John Farrow

{{Short description|Australian film director (1904–1963)}}

{{Other people}}

{{Use American English|date=December 2012}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}

{{Infobox person

| name = John Farrow

| image = John Farrow 1934 crop.jpg

| caption = Farrow in 1934

| birth_name = John Villiers Farrow

| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1904|02|10}}

| birth_place = Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1963|01|27|1904|02|10}}

| death_place = Beverly Hills, California, US

| resting_place = Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City

| occupation = {{hlist|Director|producer|screenwriter}}

| spouse = {{plainlist|

}}

| partner = Lila Lee (1928–1933){{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=delCCgAAQBAJ&q=gertrude+robinson+james+kirkwood&pg=PT12|title = Ponies & Rainbows: The Life of James Kirkwood|last1 = Egan|first1 = Sean|date = December 2011}}

| children = 8, including Patrick, Mia, Prudence, and Tisa

| relatives = Ronan Farrow (grandson)

| yearsactive = 1927–1962

}}

John Villiers Farrow, KGCHS (10 February 1904{{spaced ndash}}27 January 1963)According to the State of California. California Death Index, 1940–1997. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California. Searchable at http://www.familytreelegends.com/records/caldeaths was an Australian film director, producer, and screenwriter. Spending a considerable amount of his career in the United States, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director in 1942 for Wake Island, and in 1957, he won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Around the World in Eighty Days. He had seven children by his wife, actress Maureen O'Sullivan, including actress Mia Farrow.{{cite news |last1=Buckmaster |first1=Luke |title=John Farrow: the star Australian director who Hollywood forgot |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/nov/09/john-farrow-the-star-australian-director-who-hollywood-forgot |access-date=9 November 2021 |work=The Guardian |date=8 November 2021}}

Early life

Farrow was born in Marrickville, a suburb of Sydney, Australia, the son of Lucy Villiers (née Savage; 1881–1907), a dressmaker, and Joseph Farrow (1880–1925), a tailor's trimmer. His parents were both of English descent.{{cite web|date=9 March 2016|title=Mia Farrow's Interactive Family Tree|url=https://www.pbs.org/weta/finding-your-roots/blog/mia-farrows-interactive-family-tree|url-status=dead|access-date=16 June 2016|publisher=PBS|archive-date=17 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160617213225/http://www.pbs.org/weta/finding-your-roots/blog/mia-farrows-interactive-family-tree/}} Farrow was educated at Newtown Public School and Fort Street Boys' High School, and then started a career in accountancy.

He claimed to have run away to sea in an American barquentine, sailed "all over the Pacific", and fought in revolts in Nicaragua and Mexico. Reaching California, he enrolled at St. Ignatius College (later known as the University of San Francisco) in 1923, but left after one month.{{Cite Australian Dictionary of Biography|last=Hazlehurst |first=Cameron|title=John Villiers Farrow (1904–1963)|volume=14|year=1996|id2=farrow-john-villiers-10158|access-date=15 October 2010}}

He travelled throughout the Pacific, including Fiji, Hawaii, and Guam. On arrival in Hollywood, Farrow fabricated his education, saying he had attended Newington College in Sydney, Australia (he lived in a street below its ovals), Winchester College in England, and the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Many publications and websites still contain this misinformation.[https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/60055%7C85651/john-farrow#biography Profile], Tcm.com; retrieved 3 May 2014. [https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/60055%7C85651/john-farrow#biography]

Writer

Farrow started writing while working as a sailor, and became interested in screenwriting after a chance voyage in the South Seas with the filmmaker Robert J. Flaherty. Re-entering the United States, allegedly by jumping ship at San Francisco, he found his way to Hollywood, where from 1927, his nautical expertise brought him work as a script consultant and technical adviser. He had already earned minor recognition as a poet and writer of short stories.

