Glenda Farrell (June 30, 1904 – May 1, 1971) was an American film actress.
Born in Enid, Oklahoma, Farrell came to Hollywood towards the end of the silent era. She was 5'3" with naturally brown hair and brown eyes.
Farrell began her career with a theatrical company at the age of 7. She played Little Eva in Uncle Tom's Cabin. She paused at times to continue her education but appeared with a number of theatrical companies and in several Broadway productions.
She was in the cast of Cobra and The Best People with actress Charlotte Treadway, at the Morosco Theater in Los Angeles, California in 1925.
Farrell was first signed to a long-term contract by First National Pictures in July 1930. She was given the feminine lead in Little Caesar directed by Mervyn Leroy.
Warner Brothers signed her to re-create on film the role she played in Life Begins on Broadway. Farrell worked on parts in twenty movies in her first year with the studio. She came to personify the wise-cracking, hard-boiled, and somewhat dizzy blonde of the early talkies, along with fellow Warner Brothers brassy blonde, Joan Blondell, with whom she would be frequently paired.
in Mary Stevens, M.D. (1933)
Her brassy persona was used to great effect in Little Caesar (1931) opposite Edward G. Robinson, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932) opposite Paul Muni, Havana Widows (1933) with Blondell, Bureau of Missing Persons (1933) opposite Pat O'Brien, Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933) opposite Lionel Atwill and Fay Wray, and The Big Shakedown (1934) with Charles Farrell and Bette Davis.
She became one of Warner Brothers most prolific actresses of the 1930s, solidifying her success with her own film film series, as Torchy Blane, "Girl Reporter". In this role Farrell was promoted as being able to speak 400 words in 40 seconds. Farrell would portray the character Torchy Blane in approximately eight films, from 1937 to 1939 when the role was taken over by Jane Wyman.
in the first of the Torchy Blane series, Smart Blonde (1937)
In 1937 she starred opposite Dick Powell and Joan Blondell in the Academy Award nominated Lloyd Bacon and Busby Berkeley directed musical comedy Gold Diggers of 1937.
When her Warner Brothers contact expired in 1939 she opted to focus on her stage career once again. She said that working in plays gave her more of a sense of individuality whereas in films you get frustrated because you feel you have no power over what you're doing.
In private life she dated Hollywood film writer Robert Riskin in the early 1930s. She married Jack Durant of the Mitchell and Durant vaudeville team in June 1931. In 1941 Farrell became the wife of Dr. Henry Ross. Her son is club entertainer Tommy Farrell.
Farrell went out of vogue in the 1940s but made a comeback later in life, winning an Emmy Award in 1963, for her work in the television series Ben Casey.
She was appearing on Broadway in a production of Forty Carats in 1969 when she was diagnosed with lung cancer.
She remained with the show until ill health forced her departure in November 1970. She died from lung cancer, aged 66. She died at her home in New York City and was interred in the U.S. Military Academy Post Cemetery, West Point, New York.
Glenda Farrell has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to Motion Pictures, at 6524 Hollywood Boulevard.
Filmography
Year
Title
Role
1928
Lucky Boy
Bit Part
1931
Little Caesar
Olga Stassoff
1932
Scandal for Sale
Stella
Life Begins
Florette Darien
Three on a Match
Mrs. Black, Prisoner at Checkers Table
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
Marie
The Match King
Babe
1933
Mystery of the Wax Museum
Florence Dempsey
Grand Slam
Blondie
Girl Missing
Kay Curtis
The Keyhole
Dot
How to Break 90 #2: Position and Back Swing
Golfer's Wife
Gambling Ship
Jeanne Sands
Mary Stevens, M.D.
Glenda Carroll
Lady for a Day
Missouri Martin
Bureau of Missing Persons
Belle Howard Saunders
Man's Castle
Fay La Rue
Havana Widows
Sadie Appleby
1934
The Big Shakedown
Lily 'Lil' Duran
Hi, Nellie!
