38 Facts About Farley Granger

Farley Granger's career started in the 1940s and spanned a total of seven decades.

Farley Granger was prominent during the "Golden age of Hollywood" cinema.

Farley Granger would describe this as his happiest film-making experience, and was deeply saddened by Walker's death shortly after shooting.

Farley Granger has appeared on stage, film and television well into his 70s.

Farley Granger's work ranged from classical drama on Broadway to several Italian-language films and major documentaries about Hollywood.

Farley Granger lived at 1185 Hanchett Avenue in the Hanchett Residence Park neighborhood.

The family settled in a small apartment in a seedy part of Hollywood, and Farley Granger's parents worked at various temporary jobs.

At his office, Farley Granger's father became acquainted with comedian Harry Langdon, who advised him to take his son to a small local theatre where open auditions for The Wookie, a British play about Londoners struggling to survive during World War II, were being held.

Farley Granger auditioned for producer Goldwyn, screenwriter Lillian Hellman and director Lewis Milestone.

Farley Granger enjoyed working with director Milestone and fellow cast members Dana Andrews, Anne Baxter, Walter Brennan and Jane Withers, and during filming he met composer Aaron Copland, who remained a friend in later years.

Farley Granger became a close friend of supporting cast member Sam Levene, a character actor from New York City who took him under his wing.

Farley Granger was startled to discover he was attracted to both men and women equally, and in his memoir he observed,.

Farley Granger returned to civilian life and was pleased to discover his parents had curbed their drinking and were treating each other more civilly.

Farley Granger was in New York when he was summoned to return to Hollywood and discuss Rope with Hitchcock.

The night before their initial meeting, Farley Granger coincidentally met Arthur Laurents, who had written the film's screenplay, which was based on the 1929 play Rope's End by Patrick Hamilton, a fictionalized account of the Leopold and Loeb murder case of 1924.

Farley Granger declined, but when the offer was extended again several days later, he accepted.

In November 1949 Farley Granger, who had two years to go on his contract with Goldwyn, signed a new five-year contract with the producer.

Goldwyn cancelled the nationwide openings of the latter, hoping to salvage it by adding wraparound scenes that would change the focus of the film, and Farley Granger refused to promote it any further.

The project was Strangers on a Train, in which Farley Granger was cast as tennis player and aspiring politician Guy Haines.

Farley Granger is introduced to psychopathic Bruno Anthony, portrayed by Robert Walker, who suggests they swap murders, with Bruno killing Guy's wife and Guy disposing of Bruno's father.

On December 31,1950, Farley Granger picked up close friend Shelley Winters to escort her to Sam Spiegel's traditional New Year's Eve gala.

Once there, they went their separate ways, and Farley Granger met Ava Gardner.

Winters subscribed to the concept of method acting, but Farley Granger felt an actor "had to be faithful to the text, not adapt it to some personal sense memory," and their disagreement triggered more arguments.

Farley Granger thought the screenplay by Irwin Shaw was "not only dull, but felt dated," but welcomed the opportunity to work with Dana Andrews and Dorothy McGuire.

Goldwyn expected the film to be as successful as The Best Years of Our Lives, but it proved to be as "tepid and old-fashioned" as Farley Granger feared and, opening after cease-fire negotiations with Korea had begun, no longer topical, and it died at the box office.

Eager to work with Vincente Minnelli, Farley Granger accepted a role opposite Leslie Caron and Ethel Barrymore in Mademoiselle, one of three segments in the 1953 MGM film The Story of Three Loves.

Unhappy with the direction his career was taking, Farley Granger sought solace with Shelley Winters, who was separated from Vittorio Gassman, and the two friends resumed their love affair, which at one point nearly had culminated in marriage.

Farley Granger was determined to move to Manhattan to study acting and perform on stage, but his agent convinced him to accept a role in Senso, directed by Luchino Visconti and co-starring Alida Valli.

Farley Granger finally returned to Hollywood exhausted but happy about the experience.

Farley Granger was featured in episodes of Climax Mystery Theater, Ford Television Theatre, The 20th Century Fox Hour, Robert Montgomery Presents, Playhouse 90, Wagon Train, Kraft Television Theatre, The United States Steel Hour, and The Bell Telephone Hour, and in later years Get Smart, Run for Your Life, Ironside, The Name of the Game and Hawaii Five-O, among others.

In 1959, Farley Granger returned to Broadway as Fitzwilliam Darcy opposite Polly Bergen as Elizabeth Bennet in First Impressions, a musical adaptation of Pride and Prejudice with a book and direction by Abe Burrows.

Farley Granger accepted an invitation from Eva Le Gallienne to join her National Repertory Theatre.

Farley Granger had become a close friend of production supervisor Robert Calhoun, and although both had felt a mutual attraction, they never had discussed it.

Farley Granger finally achieved some success on Broadway in The Seagull, The Crucible, The Glass Menagerie, and Deathtrap.

Farley Granger starred opposite Barbara Cook in a revival of The King and I at the off-Broadway New York City Center, and in 1979 he was cast in the Roundabout Theatre Company production of A Month in the Country.

In 2003, Farley Granger made his last film appearance in Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There.

Farley Granger died of natural causes in his Manhattan apartment on March 27,2011, at age 85.

Farley Granger's body was cremated and his ashes given to family after a service at The Riverside restaurant.