Charles Farrell
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| Charles Farrell | |
|---|---|
 Promotional photograph, circa 1920-1925 |
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| Born | Charles Farrell August 9, 1901 Walpole, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | May 6, 1990 (aged 88) Palm Springs, California, U.S. |
| Spouse(s) | Virginia Valli |
Charles Farrell (August 9, 1901 – May 6, 1990)[1] was a notable American film actor of the 1920s silent era and into the 1930s, and later a television actor. Farrell is probably best recalled for his onscreen romances with actress Janet Gaynor in more than a dozen films, including Seventh Heaven, Street Angel, and Lucky Star.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Career
Born in Walpole, Massachusetts,[2] Farrell began his career in Hollywood taking bit parts in the early 1920s. His first film appearance was in an uncredited role in the 1923 film The Cheat starring the Polish-born screen vamp Pola Negri and actor Jack Holt. Farrell's second film role was in the enormously popular Wallace Worsley-directed 1923 film adaptation of the Victor Hugo novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame starring Lon Chaney.
Farrell continued to work throughout the 1920s in relatively minor roles without much success until the 1927 onscreen pairing with actress Janet Gaynor in the romantic drama Seventh Heaven. The film was a public and critical success and Farrell and Gaynor would go on to star opposite one another in more than a dozen films throughout the late 1920s and into the talkie era of the early 1930s. Unlike many of his silent screen peers, Farrell had little difficulty with "voice troubles" and remained a publicly popular actor throughout the sound era.
[edit] Early 1950s
During the early 1950s, after his career in motion pictures began to slow, Farrell began appearing on the popular television series My Little Margie. The series ran from 1952 to 1955 and Farrell starred opposite actress Gale Storm, who played his daughter. In 1956 Farrell hosted in his own television program, The Charles Farrell Show.
[edit] Personal life & retirement
Farrell married former actress Virginia Valli on February 14, 1931, and the couple was married until Valli's death from a stroke on September 24, 1968.
After retiring from his acting career, Farrell became a resident of the desert city of Palm Springs, California. He opened the popular Palm Springs Racquet Club in the city with fellow actor Ralph Bellamy.
A major factor in the prosperity of Palm Springs in the 1950s, Farrell was elected mayor of the community in 1953, a position that he held for seven years. Farrell died from a heart attack at the age of eighty-eight. He was interred at the Welwood Murray Cemetery there.
[edit] Awards
For his contribution to both motion pictures and television, Charles Farrell was awarded two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood at the following locations: 7021 Hollywood Blvd. (motion pictures), and 1617 Vine Street (television).
[edit] Filmography
- Clash of the Wolves (1925) with Rin Tin Tin
- A Trip to Chinatown (1926) with Margaret Livingston and Anna May Wong
- Old Ironsides (1926) with George Bancroft and Wallace Beery
- Seventh Heaven (1927) with Janet Gaynor (first film with Gaynor)
- The Rough Riders (1927) with Noah Beery, George Bancroft, and Mary Astor
- Street Angel (1928) with Janet Gaynor
- Lucky Star (1929) with Janet Gaynor
- The River (1929) with Mary Duncan
- Sunny Side Up (1929) with Janet Gaynor
- Liliom (1930) with Rose Hobart (intended for Janet Gaynor, but she declined to appear in the film)
- High Society Blues (1930) with Janet Gaynor
- The Man Who Came Back (1931) with Janet Gaynor
- Body and Soul (1931) with Humphrey Bogart and Myrna Loy
- Merely Mary Ann (1931) with Janet Gaynor
- Delicious (1931) with Janet Gaynor
- Wild Girl (1932) with Joan Bennett and Eugene Pallette
- The First Year (1932) with Janet Gaynor
- Tess of the Storm Country (1932) with Janet Gaynor
- Girl Without a Room (1933) with Charles Ruggles and Marguerite Churchill
- The Big Shakedown (1934) with Bette Davis
- Change of Heart (1934) with Janet Gaynor, Ginger Rogers, and Shirley Temple (final film with Gaynor)
- Moonlight Sonata (1937) with Paderewski
- Just Around the Corner (1938) with Shirley Temple, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, and Bert Lahr
- The Deadly Game (1941)
- My Little Margie (1952-1955; television series)
