Franklyn Farnum

Franklyn Farnum (born William Smith; June 5, 1878 – July 4, 1961) was an American character actor and Hollywood extra who appeared in at least 1,100 films.[1] He was also cast in more films that won the Academy Award for Best Picture than any other performer in American film industry.[2] He was also credited as Frank Farnum.

Franklyn Farnum
Farnum in the fan magazine Photoplay, 1917
Born
William Smith

(1878-06-05)June 5, 1878
Boston, Massachusetts, US
DiedJuly 4, 1961(1961-07-04) (aged 83)
Woodland Hills, California, US
Other namesFrank Farnum
Occupation(s)Actor, vaudevillian
Spouses
​
​
(m. 1918; div. 1919)​
    Edith Goodwin Farnum (nee Walker)
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1924; died 1959)​
    Children1
    Signature
    Cursive signature in ink

    Life and career

    Farnum was born in 1878 in Boston, Massachusetts, and became a vaudeville actor at the age of twelve. He was featured in a number of theatrical and musical productions by the time he entered silent films near the age of 40. His Broadway credits include Keep It Clean (1929), Ziegfeld 9 O'clock Frolic (1921), Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic (1921), and Somewhere Else (1913).[2]

    Farnum's career was dominated mostly by westerns. Some of his more famous films include the serial Vanishing Trails (1920) and the features The Clock (1917), The Firebrand (1922), The Drug Store Cowboy (1925), and The Gambling Fool (1925). He left films in 1925 but returned five years later at the advent of sound, only to find himself billed much further down the credits, if billed at all. However, he continued on in these obscure roles well into the 1950s.

    One of his three wives was actress Alma Rubens, to whom he was briefly married in 1918. The couple divorced in 1919. He had one daughter, actress Geraldine Rose Farnum (born 1924), by his third wife Edith Goodwin Farnum nee Walker. [1]

    Farnum appeared in multiple Academy Award for Best Picture winners: The Life of Emile Zola (1937), Going My Way (1944), The Lost Weekend (1945), Gentleman's Agreement (1947), All About Eve (1950), The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) and Around the World in 80 Days (1956).

    On July 4, 1961, Farnum died of cancer at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California, at the age of 83.[1]

    A Stormy Knight ad in 1917

    Selected filmography
    The Winged Mystery (1917)

    1910s
    • The Devil's Pay Day (1917) – Gregory Van Houten
    • The Man Who Took a Chance (1917) – Monty Gray
    • The Clock (1917) – Jack Tempest
    • Bringing Home Father (1917) – Peter Drake
    • The Car of Chance (1917) – Arnold Baird
    • The Clean-Up (1917) – Stuart Adams
    • The Empty Gun (1917, Short) – Robber
    • A Stormy Knight (1917) – John Winton
    • Anything Once (1917) – Teddy Crosby
    • The Winged Mystery (1917) – Captain August Sieger / Louis Siever
    • The Scarlet Car (1917) – Billy Winthrop
    • Fast Company (1918) – Lawrence Percival Van Huyler
    • $5,000 Reward (1918) – Dick Arlington
    • The Fighting Grin (1918) – Billy Kennedy
    • The Empty Cab (1918) – Henry Egbert Xerxes
    • In Judgement Of (1918) – Dr. John O'Neill
    • Rough and Ready (1918) – Richard Bolton / Spike O'Brien
    • The Vanity Pool (1918) – Drew Garrett
    • Go-Get-Em Garringer (1919) – Garringer
    • The Virtuous Model (1919) – Edward Dorin

    1920s
    • Vanishing Trails (1920) – Silent Joe
    • The Galloping Devil (1920) – Andy Green
    • The Land of Jazz (1920) – Minor Role
    • The Fighting Stranger (1921) – Australia Joe
    • The Hunger of the Blood (1921) – Maslun
    • The Last Chance (1921) – Rance Sparr
    • The Struggle (1921) – Dick Storm
    • The Raiders (1921) – Private Fitzgerald, RCMP
    • The White Masks (1921) – Jack Bray
    • So This Is Arizona (1922) – Norman Russell
    • Smiling Jim (1922) – Smiling Jim / Frank Harmon
    • When East Comes West (1922) – Jones
    • Texas (1922)
    • Trail's End (1922) – Wilder Armstrong
    • Angel Citizens (1922) – Frank Bartlett
    • Gun Shy (1922) – James Brown
    • Gold Grabbers (1922)
    • The Firebrand (1922) – Bill Holt
    • Cross Roads (1922) – The Hero
    • Wolves of the Border (1923)
    • The Man Getter (1923)
    • It Happened Out West (1923)
    • Two Fisted Tenderfoot (1924)
    • Baffled (1924) – Dick Osborne
    • Crossed Trails (1924) – Tom Dawson
    • Western Vengeance (1924) – Jack Caldwell
    • Calibre 45 (1924)
    • Battling Brewster (1924, Serial) – Battling Jack Brewster
    • Courage (1924)
    • A Desperate Adventure (1924)
    • Border Intrigue (1925) – Tom Lassen
    • The Gambling Fool (1925) – Jack Stanford
    • The Drug Store Cowboy (1925) – Marmaduke Grandon
    • The Bandit Tamer (1925) – William Warren
    • Billy the Kid (1925) – Bill Bonney
    • The Train Wreckers (1925) – Jack Stewart
    • Rough Going (1925) – Himself
    • Two Gun Sap (1925)
    • Double-Barreled Justice (1925)
    • Pals of the West (1927)

    1930s
    • Beyond the Rio Grande (1930) – Joe Kemp
    • Beyond the Law (1930) – Army Lieutenant
    • The Third Alarm (1930) – Fire Department Captain
    • Dames Ahoy! (1930)
    • Oklahoma Jim (1931) – Army Captain
    • Hell's Valley (1931)
    • Left Over Ladies (1931)
    • Mark of the Spur (1932)
    • The Reckless Rider (1932)
    • Human Targets (1932)
    • Frontier Days (1934)
    • Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935)
    • Fighting Caballero (1935)
    • Desert Mesa (1935)
    • The Ghost Rider (1935)
    • The Cowboy and the Bandit (1935)
    • What Becomes of the Children? (1936)
    • The Preview Murder Mystery (1936)
    • In Early Arizona (1938)

    1940s

    1950s

    See also

    References
    1. "Actor Franklyn Farnum Dies at 83 of Cancer". The Los Angeles Times. California, Los Angeles. July 5, 1961. p. Part I, p 2. Retrieved January 23, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
    2. "Franklyn Farnum". Internet Broadway Database. The Broadway League. Archived from the original on January 15, 2018. Retrieved January 23, 2019.
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