He soon established himself as a notable screenwriter.{{cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article64267083|title=Motion Picture Stars|newspaper=Portland Guardian|location=Vic.|date=20 September 1928|access-date=3 March 2012|page=5|edition=EVENING|via=National Library of Australia}} He worked for DeMille Productions, doing titles for White Gold (1927) and The Wreck of the Hesperus (1927).{{cite news|author=Kingsley, G. |date=3 June 1927|title=New Twin Laugh-Pagers|work=Los Angeles Times|id={{ProQuest|162067891}}}}

He adapted Richard Connell's 1923 short story "A Friend of Napoleon",{{Cite news|title=French actress has major role in gish picture|date=27 February 1927|work=Los Angeles Times|id={{ProQuest|162029030}}}} but it does not appear to have been made. He also wrote the original story for The Blue Danube (1928) and the script for The Bride of the Colorado (1929). At Warner Bros., he wrote A Sailor's Sweetheart (1927) for director Lloyd Bacon.

=Paramount and RKO=

At Paramount, Farrow worked a series of "woman's pictures": Three Weekends (1928) with Clara Bow, The Woman from Moscow (1928) for Pola Negri, The First Kiss (1928) with Fay Wray and Gary Cooper, and Ladies of the Mob (1929) with Bow. At that studio, he also made The Showdown (1928), The Four Feathers (1929), The Wheel of Life (1929), A Dangerous Woman (1929), and Wolf Song (1929) with Gary Cooper.

He wrote The Bad One (1930) for United Artists. Shadow of the Law (1930) and Seven Days' Leave (1930) (with Cooper) were for Paramount.

Farrow began to work increasingly at RKO: Inside the Lines (1930); The Common Law (1931) with Constance Bennett, and a big hit - A Woman of Experience (1931) with Helen Twelvetrees.

=Britain=

He compiled an English-French-Tahitian dictionary and wrote a novel, Laughter Ends (1933). In 1932, he went to England, where he wrote The Impassive Footman (1932) for Basil Dean. He worked as a writer and assistant director on G. W. Pabst's film Don Quixote (1933), and briefly visited Tahiti again.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article35186298 |title=Letter from London. |newspaper=The Advertiser |location=Adelaide |date=17 December 1932 |access-date=3 March 2012 |page=9 |via=National Library of Australia}}

=Return to Hollywood and arrest=

Farrow returned to Hollywood and re-established himself as a screenwriter. On 27 January 1933, while dancing at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub, he was arrested for breach of his visa, as part of a general crackdown against illegal immigrants in the film industry.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article59387623 |title=Australian Arrested In Film Raid. |newspaper=The Mail |location=Adelaide |date=28 January 1933 |access-date=3 March 2012 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}} Farrow was charged with making a false statement while entering the US, having claimed he was Romanian.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16951989 |title=General Cable News. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=10 February 1933 |access-date=3 March 2012 |page=10 |via=National Library of Australia}} Although threatened with deportation, eventually he was given five years' probation,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article24714912 |title=U.S.A. Immigration. |newspaper=The Mercury |location=Hobart, Tasmania |date=29 March 1933 |access-date=3 March 2012 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}} before being acquitted of the charges the following year.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article24903052 |title=U.S.A. Immigration. |newspaper=The Mercury |location=Hobart, Tasmania |date=11 January 1934 |access-date=3 March 2012 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}}

At MGM, Farrow wrote Last of the Pagans (1935), partly set in Tahiti, and directed a short, "The Spectacle Maker" (1934). He received a plum appointment to work on Tarzan Escapes (1936), but the film was subsequently rewritten and reshot.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article30126759 |title=Pictures and Personalities. |newspaper=The Mercury |location=Hobart, Tasmania |date=5 December 1936 |access-date=3 March 2012 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}

Film director

=Warner Bros.=

In 1930, Farrow was announced as directing his own story, First Love, but this did not materialise.{{cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article75488873 |title=Around The Film Exchanges|newspaper=The Mirror|location=Perth|date=27 December 1930|access-date=3 March 2012|page=6|via=National Library of Australia}} He signed to Warner Bros. in 1936, looking to direct, and was linked with a number of projects, including a Foreign Legion story and an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's 1842 short story "The Pit and the Pendulum".{{cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article74354179|title=Hollywood Roundabout|newspaper=The Advertiser|location=Adelaide|date=8 May 1937|access-date=3 March 2012|page=13|via=National Library of Australia}} Farrow finally made his directorial debut in 1937 with Men in Exile, a remake of Safe in Hell (1931).