Gerry Krale
I've Got Your Number
Bonnie, aka Madame Francis
Dark Hazard
Valerie 'Val' Wilson
Heat Lightning
Mrs. 'Feathers' Tifton
Merry Wives of Reno
Bunny Fitch
The Personality Kid
Joan McCarty
Kansas City Princess
Marie Callahan
The Secret Bride
Hazel Normandie
1935
Gold Diggers of 1935
Betty Hawes
Traveling Saleslady
Claudette Ruggles
Go Into Your Dance
Molly Howard, aka Lucille Thompson
In Caliente
Mis Clara Thorne
We're in the Money
Dixie Tilton
Little Big Shot
Jean
Miss Pacific Fleet
Mae O'Brien
1936
Snowed Under
Daisy Lowell, Wife #2
The Law in Her Hands
Dorothy 'Dot' Davis
Nobody's Fool
Ruby Miller
High Tension
Edith McNeil
Here Comes Carter
Verna Kennedy
Gold Diggers of 1937
Genevieve 'Gen' Larkin
1937
Smart Blonde
Torchy Blane
Fly Away Baby
Torchy Blane
Dance Charlie Dance
Fanny Morgan
You Live and Learn
Mamie Wallis
Breakfast for Two
Carol Wallace
The Adventurous Blonde
Torchy Blane
Hollywood Hotel
Jonesie
1938
Blondes at Work
Torchy Blane
Stolen Heaven
Rita
Prison Break
Jean Fenderson
The Road to Reno
Sylvia Shane
Exposed
'Click' Stewart
Torchy Gets Her Man
Torchy Blane
1939
Torchy Blane in Chinatown
Torchy Blane
Torchy Runs for Mayor
Torchy Blane
1942
Johnny Eager
Mae Blythe Agridowski
Twin Beds
Sonya Cherupin
The Talk of the Town
Regina Bush
1943
City Without Men
Billy LaRue
A Night for Crime
Susan
Klondike Kate
Molly
1944
Ever Since Venus
Babs Cartwright
1947
Heading for Heaven
Nora Elkins
1948
I Love Trouble
Hazel Bixby
Mary Lou
Winnie Winford
Lulu Belle
Molly Benson
1952
Apache War Smoke
Fanny Webson
1953
Girls in the Night
Alice Haynes
1954
Secret of the Incas
Mrs. Winston
Susan Slept Here
Maude Snodgrass
1955
The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing
Mrs. Nesbit
1959
Middle of the Night
Mrs. Mueller
1964
Kissin' Cousins
Ma Tatum
The Disorderly Orderly
Dr. Jean Howard
1968
Tiger by the Tail
Sarah Harvey
References
Burlington, North Carolina Daily Times-News, Hollywood Gossip, March 29, 1934, Page 8.
European Stars and Stripes, Actress Glenda Farrell Dies in N.Y. at Age 67, May 3, 1971, Page 6.
Long Beach, California Press-Telegram, Film and Drama, June 22, 1952, Page 31.
Los Angeles Times, Studio and Stage, May 29, 1925, Page A7.
Los Angeles Times, Glenda Farrell Praised for Art in Best People, October 4, 1925, Page 23.
Los Angeles Times, Stage Star To Play In Films, July 9, 1930, Page A12.
Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Actress To Wed In June, March 11, 1931, Page 11.
Valparaiso, Indiana Vidette-Messenger, Glenda To Wed, February 6, 1941, Page 5.
Van Neste, Dan. Glenda Farrell, Diamond in the Rough Classic Images May, 1998. .
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Glenda Farrell
Glenda Farrell at the Internet Movie Database
v • d • e
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress - Drama Series
Barbara Hale (1959) · Pamela Brown (1962) · Glenda Farrell (1963) · Ruth White (1964) · Lee Grant (1966) · Agnes Moorehead (1967) · Barbara Anderson (1968) · Susan Saint James (1969) · Gail Fisher (1970) · Margaret Leighton (1971) · Jenny Agutter (1972) · Ellen Corby (1973) · Joanna Miles (1974) · Ellen Corby (1975)
Complete list: (1962-1975) · (1976-2000) · (2001-present)
Persondata
NAME
Farrell, Glenda
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION
Actor
DATE OF BIRTH
1904-6-3
PLACE OF BIRTH
Enid, Oklahoma, U.S.
DATE OF DEATH
1971-5-1
PLACE OF DEATH
New York, New York, U.S.
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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenda_Farrell"
Categories: American stage actors | American film actors | American television actors | Hollywood Walk of Fame | Oklahoma (state) actors | Irish-Americans | Deaths from lung cancer | 1904 births | 1971 deaths | People from Enid, Oklahoma
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