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.
Known For
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)
Gun Cargo
as Board of Inquiry Chairman
(1949)
Daughter of the West
as Father Vallejo
(1949)
Bride of Vengeance
as Conti Peruzzi
(1947)
The Perils of Pauline
as Western Saloon Set Hero
(1946)
Rolling Home
as Rodeo Official
(1946)
My Dog Shep
as Carter J. Latham Jr.
(1946)
God's Country
as Sandy McTavish
(1945)
Wildfire
as Judge Polson
(1945)
Captain Kidd
as Capt. Rawson
(1944)
The Mummy's Curse
as The Sacristan
(1943)
Frontier Badmen
as Dad Courtwright
(1942)
Lone Star Ranger
as Texas Ranger Major McNeil
(1942)
American Empire
as Louisiana Judge
(1942)
The Spoilers
as Wheaton
(1942)
The Silver Bullet
as Dr. Thad Morgan
(1942)
Tennessee Johnson
as Senator Huyler
(1942)
Men of Texas
as General Sam Houston
(1942)
Deep in the Heart of Texas
as Colonel Mallory
(1942)
Today I Hang
as Warden Burke
(1942)
Boss of Hangtown Mesa
as Judge Ezra Binns
(1941)
Gangs of Sonora
as Ward Beecham
(1941)
The Corsican Brothers
as Priest
(1941)
A Woman's Face
as Court Attendant
(1941)
(1941)
Last of the Duanes
as Texas Ranger Major McNeill
(1940)
Kit Carson
as Don Miguel Murphy
(1940)
Convicted Woman
as Commissioner McNeill
(1940)
Adventures of Red Ryder
as Colonel Tom Ryder
(1940)
Hi-Yo Silver
as Father McKim
(1939)
Colorado Sunset
as Sheriff George Glenn
(1939)
Mexicali Rose
as Padre Dominic
(1939)
South of the Border
as Padre
(1939)
Rovin' Tumbleweeds
as Senator Timothy Nolan
(1938)
If I Were King
as General Barbezier
(1938)
Santa Fe Stampede
as Dave Carson
(1938)
The Lone Ranger
as Father McKim
(1938)
Shine On Harvest Moon
as Milt Brower
(1938)
The Secret of Treasure Island
as George Brennan Westmore (Editor)
(1937)
Public Cowboy No. 1
as Sheriff Matt Doniphon
(1937)
Git Along Little Dogies
as Banker Maxwell
(1937)
Maid of Salem
as Crown Justice Sewall
(1936)
The Kid Ranger
as Bill Mason
(1936)
Custer's Last Stand
as James Fitzpatrick
(1936)
Custer's Last Stand
as James Fitzpatrick
(1936)
The Vigilantes Are Coming
as Father José
(1936)
Sharad of Atlantis
as Sharad
(1936)
The Amazing Exploits of the Clutching Hand
as Gordon Gaunt
(1935)
Between Men
as John Wellington / Rand
(1935)
The Crusades
as Hugo, Duke of Burgundy
(1935)
The Eagle's Brood
as El Toro
(1935)
Powdersmoke Range
as Sam Oreham - Banker
(1935)
The Irish Gringo
as Pop Wiley
(1935)
Million Dollar Haul
as Mr. Mallory - Sheila's Dad
(1935)
Hollywood Extra Girl
as Crusades Actor (uncredited)
(1934)
The Silver Streak
as B.J. Dexter
(1934)
Are We Civilized?
as Paul Franklin, Sr.
(1934)
Cleopatra
as Lepidus
(1934)
The Brand of Hate
as Joe Larkins
(1934)
The Scarlet Letter
as Gov. Bellingham
(1934)
School for Girls
as Charles Waltham
(1934)
Good Dame
as Judge Flynn
(1934)
Happy Landing
as Col. Curtis
(1933)
Supernatural
as Nicky Hammond
(1933)
Reckless Decision
as Rev. John MacDougall
(1933)
Stolen by Gypsies or Beer and Bicycles
as Squire Beamish
(1932)
Flaming Guns
as Henry Ramsey
(1932)
Mr. Robinson Crusoe
as William Belmont
(1932)
The Drifter
as The Drifter
(1931)
A Connecticut Yankee
as King Arthur / Inventor
(1931)
The Painted Desert
as Cash Holbrook
(1931)
Law of the Sea
as Captain Len Andrews
(1931)
The Wide Open Spaces
as U.S. Marshal
(1931)
Ten Nights in a Bar-room
as Joe Morgan
(1931)
The Pagan Lady
as Malcolm 'Mal' Todd
(1930)
Du Barry, Woman of Passion
as Louis XV
(1928)
(1924)
The Man Who Fights Alone
as John Marble
(1923)
The Gunfighter
as Billy Buell
(1923)
Brass Commandments
as Stephen 'Flash' Lanning
(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)
The Orphan
as The Orphan
(1920)
Drag Harlan
as Drag Harlan
(1920)
The Joyous Trouble-Makers
as William Steele
(1920)
If I Were King
as François Villon
(1919)
Wings of the Morning
as Capt. Robert Anstruther
(1919)
Wolves of the Night
as Bruce Andrews
(1919)
The Man Hunter
as George Arnold
(1919)
The Lone Star Ranger
as Steele
(1919)
The Last of the Duanes
as Buck Duane
(1918)
True Blue
as Bob McKeever
(1918)
The Rainbow Trail
as Lassiter / Shefford
(1918)
Rough and Ready
as Bill Stratton
(1918)
Riders of the Purple Sage
as Lassiter
(1917)
The Conqueror
as Sam Houston
(1917)
Les Misérables
as Jean Valjean
(1917)
When a Man Sees Red
as Larry Smith
(1917)
American Methods
as William Armstrong
(1917)
A Tale of Two Cities
as Charles Darnay / Sydney Carton
(1917)
The Price of Silence
as Senator Frank Deering
(1917)
The Heart of a Lion
as Barney Kemper
(1916)
The Bondman
as Stephen Orry/Jason Orry
(1916)
Fires of Conscience
as George Baxter
(1915)
The Wonderful Adventure
as Martin Stanley
(1915)
Samson
as Maurice Brachard
(1914)
The Sign of the Cross
as Marcus Superbus
(1914)
The Spoilers
as Roy Glenister