Following this, he accompanied his wife, Maureen O'Sullivan, to Europe, where she was making A Yank at Oxford (1938), lectured on Father Damien, about whom Farrow had written a book (published in 1937), and received a papal knighthood.{{cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article55070334|title=Studio Gossip|newspaper=The Mail|location=Adelaide|date=30 October 1937|access-date=3 March 2012|page=2 Supplement: Ginger Meggs|via=National Library of Australia}}

On his return to Hollywood, Farrow resumed working as a B-picture director for Warner Bros., with West of Shanghai (1937) with Boris Karloff and She Loved a Fireman (1937) with Dick Foran and Ann Sheridan. He was reunited with Karloff in The Invisible Menace (1938), then made Little Miss Thoroughbred (1938) with John Litel and Sheridan, the first film for Peggy Ann Garner.{{cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47217538 |title=A talented twelve-year-old|newspaper=The Australian Women's Weekly|date=30 September 1944|access-date=3 March 2012|page=10 Section: Movie World|via=National Library of Australia}}

Farrow followed this with Broadway Musketeers (1938) with Margaret Lindsay and Sheridan (a remake of a 1932 drama, Three on a Match), and My Bill (1938) with Kay Francis, the first of Francis' B movies for Warner Bros. He did some uncredited work on Comet Over Broadway (1938), starring Francis, when director Busby Berkeley fell ill.

Farrow left his contract for a number of months, ostensibly to finish a book he was writing on the history of the papacy, and also due to disputes over the script for his next film, another starring Kay Francis, Women in the Wind (1939).{{cite news|title=Screen News: Edward Small Plans to Make 'The Maginot Line'--Louis Hayward Will Be Star|newspaper=The New York Times|date=28 September 1938|page= 29}}

=RKO=

Farrow re-emerged as a contract director for RKO,{{cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article55909285|title=Film Folk and Talkie Shots|newspaper=The Mail|location=Adelaide|date=4 February 1939|access-date=3 March 2012|page=2 Supplement: Talkie news|via=National Library of Australia}} directing the highly profitable The Saint Strikes Back (1939), the second in the "Saint" series and the first to star George Sanders in the lead. He followed it with Sorority House (1939), from a script by Dalton Trumbo and produced by Robert Sisk. RKO then announced Farrow would direct a film version of the director's book Damien the Leper produced by Sisk and starring Joseph Calleia,{{Cite news|title='Damien The Leper' Purchased By RKO|date=17 May 1939|work=The New York Times|id={{ProQuest|102931063}}}} but it was never made. Instead, he directed Five Came Back (1939), which although a B-movie, became a surprise hit and received excellent reviews.

"I deliberately set out to become the damnedest commercial director in the business", he said later. "The only way to get anywhere in Hollywood is to make money pictures. Then, you can get some measure of respect and authority from the studio bosses, and little by little you get to do more of the things you want to do."{{cite news|author=Thomas F. Brady|title=Alarum In Hollywood: Varied Viewpoints Studio Jottings From Hollywood Questioned by the Code Title Furor Cinecolor Up|work=The New York Times|date=13 October 1946|page=65}}

Farrow went on to direct Full Confession (1939) with Victor McLaglen, Reno (1939), Married and in Love (1940), and A Bill of Divorcement (1940) - a remake of the 1932 Katharine Hepburn film, with Maureen O'Hara in the lead. All these films were produced by Sisk. Bill of Divorcement was Farrow's first A-movie as director.

