William Farnum
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Male
Birthday
1876-07-03
Day of Death
1953-06-05 (76 years old)
Place of Birth
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
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.
Description above from the Wikipedia article William Farnum, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Acting
(1952)
Jack and the Beanstalk
as The King
(1952)
Lone Star
as Tom Crockett
(1951)
Hollywood Story
as Himself
(1950)
Trail of Robin Hood
as Bill Franum
(1949)
Samson and Delilah
as Tubal
(1949)
Bride of Vengeance
as Conti Peruzzi
(1949)
Daughter of the West
as Father Vallejo
(1949)
Gun Cargo
as Board of Inquiry Chairman
(1947)
The Perils of Pauline
as Western Saloon Set Hero
(1946)
Rolling Home
as Rodeo Official
(1946)
God's Country
as Sandy McTavish
(1946)
My Dog Shep
as Carter J. Latham Jr.
(1945)
Captain Kidd
as Capt. Rawson
(1945)
Wildfire
as Judge Polson
(1944)
The Mummy's Curse
as The Sacristan
(1943)
Frontier Badmen
as Dad Courtwright
(1942)
American Empire
as Louisiana Judge
(1942)
The Spoilers
as Wheaton
(1942)
Tennessee Johnson
as Senator Huyler
(1942)
The Silver Bullet
as Dr. Thad Morgan
(1942)
Deep in the Heart of Texas
as Colonel Mallory
(1942)
Men of Texas
as General Sam Houston
(1942)
Lone Star Ranger
as Texas Ranger Major McNeil
(1942)
Boss of Hangtown Mesa
as Judge Ezra Binns
(1942)
Today I Hang
as Warden Burke
(1941)
A Woman's Face
as Court Attendant
(1941)
The Corsican Brothers
as Priest
(1941)
(1941)
Gangs of Sonora
as Ward Beecham
(1941)
Last of the Duanes
as Texas Ranger Major McNeill
(1940)
Kit Carson
as Don Miguel Murphy
(1940)
Adventures of Red Ryder
as Colonel Tom Ryder
(1940)
Convicted Woman
as Commissioner McNeill
(1940)
Hi-Yo Silver
as Father McKim
(1939)
South of the Border
as Padre
(1939)
Mexicali Rose
as Padre Dominic
(1939)
Rovin' Tumbleweeds
as Senator Timothy Nolan
(1939)
Colorado Sunset
as Sheriff George Glenn
(1938)
If I Were King
as General Barbezier
(1938)
The Lone Ranger
as Father McKim
(1938)
Shine On Harvest Moon
as Milt Brower
(1938)
Santa Fe Stampede
as Dave Carson
(1938)
The Secret of Treasure Island
as George Brennan Westmore (Editor)
(1937)
Maid of Salem
as Crown Justice Sewall
(1937)
Public Cowboy No. 1
as Sheriff Matt Doniphon
(1937)
Git Along Little Dogies
as Banker Maxwell
(1936)
Sharad of Atlantis
as Sharad
(1936)
Custer's Last Stand
as James Fitzpatrick
(1936)
The Vigilantes Are Coming
as Father José
(1936)
The Amazing Exploits of the Clutching Hand
as Gordon Gaunt
(1936)
Custer's Last Stand
as James Fitzpatrick
(1936)
The Kid Ranger
as Bill Mason
(1935)
The Crusades
as Hugo, Duke of Burgundy
(1935)
Powdersmoke Range
as Sam Oreham - Banker
(1935)
The Eagle's Brood
as El Toro
(1935)
Between Men
as John Wellington / Rand
(1935)
Million Dollar Haul
as Mr. Mallory - Sheila's Dad
(1935)
Hollywood Extra Girl
as Crusades Actor (uncredited)
(1935)
The Irish Gringo
as Pop Wiley
(1934)
Cleopatra
as Lepidus
(1934)
The Silver Streak
as B.J. Dexter
(1934)
Good Dame
as Judge Flynn
(1934)
The Scarlet Letter
as Gov. Bellingham
(1934)
Happy Landing
as Col. Curtis
(1934)
Are We Civilized?
as Paul Franklin, Sr.
(1934)
The Brand of Hate
as Joe Larkins
(1934)
School for Girls
as Charles Waltham
(1933)
Supernatural
as Nicky Hammond
(1933)
Stolen by Gypsies or Beer and Bicycles
as Squire Beamish
(1933)
Reckless Decision
as Rev. John MacDougall
(1932)
Mr. Robinson Crusoe
as William Belmont
(1932)
The Drifter
as The Drifter
(1932)
Flaming Guns
as Henry Ramsey
(1931)
The Painted Desert
as Cash Holbrook
(1931)
A Connecticut Yankee
as King Arthur / Inventor
(1931)
Ten Nights in a Bar-room
as Joe Morgan
(1931)
The Pagan Lady
as Malcolm 'Mal' Todd
(1931)
Law of the Sea
as Captain Len Andrews
(1931)
The Wide Open Spaces
as U.S. Marshal
(1930)
Du Barry, Woman of Passion
as Louis XV
(1928)
(1924)
The Man Who Fights Alone
as John Marble
(1923)
Brass Commandments
as Stephen 'Flash' Lanning
(1923)
The Gunfighter
as Billy Buell
(1922)
Moonshine Valley
as Ned Connors
(1922)
A Stage Romance
as Edmund Kean
(1922)
Shackles of Gold
as John Gibbs
(1922)
Without Compromise
as Dick Leighton
(1921)
His Greatest Sacrifice
as Richard Hall
(1921)
Perjury
as Robert Moore
(1920)
If I Were King
as François Villon
(1920)
Drag Harlan
as Drag Harlan
(1919)
The Last of the Duanes
as Buck Duane
(1919)
The Lone Star Ranger
as Steele
(1918)
The Rainbow Trail
as Lassiter / Shefford
(1918)
True Blue
as Bob McKeever
(1918)
Riders of the Purple Sage
as Lassiter
(1918)
Rough and Ready
as Bill Stratton
(1917)
A Tale of Two Cities
as Charles Darnay / Sydney Carton
(1917)
Les Misérables
as Jean Valjean
(1917)
The Conqueror
as Sam Houston
(1917)
(1917)
When a Man Sees Red
as Larry Smith
(1917)
The Price of Silence
as Senator Frank Deering
(1917)
The Heart of a Lion
as Barney Kemper
(1916)
Fires of Conscience
as George Baxter
(1916)
The Bondman
as Stephen Orry/Jason Orry
(1915)
Samson
as Maurice Brachard
(1915)
The Wonderful Adventure
as Martin Stanley
(1914)
The Spoilers
as Roy Glenister
(1914)
The Sign of the Cross
as Marcus Superbus