William Farnum
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
William Farnum (July 4, 1876 in Boston, Massachusetts – June 5, 1953 in Hollywood, California) was a major movie actor. One of three brothers, Farnum grew up in a family of actors. He made his acting debut at the age of ten in Richmond, Virginia in a production of Julius Caesar, with Edwin Booth playing the title character. His first major success was as the title character of Ben-Hur in 1900 though replacing the original actor Edward Morgan who premiered the character in 1899. Later plays Farnum appeared in were the costume epic The Prince of India (1906), The White Sister (1909) starring Viola Allen, The Littlest Rebel (1911) co-starring his brother Dustin and a child actress named Mary Miles Minter(then nine years old) & Arizona (1913) with Dustin and stage beauty Elsie Ferguson.
In The Spoilers in 1914, Farnum and Tom Santschi staged a classic movie fight which lasted for a full reel. In 1930, Farnum and Stantschi coached Gary Cooper and William Boyd in the fight scene for the 1930 version of The Spoilers. Other actors influenced by the Farnum scene were Milton Sills and Noah Beery in 1922 and Randolph Scott and John Wayne in 1942.
From 1915 to 1925, Farnum devoted his life to motion pictures. When becoming one of the biggest sensations in Hollywood, he also became one of the highest-paid actors, earning $10,000 a week. Farnum's silent pictures the western Drag Harlan(1920) and the drama-adventure If I Were King(1921) survive from his years contracted to Fox Films.
Farnum has a "Star" on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He was the younger brother of actor Dustin Farnum. He had another brother, Marshall Farnum, who was a silent film director and died in 1917.
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Full filmography
- Samson and Delilah (1949) as Tubal
- A Woman's Face (1941) as Court Attendant
- Cleopatra (1934) as Lepidus
- Sharad of Atlantis (1936) as Sharad
- The Mummy's Curse (1944) as The Sacristan
- The Spoilers (1942) as Wheaton
- School for Girls (1934) as Charles Waltham
- Captain Kidd (1945) as Capt. Rawson
- Lone Star (1952) as Tom Crockett
- Jack and the Beanstalk (1952) as The King
- Hollywood Story (1951) as Himself
- My Dog Shep (1946) as Carter J. Latham Jr.
- The Crusades (1935) as Hugo, Duke of Burgundy
- If I Were King (1938) as General Barbezier
- Samson (1915) as Maurice Brachard
- Hi-Yo Silver (1940) as Father McKim
- The Perils of Pauline (1947) as Western Saloon Set Hero
- The Lone Ranger (1938) as Father McKim
- Kit Carson (1940) as Don Miguel Murphy
- American Empire (1942) as Louisiana Judge
- The Corsican Brothers (1941) as Priest
- Git Along Little Dogies (1937) as Banker Maxwell
- Trail of Robin Hood (1950) as Bill Franum
- The Battle of Hearts (1916) as Martin Cane