=War service=

Despite his flourishing career and recently having become a father for the first time, Farrow was keen to be involved in World War II. He went to Vancouver in November 1939 and enlisted in the Royal Canadian Navy.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48848118 |title=War News in Brief. |newspaper=The Advertiser |location=Adelaide |date=8 November 1939 |access-date=3 March 2012 |page=20 |via=National Library of Australia}} He went back to RKO to finish Bill of Divorcement, then joined the navy. RKO promised to hold his job when he returned.{{Cite news|author=Schallert, E.|title='Baron of colorados' now robinson feature.|date=25 March 1940|work=Los Angeles Times|id={{ProQuest|165024828}}}}

Farrow was appointed lieutenant in March 1940, and was assigned to Naval History and the Controller of Information unit. He worked on antisubmarine patrols, and in April 1941, was lrnt to the Royal Navy and appointed to HMS Goshawk naval base in Trinidad, and served as assistant to the Senior British Naval Officer, Curaçao. He contracted typhus fever and returned to Naval Headquarters, Ottawa, in late 1941.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17666966 |title=General Cable News. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=22 March 1940 |access-date=3 March 2012 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}}

He was to direct a Canadian war film starring his wife, Maureen O'Sullivan, while on leave, but this did not happen.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47116982 |title=Hollywood has its patriots... |newspaper=The Australian Women's Weekly | date=5 October 1940 |access-date=3 March 2012 |page=21 Section: The Movie World |via=National Library of Australia}}

Farrow was invalided out of the Royal Canadian Navy with typhus in January 1942 at the rank of commander, but remained in the naval reserve.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article55867285|title=Films You'll Be Seeing Soon.|newspaper=The Mail|location=Adelaide|date=29 May 1943|access-date=3 March 2012|page=12|via=National Library of Australia}} He was gravely ill when he returned, but was nursed back to health by his wife. His illness meant he was unable to return to active service.{{Cite news|author=L. O.|title=Farrow puts his experience into pictures|date=31 January 1943|newspaper=The Washington Post|id={{ProQuest|151664139}}}}

=Paramount=

Farrow resumed his directing career at Paramount, whose head of production, Buddy de Sylva, had been impressed by Five Came Back and offered Farrow a contract.{{Cite news|author=Schallert, E.|title=DRAMA.|date=9 February 1942|work=Los Angeles Times|id={{ProQuest|165314488}}}} For the first time, Farrow was directing nothing but A movies. The association began brilliantly with Wake Island (1942), which earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Director, and was one of the year's biggest hits.

Farrow followed it with another war film shot in Canada for Columbia, Commandos Strike at Dawn (1942), which also proved popular. China (1943), with Alan Ladd and Loretta Young, was another big hit.{{Cite news|title=Town Called Hollywood|author=Scheuer, Philip K.|date=8 November 1942|work=Los Angeles Times|page=C3}}

In February 1943, Farrow signed a long-term contract with Paramount.{{Cite news|title=Drama: 'Outlaw' Stars to Tour; 'Army' Eligibles Named|author=challert, Edwin|work=Los Angeles Times|date=6 February 1943|page=A7}} In July 1943, he served as technical consultant for the proposed Royal Canadian Navy show. He directed The Hitler Gang (1944), Two Years Before the Mast (filmed 1944, not released until 1946) with Ladd, and You Came Along (1945), from a script co-written by Ayn Rand.

In May 1945, Farrow was briefly recalled to active duty, travelling to Britain for work in connection with the director of special services.[http://www.navalandmilitarymuseum.org/resource_pages/chars/farrow.html John Farrow: "Commander Hollywood", CFB Esquimalt Naval & Military Museum] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120208045845/http://www.navalandmilitarymuseum.org/resource_pages/chars/farrow.html |date=8 February 2012 }}{{cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article59333385|title=Hollywood's New Romantic Team.|newspaper=Sunday Times|location=Perth|date=6 May 1945|access-date=3 March 2012|page=4 Section: The Sunday Times Comics|via=National Library of Australia}} Shortly after, he made Calcutta (1947) with Ladd, though it was not released until two years later, to strong box-office receipts.

