, too, there was a lack of philosophy in my life. With faith in myself and in God I think I have won the fight to control myself."[17] She subsequently made two appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, during one of which she played guitar and sang "Aura Lee", a folk song she had performed in Come and Get It (1936).Шаблон:Sfn She also appeared on This Is Your Life in an attempt to clarify the veracity of the publicity she had received throughout her career. Farmer explained to This is Your Life's host, Ralph Edwards:

Шаблон:Quote

Edwards later asked Farmer about her supposed alcoholism: "Other stories accuse you of being an alcoholic. Were you, Frances?" Farmer's reply was, "No, I was never an alcoholic", an adamant denial that also applied to Edwards's subsequent question about "dope".[12]

In August 1957, Farmer returned to the stage in New Hope, Pennsylvania, for a summer-stock production of Enid Bagnold's The Chalk Garden.Шаблон:Sfn Through the spring of 1958, Farmer appeared in several live television dramas, some of which are preserved on kinescope; the same year, she made her last film, The Party Crashers, a potboiler drama produced by Paramount and described by one writer as "a crappy B-movie about wild teenagers and stupid adults."[12]Шаблон:Sfn Then, in July 1958, Farmer accepted the lead role in a production of Yes, My Darling Daughter, due to the reciprocal arrangements that existed between one of the summer-stock East Coast theaters in which she performed and venues in the Midwest; this particular role was based at a theater in Indianapolis.Шаблон:Sfn

1959–1964: Stage and television work

Farmer's stage work proved beneficial, as she received the opportunity to host her own daytime movie program, Frances Farmer Presents. The show was created after a television executive from the local National Broadcasting Company (NBC) affiliate, WFBM-TV (now known as WRTV), saw her performance in The Chalk Garden in August 1958.[12] The program made her popular as an amiable host, and she subsequently received an award as a local businesswoman of the year.[12] By March 1959, though, national wire service reports indicated that she had separated from Mikesell and that he was suing her for breach of contract.Шаблон:Efn In 1959, Farmer moved in with Jeanira "Jean" Ratcliffe, a widow with whom she became good friends in Indianapolis.Шаблон:Sfn

In 1962, Farmer appeared in a Purdue University production of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull.[18] The following year, her divorce from Mikesell was finalized in Indianapolis.Шаблон:Sfn Frances Farmer Presents ended in the summer of 1964; the station's general manager had fired her in April, hired her back two months later, but then dismissed Farmer permanently in late August/early September, aggravated by her alleged drinking binges.Шаблон:Sfn Farmer continued her stage work and accepted a role in a Purdue Summer Theatre production of Ketti Frings's Look Homeward, Angel.[18] In 1965, she played Claire Zachanassian in Purdue's production of Friedrich Dürrenmatt's The Visit, which ran at the Loeb Playhouse on campus from October 22 to 30, 1965. The production has been described as follows:

Шаблон:Quote

During the production of The Visit, Farmer was involved in a drunk-driving crash.Шаблон:Sfn When confronted by police, she recalled: "Rather than answering as Frances Farmer, I reverted to my role in the play and [suddenly became] the richest woman in the world, shouting to high heaven that I would buy his goddamned town. I got out stiff-legged and ivory-handed, quoting all the imperious lines I could remember. Unfortunately, this did not [sit] well with the [cop], and a patrol car took me to jail."[12] Ironically, following reports of the incident in the media, the next night's performance of The Visit completely sold out. Farmer was very reluctant to return to the stage, but was encouraged by Ratcliffe; Farmer recounted the experience of the performance in her autobiography: "[T]here was a long silent pause as I stood there, followed by the most thunderous applause of my career. [The audience] swept the scandal under the rug with their ovation." It was "my finest and final performance. I knew I would never need to act onstage again. I felt satisfied and rewarded."Шаблон:Sfn

1965–1970: Final years

During the early and mid-1960s, Farmer was actress-in-residence at Purdue University, and spent the majority of her free time painting and writing poetry.Шаблон:Sfn She and Ratcliffe attempted to start a small cosmetics company, but although their products were successfully field-tested, the project failed after the man who handled their investment portfolio embezzled their funds.Шаблон:Sfn In 1968, she formally converted to Roman Catholicism, as she claimed to have felt God in her life and sensed that she "would have to find a disciplined avenue of faith and worship."Шаблон:Sfn She recounted her experience: Шаблон:Quote Farmer had a great affection for the Saint Joan of Arc church and attended services there regularly in her last years.[19] During this period, she also gave up drinking,Шаблон:Sfn and began considering writing an autobiography. She negotiated a collaboration with Lois Kibbee, who encouraged her to tape-record her life story.Шаблон:Sfn The experience was emotionally jarring for Farmer, specifically the revisiting of medical records from her institutionalization.Шаблон:Sfn The book went unfinished, but Ratcliffe used its manuscript in compiling Farmer's posthumously released autobiography, Will There Really Be a Morning?.Шаблон:Sfn

