FARLEY GRANGER BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

Farley Granger was born on July 1st, 1925 in San Jose, California with the birth name, Farley Earle Granger II to parents, Farley Earle Granger and Eva H. Granger.  His father was quite wealthy and owned Willys-Overland automobile dealership.  Sadly, when the stock market crashed, it left the family with almost no financial support and they were forced to change the way they were used to living.   His family soon picked up and relocated to Los Angeles in search for a new beginning.

Grangers parents were both heavily into alcohol use and their marriage was struggling.  His parents hoped that maybe he could help them financially.  They enrolled him in a dance academy to take up tap dancing at Ethel Meglin's studio.  His father also followed the advice to take Granger to a local theatre and have him audition for a play titled, "The Wookie".  Granger got the part and put on such a good performance that on opening night two major talent agents in the industry, Phil Gersh and Samuel Goldwyn were highly intrigued by Granger.

Granger was a senior in High School and was approached by Goldwyn and Hersh and they cast him in, for a small role in a film titled, "The North Star" (1943).  The following year after completing school, Granger was loaned to 20th Century Fox and cast in the film, "The Purple Heart" (1944). 

Granger then took a brief break from acting and joined the United States Navy during World War II.   Upon his release, he went straight back to acting and was relieved to find out his parents had improved on their alcohol addiction and things were looking up for his family.  He worked on the low budget film, "They Live By Night" (1949) which was first released in London, but received such high reviews that then it was brought to the United States.    

Goldwyn, then contacted him again and offered him a five year contract.  Under his new contract he was cast in several films such as, "Rope" (1948), "Enchantment" (1948), "Roseanna McCoy" (1949), "Side Street" (1950) and "Strangers on a Train" (1951). 

In 1950, Granger was cast on two more films for Goldwyn, "Edge of Doom" and "Our Very Own", sadly these filming experiences were very unpleasant and after filming, Granger was under suspension and took a brief trip overseas.  A Couple months later, Goldwyn asked Granger to return to Hollywood to work on the film, "I Want You" (1951) Granger agreed, although he had doubts about the success of the film which turned out to be as he expected, a box office let down.  Granger was beginning to feel very disappointed with the direction his career was going, especially in the film industry.  He tried again to work with Goldwyn on another film, "Small Town Girl" (1953) which was a musical starring  Jane Powell and Ann Miller.  After this film completed and again, another not so successful film, Granger bought out his contract from Goldwyn so he could be free from that commitment.
 
This turned out to be a risky move as now he was in financial difficulty.  Luckily, his agent helped get him a role on a film being filmed in Italy so he took that part in the film, "Senso" (1954) and it turned out to be one of his best pieces of work.  Things were looking back up for him career wise and he worked on a couple more films offered to him from Darryl Zanuck, "The Naked Street" (1955) and "The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing" (1955).    

Granger did not limit his acting career to film alone, he was also very involved in television work and stage work.  In 1955 he was cast in a Broadway play called, "The Carefree Tree" and he joined the National Repertory Theatre and worked on Broadway on various productions, "The Seagull", "The Crucible" and "The Glass Menagerie".  He also did a television movie filmed in Italy called, "The Challengers" (1970) and "My Name is Trinity" (1970).  

Granger did return back to the big screen in the early 80's working on, "The Prowler" (1981) and "Death Mask" (1984).  One of his final films was in 2001 on, "The Next Big Thing".  

Granger also published an autobiography called, "Include me Out: My Life From Goldwyn to Broadway with Robert Calhoun".   Grangers final film appearance was in 2003 on, "Broadway: The Golden Age, by Legends Who Were There".  

For his contribution to television, Granger has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  Farley Granger passed away on July 10, 2010 at the age of eighty five.

Filmography

2001   The Next Big Thing
1990   Monsters 
1990   Murder, She Wrote 
1986   The Whoopee Boys  
1986   As the World Turns
1986   As the World Turns: 30th Anniversary
1986   The Imagemaker 
1986   Very Close Quarters 
1980-1984  The Love Boat
1984   Tales from the Darkside 
1984   Death Mask 
1981   The Prowler  
1979-1980  The Edge of Night 
1978   Black Beauty
1977   Pianeta Venere 
1976-1977  One Life to Live 
1976   Widow
1975   The Invisible Man 
1975   The Lives of Jenny Dolan
1975   Medical Story
1975   Matt Helm
1975   Ellery Queen
1974   Nakia
1974   The Six Million Dollar Man
1974   Wide World Mystery 
1974   La polizia chiede aiuto  
1974   Savage City 
1973   Arnold  
1973   Kill Me, My Love!  
1973   The Man Called Noon  
1973   The Serpent  
1972   So Sweet, So Dead 
1972   The Red Headed Corpse 
1972   Amuck  
1971   Something Is Crawling in the Dark  
1970   My Name Is Trinity  
1970   The Challengers 
1970   CBS Playhouse 
1970   La tela del ragno 
1970   Guerilla Strike Force 
1969   Hawaii Five-O 
1968   The Name of the Game 
1968   The Outsider 
1968   Insight 
1968   I Laura
1968   Rogues' Gallery  
1967   Get Smart
1967   Hondo
1967   Ironside 
1966-1967  Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre 
1966   Run for Your Life 
1961   The Heiress
1957-1961  The DuPont Show of the Month
1960   The Bell Telephone Hour
1960   Dow Hour of Great Mysteries 
1955-1958  The United States Steel Hour
1956-1957  Kraft Theatre
1957   Wagon Train 
1956-1957  Playhouse 90
1956-1957  Robert Montgomery Presents  
1957   Talent Scouts
1956   The 20th Century-Fox Hour
1956   The Ford Television Theatre
1956   Climax! 
1956   Producers' Showcase 
1955   The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing
1955   The Naked Street
1955   Schlitz Playhouse
1954   Senso
1953   Small Town Girl  
1953   The Story of Three Loves  
1952   Hans Christian Andersen  
1952   I Full House 
1951   I Want You  
1951   Behave Yourself!  
1951   Strangers on a Train 
1950   Edge of Doom 
1950   Our Very Own  
1950   Side Street 
1949   They Live by Night 
1949   Roseanna McCoy 
1948   Enchantment  
1948   Rope  
1944   The Purple Heart  
1943   The North Star