Two Years Before the Mast, released in 1946, became the tenth-most popular movie of the year. In 1946, Farrow was reportedly writing a biography of Junípero Serra, but it appears to have never been made.{{Cite news|title=John farrow to pen life of padre serra|date=14 April 1946|work=Los Angeles Times|id={{ProQuest|165676503}}}}

Ladd was meant to star in Farrow's California (1947), but dropped out over money and was replaced by Ray Milland; it was a big hit. Less popular were two films with Sonny Tufts: Blaze of Noon (1947), about flyers, and Easy Come, Easy Go (1947), with Barry Fitzgerald.

Farrow became an American citizen in July 1947.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18034852 |title=John Farrow Now U.S. Citizen. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=14 July 1947 |access-date=3 March 2012 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}

=Film noir and westerns=

In 1947, Farrow made one of his most highly regarded films, the noir The Big Clock (1948) with Ray Milland and O'Sullivan. He was reunited with Ladd for a military drama, Beyond Glory (1948), then returned to noir with Night Has a Thousand Eyes (1948), starring Edward G. Robinson from a Cornell Woolrich novel, and Alias Nick Beal (1949), with Milland.

As a change of pace, he produced and directed a comedy with Betty Hutton, Red, Hot and Blue (1949), followed by a popular Western with Milland, Copper Canyon (1950). Farrow did some uncredited work on the Alan Ladd Western, Red Mountain (1951), when William Dieterle fell ill. He also published a history of the papacy, Pageant of the Popes (1950).

For Howard Hughes at RKO, he directed Robert Mitchum in a noir, Where Danger Lives (1950). Hughes liked Farrow's work enough to hire him again for His Kind of Woman (1951), also with Mitchum, although the film was extensively reshot by Richard Fleischer.

Back at Paramount, he made Submarine Command (1951) with William Holden. He wound up his contract with a final movie with Ladd, Botany Bay (1952), a half-successful attempt to repeat Two Years Before the Mast. It was one of his few movies to have a connection to his native Australia.{{cite web|website=Filmink|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|title=Ten Stories About Australian Screenwriters You Might Not Know|date=29 September 2019|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/ten-stories-australian-screenwriters-might-not-know/}}

=Freelancer =

Farrow directed Robert Taylor and Ava Gardner in the MGM Western, Ride, Vaquero! (1953), which was a hit. He made two produced by John Wayne for Wayne's company, Batjac: Plunder of the Sun (1953), an adventure story with Glenn Ford, and Hondo (1953) with Wayne, from a story by Louis L'Amour; the latter especially was popular at the box office.

He made A Bullet Is Waiting (1954) at Columbia, then he had another big hit with Wayne, The Sea Chase (1955), where Wayne played a German sea captain in World War II. The early part of the film was set in Sydney, although not filmed there.

Farrow was the original director of Around the World in 80 Days (1956), but was fired by producer Michael Todd shortly after filming commenced, but Farrow remained credited for his contribution to the screenplay, which won an Oscar in 1956.{{Cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/67646/around-the-world-in-80-days#notes|title=Around the World in 80 Days notes|website=Turner Classic Movies}}

He also published a collection of poetry and a biography of Sir Thomas More.

=RKO=

Farrow signed a three-picture deal with RKO.{{Cite news|author=Scheuer, P. K.|title=Drama.|date=3 January 1956|work=Los Angeles Times|id={{ProQuest|166898306}}}} He only made two of them, neither successful: Back from Eternity (1956), a remake of Five Came Back, and The Unholy Wife (1957), a failed attempt to launch Diana Dors to US audiences.