Death

In the spring of 1970, Farmer was diagnosed with esophageal cancer, which was attributed to a life of heavy smoking.Шаблон:Sfn She was hospitalized for three weeks before being sent home for a brief period.Шаблон:Sfn She died of the cancer at Indianapolis Community Hospital on August 1, 1970.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn She is interred at Oaklawn Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Fishers, Indiana.Шаблон:Sfn

Posthumous controversies

Allegations of psychiatric mistreatment

Шаблон:Anchor

Файл:Western State Hospital, Washington.png
The details of Farmer's confinement at Western State Hospital (pictured) were subject to significant controversy and discussion after her death.

In the years after Farmer's death, her treatment at Western State was the subject of serious discussion and speculation. Kenneth Anger included a chapter relating her breakdown in his 1965 work Hollywood Babylon. Farmer's posthumously published autobiography Will There Really Be a Morning? described a brutal incarceration. In the book, Farmer claimed she had been brutalized and mistreated in numerous ways. Some of the claims included being forced to eat her own fecesШаблон:Sfn and act as a sex slave for male doctors and orderlies. Farmer recounted her stay in the state asylum as "unbearable terror": "I was raped by orderlies, gnawed on by rats, and poisoned by tainted food. I was chained in padded cells, strapped into strait-jackets and half-drowned in ice baths."Шаблон:Sfn

Jean Ratcliffe, a close friend and companion of Farmer, arranged the publication of Will There Really Be a Morning?. Controversy exists over what portions of the book she edited or ghostwrote. Ratcliffe claimed she wrote only the final chapter about Farmer's death.[20]

Lobotomy claims

In 1978, Seattle film reviewer William Arnold published Shadowland, which for the first time alleged that Farmer had been the subject of a transorbital lobotomy.Шаблон:Sfn Scenes of Farmer being subjected to this lobotomy procedure were featured in the 1982 film Frances,Шаблон:Sfn which had initially been planned as an adaptation of Shadowland, though its producers ultimately reneged on their agreement with Arnold.[6] During a court case against the film's producers, Brooksfilms, Arnold revealed that the lobotomy episode and much of his biography was "fictionalized".[6] Years later, on a DVD commentary track of the movie, director Graeme Clifford said, "We didn't want to nickel-and-dime people to death with facts."[21]

Farmer's family, former lovers, and three ex-husbands all denied, or did not confirm, that the procedure took place.[12] Farmer's sister, Edith, said the hospital asked her parents' permission to perform the lobotomy, but her father was "horrified" by the notion and threatened legal action "if they tried any of their guinea-pig operations on her."Шаблон:Sfn Western State recorded all of the 300 lobotomies performed during Farmer's time there; no evidence has been found that Farmer received one.[6] In 1983, Seattle newspapers interviewed former hospital staff members, including all the lobotomy ward nurses who were on duty during Farmer's years at Western State, and they all said she was never a patient on that ward. Dr. Walter Freeman's private records contained no mention of Farmer. Charles Jones, a psychiatric resident at Western State during Farmer's stays, also said that Farmer never had a lobotomy.[22]

Writer Jeffrey Kauffmann published an extensive online essay, "Shedding Light on Shadowland", that debunks much of Arnold's book, including the account of the lobotomy.Шаблон:Sfn

In popular culture

In 1982, Jessica Lange portrayed Farmer in the feature film Frances; the film depicts Farmer undergoing a lobotomy, the veracity of which has been disputed.Шаблон:Sfn The next year, a television adaptation of Will There Really Be a Morning? was released with Susan Blakely as Farmer.[23] Another feature film based on her life, Committed, was produced in 1984.Шаблон:Sfn

In music, she is portrayed in the following songs:

French singer-songwriter Mylène Farmer chose her stage name in homage to the actress. She is mentioned in "Lobotomy Gets Them Home" (1989) on The Men They Couldn't Hang's album Silvertown. She was the subject of a stage play by Sally Clark, Saint Frances of Hollywood (1996).[25]

In the 2017 Netflix original series Mindhunter, the character version of Edmund Kemper erroneously says Farmer was lobotomized.[26]

Farmer was referenced in the 2022 "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" episode "Billy Jones and the Orgy Lamps" with a character's mental breakdown being described as "full-on Frances Farmer."[27]

