Glenda Farrell
| Glenda Farrell | |
|---|---|
in the trailer for the film Havana Widows (1933)
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| Born | June 30, 1904 Enid, Oklahoma, U.S. |
| Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Cause of death | lung cancer |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1928–1969 |
| Spouse(s) | Thomas Richards (1921–1929) Dr. Henry Ross (1941–1971) |
| Children | Tommy Farrell |
Glenda Farrell (June 30, 1904 – May 1, 1971) was an American film actress, best known for her role as Torchy Blane in the 1930s film series.
Career
Farrell came to Hollywood towards the end of the silent era. She began her career with a theatrical company at the age of 7. She played the role of Little Eva in Uncle Tom's Cabin. She paused at times to continue her education but appeared with a number of theatrical companies and in several Broadway productions.
She was in the cast of Cobra and The Best People with actress Charlotte Treadway, at the Morosco Theater in Los Angeles, California, in 1925.
Farrell was first signed to a long-term contract by First National Pictures in July 1930. She was given the female lead in Little Caesar directed by Mervyn Leroy.
Warner Brothers signed her to re-create on film the role she played in Life Begins on Broadway. Farrell worked on parts in twenty movies in her first year with the studio. She came to personify the wise-cracking, hard-boiled, and somewhat dizzy blonde of the early talkies, along with fellow Warner Brothers brassy blonde, Joan Blondell, with whom she would be frequently paired.
Her brassy persona was used to great effect in Little Caesar (1931) opposite Edward G. Robinson, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932) opposite Paul Muni, Havana Widows (1933) with Blondell,"Mary Stevens, M.D." (1933) with Kay Francis, Gambling Ship (1933) opposite Cary Grant, Bureau of Missing Persons (1933) opposite Pat O'Brien, Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933) opposite Lionel Atwill and Fay Wray, and The Big Shakedown (1934) with Charles Farrell and Bette Davis.
She became one of Warner Brothers’ most prolific actresses of the 1930s, solidifying her success with her own film series, as Torchy Blane, "Girl Reporter". In this role, Farrell was promoted as being able to speak 400 words in 40 seconds. Farrell would portray Torchy Blane in seven films, from 1937 to 1939. (Lola Lane played the role once in 1938, and Jane Wyman took it over for the final Torchy film, in 1939.)
In 1937 she starred opposite Dick Powell and Joan Blondell in the Academy Award nominated Lloyd Bacon and Busby Berkeley directed musical comedy Gold Diggers of 1937.
When her Warner Brothers contact expired in 1939 she opted to focus on her stage career once again. She said that working in plays gave her more of a sense of individuality whereas in films, "...you get frustrated because you feel you have no power over what you're doing."
Farrell went out of vogue in the 1940s but made a comeback later in life, appearing in Secret of the Incas (1954), the Charlton Heston adventure epic upon which Raiders of the Lost Ark was based a quarter century later,[1] and winning an Emmy Award in 1963, for her work in the television series Ben Casey. She made a guest appearance in a 5th season episode (1964) of the television series Bonanza in the role of Lulabelle 'Looney' Watkins, who helped out the character Hoss. She was appearing on Broadway in Forty Carats in 1969 when she was diagnosed with lung cancer. She remained with the show until ill health forced her departure in November 1970.
Glenda Farrell has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to Motion Pictures, at 6524 Hollywood Boulevard.
Personal life
Farrell was born to Charles and Wilhelmina "Minnie" Farrell of Irish and German descent in Enid, Oklahoma, and she had two brothers named Richard and Gene. Her son with her first husband Thomas Richards was B-Western "sidekick" actor Tommy Farrell. She dated Hollywood film writer Robert Riskin in the early 1930s and married Jack Durant of the Mitchell and Durant vaudeville team in June 1931.[2] In 1941 Farrell became the wife of Dr. Henry Ross,[3] a West Point graduate and Army physician who served on General Eisenhower's staff.[4] In 1971, she died from lung cancer, aged 66, at her home in New York City and was interred in the West Point Cemetery, West Point, New York.[5] When Ross, who did not remarry, died in 1991, he was buried with her.[4]
Filmography
References
- Burlington, North Carolina Daily Times-News, Hollywood Gossip, March 29, 1934, Page 8.
- Long Beach, California Press-Telegram, Film and Drama, June 22, 1952, Page 31.
- Los Angeles Times, Studio and Stage, May 29, 1925, Page A7.
- Los Angeles Times, Glenda Farrell Praised for Art in Best People, October 4, 1925, Page 23.
- Los Angeles Times, Stage Star To Play In Films, July 9, 1930, Page A12.
- Van Neste, Dan. Glenda Farrell, Diamond in the Rough Classic Images May, 1998.[6]
- 1930 United States Federal Census, April 15, 1930, Enumeration District 19-30, Sheet 15-A.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Actress To Wed In June, March 11, 1931, Page 11.
- ↑ Valparaiso, Indiana. Vidette-Messenger, Glenda To Wed, February 6, 1941, Page 5.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ European Stars and Stripes, Actress Glenda Farrell Dies in N.Y. at Age 67, May 3, 1971, Page 6.
- ↑ http://www.classicimages.com/1998/may98/may98.html
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.. |
- Glenda Farrell at the Internet Movie Database
- Glenda Farrell at the Internet Broadway DatabaseLua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 28: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
- Glenda Farrell at AllMovie
- Glenda Farrell at Hollywood.com
- Literature on Glenda Farrell
- Glenda Farrell papers, 1929-1972 (bulk 1930s-1940s), held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
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- Articles with hCards
- American stage actresses
- American film actresses
- American television actresses
- Actresses from Oklahoma
- American people of German descent
- American people of Irish descent
- Deaths from lung cancer
- People from Enid, Oklahoma
- Cancer deaths in New York
- Burials at West Point Cemetery
- 1904 births
- 1971 deaths
- Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Primetime Emmy Award winners
- Warner Bros. contract players
- 20th-century American actresses