=Samuel Bronston=

He received an offer from Samuel Bronston to make two films, a biography of John Paul Jones and a story of the life of Jesus Christ, which Farrow had been trying to make for years. He directed the first one – John Paul Jones. He was replaced as director, though, on the second by Nicholas Ray; it was released as King of Kings (1961).

Personal life

File:O'Sullivan Farrow CM1236.jpg

Farrow was a notorious playboy in his youth, being linked to Dolores del Río and Diana Churchill{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article46669925 |title=Secret Marriage Denial. |newspaper=The Barrier Miner |location=Broken Hill, NSW |date=25 October 1932 |access-date=3 March 2012 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}} among others.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article37690137 |title=Screen Shorts. |newspaper=Western Mail |location=Perth |date=27 November 1930 |access-date=3 March 2012 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}} He married Felice Lewin on 18 August 1924. They had one daughter, Felice Patricia Farrow (1925–1997). The marriage ended in divorce in September 1927. Farrow began a relationship with Lila Lee in 1928, and they became engaged.{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IPcKAQAAMAAJ&q=lila+lee+John+farrow|title=Motion Picture|date=February 1933}} However, they never married and their relationship ended in 1933 after Lee discovered Farrow was being unfaithful to her.

In 1934, he became engaged to actress Maureen O'Sullivan{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17134069 |title=Australian Scenario Writer. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=27 September 1934 |access-date=3 March 2012 |page=11 Supplement: Women's Supplement |via=National Library of Australia}} and they married on 12 September 1936, after he converted to Catholicism and received an annulment of his first marriage.{{cite news |date=7 September 1936 |title=General Cable News. |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17275744 |access-date=3 March 2012 |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |page=12 |via=National Library of Australia}} Farrow and O'Sullivan had seven children: four daughters, who became actresses, Mia (born 1945), Prudence (born 1948), Stephanie (born 1949), Tisa (1951-2024); and three sons, Michael Damien (1939–1958), Patrick Villiers (1942–2009), and John Charles (born 1946).{{cite web |url=http://www.familytreelegends.com/records/39461 |title=California Births 1905–1995 |publisher=Familytreelegends.com |access-date=2016-06-16 |archive-date=27 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110427102456/http://www.familytreelegends.com/records/39461 |url-status=dead }}

Farrow often wrote about Catholic themes.{{Cite news|author=Thrapp, D. L.|title=Film man's life is epic of sea, faith|date=29 April 1956|work=Los Angeles Times|id={{ProQuest|166928355}}}} He would later deny he was a convert to Catholicism. He claimed that he had been baptised as an infant by his Irish nurse. He was not raised Catholic, and did not learn of his infant baptism until after his 1929 adult baptism.Unpublished letter dated Oct 3, 1939

Death

John Farrow died of a heart attack{{Cite web|url=http://www.pbs.org/weta/finding-your-roots/about/season-6-episode-guide/episode-1/|title = Hollywood Royalty|website = PBS}} in Beverly Hills, California on 27 January 1963 at the age of 58, and was buried in the Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City.

Awards and honours

  • Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre by Pope Pius XI in 1937
  • Oscar nomination and New York Film Critics Circle Award for directing Wake Island (1942)
  • Order of St John of Jerusalem 1951{{cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18498841|title=£3 A Week Waitress To Star?|newspaper=The Sunday Herald|location=Sydney|date=4 February 1951|access-date=3 March 2012|page=4 Supplement: Sunday Herald Features|via=National Library of Australia}}
  • Honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1953.{{cite web | url=https://navalandmilitarymuseum.org/archives/articles/characters/john-farrow/ | title=John Farrow | date=8 January 2020 }}
  • Oscar and Writers Guild of America Award for his adapted screenplay for Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
  • His star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is located at 6304 Hollywood Blvd.