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes Шаблон:Abbr
1936 Too Many Parents Sally Colman Шаблон:Sfn
1936 Border Flight Anne Blane Шаблон:Sfn
1936 Rhythm on the Range Doris Halliday Шаблон:Sfn
1936 Come and Get It Lotta Morgan/Lotta Bostrom Alternative title: Roaring Timber[28] Шаблон:Sfn
1937 Exclusive Vina Swain Шаблон:Sfn
1937 The Toast of New York Josie Mansfield Шаблон:Sfn
1937 Ebb Tide Faith Wishart Шаблон:Sfn
1938 Ride a Crooked Mile Trina Also known as: Escape from Yesterday and The Last Ride Шаблон:Sfn
1940 South of Pago Pago Ruby Taylor Шаблон:Sfn
1940 Flowing Gold Linda Chalmers Шаблон:Sfn
1941 World Premiere Kitty Carr Шаблон:Sfn
1941 Badlands of Dakota Calamity Jane Шаблон:Sfn
1941 Among the Living Elaine Raden Шаблон:Sfn
1942 Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake Isabel Blake Шаблон:Sfn
1943 I Escaped from the Gestapo Montage sequence Alternative title: No Escape (UK)[29] Шаблон:Sfn
1951 Studio One Episode: "They Serve The Muses" [30]
1951 Studio One Episode: "The Dangerous Years" [30]
1958 Playhouse 90 Val Schmitt Episode: "Reunion" Шаблон:Sfn
1958 Matinee Theatre Episode: "Something Stolen, Something Blue" Шаблон:Sfn
1958 Studio One Sarah Walker Episode: "Tongues of Angels" Шаблон:Sfn
1958 The Party Crashers Mrs. Bickford Шаблон:Sfn
1958–1964 Frances Farmer Presents Host Шаблон:Sfn
1959 Special Agent 7 Episode: "The Velvet Rope" [30]

Stage credits

Date(s) Title Role Notes Шаблон:Abbr
November 4, 1937Шаблон:En dashJune 1938 Golden Boy Lorna Moon 248 performances Шаблон:Sfn
April 16Шаблон:En dashApril 23, 1939 Quiet City Belasco Theatre Шаблон:Sfn
November 14Шаблон:En dashDecember 2, 1939 Thunder Rock Melanie Mansfield Theatre; 23 performances [31]
July 1957Шаблон:En dash1958 The Chalk Garden Miss Madrigal Bucks County Playhouse; touring production Шаблон:Sfn
March 8Шаблон:En dashMarch 16, 1963 The Seagull Madame Irina Trepleff Loeb Playhouse [32]
October 22Шаблон:En dashOctober 30, 1965 The Visit Claire Zachanassian Loeb Playhouse; 8 performances Шаблон:Sfn

See also

Notes

Шаблон:Noteslist

References

Шаблон:Reflist

Works cited

Шаблон:Refbegin

Шаблон:Refend

External links

Шаблон:Sisterlinks

Шаблон:Authority control

Партнерские ресурсы
Криптовалюты
Магазины
Хостинг
Разное

  1. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
  2. ↑ Shelley, Peter, 'Frances Farmer: The Life and Films of a Troubled Star', pp60-64
  3. ↑ Шаблон:Cite news
  4. ↑ Шаблон:Cite magazine Шаблон:Free access
  5. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
  6. ↑ 6,0 6,1 6,2 6,3 6,4 6,5 Шаблон:Cite web
  7. ↑ Шаблон:Cite news Шаблон:Free access
  8. ↑ Шаблон:Cite news
  9. ↑ Шаблон:Cite news Шаблон:Free access
  10. ↑ Шаблон:Cite news Шаблон:Free access
  11. ↑ 11,0 11,1 Шаблон:Cite news Шаблон:Free access
  12. ↑ 12,0 12,1 12,2 12,3 12,4 12,5 12,6 Шаблон:Cite web
  13. ↑ 13,0 13,1 Шаблон:Cite news Шаблон:Open access
  14. ↑ Шаблон:Cite news Шаблон:Open access
  15. ↑ Шаблон:Cite news Шаблон:Open access
  16. ↑ Шаблон:Cite news Шаблон:Free access
  17. ↑ Шаблон:Cite journal
  18. ↑ 18,0 18,1 Шаблон:Cite web
  19. ↑ Шаблон:Cite news
  20. ↑ Шаблон:Cite news
  21. ↑ Шаблон:Cite AV media
  22. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
  23. ↑ Шаблон:Cite news Шаблон:Free access
  24. ↑ Шаблон:Cite magazine
  25. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web Шаблон:Closed access
  26. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
  27. ↑ Шаблон:Cite news
  28. ↑ Шаблон:Cite news
  29. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
  30. ↑ 30,0 30,1 30,2 Шаблон:Cite book
  31. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
  32. ↑ Шаблон:Cite news Шаблон:Open access
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