biography
Born in San Jose, California, on July 1, 1925, actor Farley Granger was born into a wealthy family. His father owned a Willys-Overland auto dealership, but with
the onset of the Great Depression, the family's fortunes evaporated quickly. By the mid 1930s, the family had relocated to Los Angeles, living a far poorer
existence. While a high school student, he bagged groceries and acted in plays. Granger was spotted in a play when he was 17 and signed with Samuel Goldwyn
Studios to appear in the RKO drama The North Star (1943; with Anne Baxter and Dana Andrews). After his second film,
the 20th Century Fox war drama The Purple Heart (1944; with Dana Andrews and Richard
Conte), Granger enlisted in the Navy, spending most of these years in an entertainment unit in Hawaii that was headed by actor Maurice Evans. After
his discharge, Granger returned to Hollywood and his Goldwyn contract and was cast in an RKO film titled Thieves Like Us, directed by Nicholas Ray.
However, Howard Hughes purchased the studio around the time that production wrapped on the film, and Hughes shelved it for two years and retitled it They
Live By Night (1949; with Cathy O'Donnell). By chance Alfred Hitchcock saw a pre-release screening of Thieves Like Us and decided to cast Granger
in his film Rope (1948; with John Dall and James Stewart). 
LEFT: Early 1950s Goldwyn photo. RIGHT: Early 1970s photo of Farley GrangerFollowing the release of Rope, Granger's next few films were not pleasant experiences for him, and he refused to be loaned out to do a costume drama for Universal-International. As a consequence, Goldwyn placed the young actor on a suspension, which lasted for several months until Alfred Hitchcock asked to use Granger again in the thriller Strangers on a Train (1951; with Ruth Roman and Robert Walker). His subsequent films while under contract with Goldwyn were largely unsuccessful, so in 1953 he bought out the remainder of his contract. With no money coming in, he accepted a role in the Italian film Senso (1954) and acted in a couple of solid films for 20th Century Fox: The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing (1955; with Ray Milland and Joan Collins) and The Naked Street (1955; with Anthony Quinn, Anne Bancroft, and Peter Graves). Granger left Hollywood for the lure of the New York stage in 1955 in a bid to be a better actor, but he was greeted with a chilly reception. Finding little stage work, he studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse and worked in off-Broadway productions and summer stock theaters and supported himself with television appearances on Playhouse 90, Climax!, and other anthology TV series. |
the films of farley grangerRope (1948)
With James Stewart and John Dall in the Hitchcock thriller Rope. This film is comprised of ten takes, some lasting as long as ten minutes, and was shot in 'real time'They Live By Night (1949)
Granger stars with Cathy O'Donnell in the RKO film noir release They Live By Night. This film was shot in 1947 and sat on the shelf for two years before being releasedEdge of Doom (1950)I Want You (1951)
With Ray Collins in the RKO drama I Want YouStrangers on a Train (1951)
From Alfred Hitchcock's thriller Strangers on a Train, released by Warner Bros. Pictured are Patricia Hitchcock, Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, and Leo G. CarrollBehave Yourself! (1951) 
LEFT: With Shelley Winters in the RKO comedy Behave Yourself!. RIGHT: With Lon Chaney Jr. and Glenn AndersThe Story of Three Loves (1953) 
From the Warner Bros. romance The Story of Three Loves. LEFT: With Zsa Zsa Gabor. RIGHT: With Leslie CaronO. Henry's Full House (1952)
Jeanne Craig and Farley Granger in the O. Henry tale The Gift of the Magi in the 20th Century Fox drama Full HouseSmall Town Girl (1953)
Promotional photo from the MGM musical romance Small Town Girl. Pictured are Farley Granger, Jane Powell, and Bobby VanThe Naked Street (1955)
From the film noir thriller The Naked Street with co-star Anne BancroftThe Girl in the Red Velvet Swing (1955)
Granger portrays Harry Kendall Thaw to Joan Collins' Evelyn Nesbit in the 20th Century Fox biopic The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing. Following the release of this film, Granger would not act in another film for 13 yearsBob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre (1963-1967 NBC TV Series)
With Julie Harris in an episode of the NBC anthology series Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre titled Nightmare, which originally aired in September 1966Laura (1968)
With Lee Bouvier in a still from the ABC TV movie Laura. Bouvier was the sister of Jacqueline KennedyArnold (1973)
With Stella Stevens in the black comedy ArnoldThe Man Called Noon (1973)
From the spaghetti western The Man Called NoonWide World Mystery (1973-1976 ABC TV Series)
From a 1974 episode of the ABC TV anthology series Wide World Mystery titled The Haunting of Penthouse D with Tyne DalyWidow (1976)
With Michael Learned in the NBC TV movie Widowlater yearsWhile Farley Granger acted in several Broadway plays in the early 1960s, none was successful. So, in the late 1960s, Farley Granger started a comeback in television guest appearances. In the early 1970s, he went to Italy and made a string of films, including the spaghetti western comedy My Name Is Trinity (1971; with Terence Hill and Bud Spencer) and in several horror films, such as So Sweet, So Dead (1972; with Sylva Koscina) and Something Creeping in the Dark (1971; with Giacomo Rossi-Stuart). Granger also had roles on the TV soap operas One Life to Live and As the World Turns in the late 1970s and late 1980s. He retired from acting in the early 1990s.Granger, who was bisexual, had a longstanding off-and-on romance with Shelley Winters and was engaged to Janice Rule in the mid 1950s. He also had relationships with composer Leonard Bernstein and screen and play writer Arthur Laurents. Eventually, Granger found a more satisfying relationship with producer Robert Calhoun, with whom he lived from 1963 until Calhoun passed away in 2008. Despite the demise of his romantic relationship with Shelley Winters, she and Granger remained friends until the end of her life. Farley Granger passed away from natural causes on March 27, 2011, in Manhattan at the age of 85. He left no immediate survivors. |
filmographyFILM
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