Australian connection

As one of the few high-profile Australians in Hollywood during the 1930s, Farrow's activities were well covered by the Australian media. He accepted the Oscar won by the Australian documentary Kokoda Front Line! (1943),{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47225895 |title=Flag dipped to honor film servicemen. |newspaper=The Australian Women's Weekly | date=20 March 1943 |access-date=3 March 2012 |page=19 |via=National Library of Australia}} met Australian Senator Richard Keane, the Minister for Trade and Customs, when he visited Hollywood during the war{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article61949072 |title=Minister's U.S.A. Visit Emphasised Australia's Lack of Representation |newspaper=Townsville Daily Bulletin |location=Qld. |date=22 January 1945 |access-date=3 March 2012 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}} and offered to assist in the establishment of the Australian Information Service in the US.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article55862685 |title=Australia Blows Hard on its Publicity Tin Trumpet. |newspaper=The Mail |location=Adelaide |date=7 April 1945 |access-date=3 March 2012 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}} He also often expressed a desire to make a film back in Australia{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11355731 |title=Kennedys Home From Hollywood. |newspaper=The Argus |location=Melbourne |date=8 August 1944 |access-date=3 March 2012 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}} and later made two films with Australian connections, Botany Bay (1953) and The Sea Chase (1955), despite having ceased to be a British subject in 1947, thus never acquiring Australian citizenship when it was created in 1949.

In 1927, he was described as an Australian member of Hollywood, along with May Robson, New Zealander Rupert Julian, Josephine Norman, and director E. O. Gurney.{{cite news|title=Brains Enhances Her Pulchritude: Beautiful Australian Girl Arrives. Antipodean Prize Winner Comes to Woo Fame as Picture Actress|work=Los Angeles Times |date=14 June 1927|page=A8}}

Filmography

{{div col|colwidth=30em}}

=Writer only=

  • White Gold (1927) – titles
  • The Wreck of the Hesperus (1927) – story{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article21349931 |title=The World of Pictures. |newspaper=The Brisbane Courier |date=1 September 1928 |access-date=3 March 2012 |page=23 |via=National Library of Australia}}
  • A Sailor's Sweetheart (1927)
  • Three Weekends (1928){{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article51538141 |title=Amusements. |newspaper=The Examiner |location=Launceston, Tasmania |date=12 April 1929 |access-date=3 March 2012 |page=5|edition=DAILY|via=National Library of Australia}}
  • The Woman From Moscow (1928)
  • The First Kiss (1928){{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article24234477 |title=Amusements. |newspaper=The Mercury |location=Hobart, Tasmania |date=24 January 1929 |access-date=3 March 2012 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}
  • Ladies of the Mob (1928){{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60234893 |title=Amusements. |newspaper=Townsville Daily Bulletin |location=Qld. |date=19 January 1929 |access-date=3 March 2012 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}
  • The Blue Danube (1928) – story
  • The Showdown (1928) – titles
  • Three Weekends (1928)
  • The Bride of the Colorado (1928) – story
  • The Four Feathers (1929) – titles{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article58424854 |title=Sniping The Shows. |newspaper=Sunday Times |location=Perth |date=10 March 1929 |access-date=3 March 2012 |page=8 Section: First Section |via=National Library of Australia}}
  • The Wheel of Life (1929) – adaptation
  • A Dangerous Woman (1929)
  • Wolf Song (1929)
  • Inside the Lines (1930) – dialogue
  • Shadow of the Law (1930)
  • The Bad One (1930) – story
  • Seven Days' Leave (1930) – continuity and dialogue{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article53492734 |title=Aimee McPherson Would Convert World By Talkies: Movie News. |newspaper=The Register News-Pictorial |location=Adelaide |date=19 April 1930 |access-date=3 March 2012 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}}
  • The Common Law (1931){{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article61363098 |title=South Townsville Talkies. |newspaper=Townsville Daily Bulletin |location=Qld. |date=30 June 1932 |access-date=3 March 2012 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}
  • A Woman of Experience (1931) – dialogue & screenplay, based on his play A Registered Woman{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article29949813 |title=Picture Theatres. |newspaper=The Mercury |location=Hobart, Tasmania |date=4 April 1932 |access-date=3 March 2012 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}
  • The Impassive Footman (1932)
  • Adventures of Don Quixote (1933) – w (English version){{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article32547157 |title=London Notes. |newspaper=The West Australian |location=Perth |date=16 September 1932 |access-date=3 March 2012 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}
  • Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) (uncredited){{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article37715326 |title=Peril On The High Seas. |newspaper=Western Mail |location=Perth |date=20 September 1934 |access-date=3 March 2012 |page=39 |via=National Library of Australia}}
  • Last of the Pagans (1935) – original story
  • Around the World in 80 Days (1956)

=Director=

{{div col end}}

=Screenplays for unrealised films=

  • A Friend of Napoleon (1927) – adapted from story by Richard Connell for director William K. Howard and produced by Cecil B. DeMille{{cite news|title=French Actress Has Major Role in Gish Picture|work=Los Angeles Times|date=27 February 1927|page=C11}}
  • Father Damien (1939), adapted from Farrow's book Damien the Leper (1937){{cite news |date=17 May 1939 |title='Damien the Leper' Purchased by RKO; Robert Sisk to Be the Producer – Joseph Calleia Has Been Assigned to Title Role |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9A0CE4DD1730E53ABC4F52DFB3668382629EDE |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=2015-11-27 }}{{cite journal |date=1 July 1939 |title=Hollywood Buys 45 More Stories to Add to 1940 Feature Programs |url=https://archive.org/stream/motionpictureher136unse#page/n34/mode/1up |journal=Motion Picture Herald |volume=136 |issue=1 |page=34 |access-date=2015-11-27}}

Books

  • The Bad One (1930) – novel
  • Laughter Ends (1933) – novel
  • Damien the Leper (1937) – biography of Father Damien{{cite book |last=Farrow |first=John |date=1937 |title=Damien the Leper |location=Camden, N.J. |publisher=Sheed and Ward |oclc=8018072 }}
  • The Royal Canadian Navy 1908–1940 (1940) – history
  • Pageant of the Popes (1950) – history of the papacy{{Cite news|title='Pageant Of The Popes', by John Farrow. Sheed & Ward. 394 pp. $4.50|newspaper=The Washington Post |date=12 March 1950|page=B6}}
  • Seven Poems in Pattern (1955) – collection of poetry
  • Story of Sir Thomas More (1956) – biography of Thomas More

Play

  • A Registered Woman (1931)

References

{{reflist}}

Further reading

  • {{cite web | title=Hollywood's Man in the Shadows + new Japanese talent Ryusuke Hamaguchu | website=ABC Radio National | date=14 October 2003 | url=https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/the-screen-show/john-farrow,-ryusuke-hamaguchi/13583288|format=Podcast + text|first=Jason|last=Di Rosso| series=The Screen Show}}
  • {{cite web|url=http://www.ewtn.com/library/mary/farmore.htm| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170402081255/http://www.ewtn.com/library/mary/farmore.htm |title=The Story of Sir Thomas More|first=John|last=Farrow| archive-date= 2 April 2017}}
  • {{Cite Australian Dictionary of Biography | last=Hazlehurst | first=Cameron | title=John Villiers Farrow (1904–1963) | year=1996 | volume=14 | id2=farrow-john-villiers-10158 | quote=This article was published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 14, (Melbourne University Press), 1996. Published online in 2006}}
  • {{cite web | title=John Villiers Farrow | website=The Catholic University of America | date=1 January 1980 | url=https://libraries.catholic.edu//special-collections/archives/collections/finding-aids/finding-aids.html| quote=An inventory of the John Villiers Farrow Papers at the Special Collections of the University Libraries at The Catholic University of America.}}