Editing Frances Farmer (section)

{{short description|American actress (1913–1970)}}
{{For|the law librarian|Frances Farmer (librarian)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name          = Frances Farmer
| image         = Frances Farmer - Golden Boy publicity shot.jpg
| caption       = Farmer in 1938
| birth_name    = Frances Elena Farmer
| birth_date    = {{birth date|1913|09|19|mf=yes}}
| birth_place   = [[Seattle]], [[Washington (state)|Washington]], U.S.
| death_date    = {{death date and age|1970|08|01|1913|09|19|mf=yes}}
| death_place   = [[Indianapolis|Indianapolis, Indiana]], U.S.
| resting_place = Oaklawn Memorial Gardens Cemetery, [[Fishers, Indiana]]
| resting_place_coordinates = {{coord|39.9301|-86.0636|display=inline}}
| alma_mater    = [[University of Washington]]
| occupation    = Actress
| spouse        = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|[[Leif Erickson (actor)|Leif Erickson]]|1936|1942|end=divorced}}
* {{marriage|Alfred Lobley|1954|1958|end=divorced}}
* {{marriage|Leland Mikesell|1958|1963|end=divorced}}
}}
}}
'''Frances Elena Farmer''' (September 19, 1913{{spnd}}August 1, 1970) was an American actress. She appeared in over a dozen feature films over the course of her career, though she garnered notoriety for sensationalized accounts of her life, especially her [[involuntary commitment]] to [[psychiatric hospital]]s and subsequent mental health struggles.

A native of [[Seattle]], Washington, Farmer began acting in stage productions while a student at the [[University of Washington]]. After graduating, she began performing in [[summer stock|stock theater]] before signing a film contract with [[Paramount Pictures]] on her 22nd birthday in September 1935.{{sfn|Shelley|2010|p=10}} She made her film debut in the [[B film]] ''[[Too Many Parents]]'' (1936), followed by another B picture, ''[[Border Flight]]'', before being given the lead role opposite [[Bing Crosby]] in the musical Western ''[[Rhythm on the Range]]'' (1936).{{sfn|Shelley|2010|p=13}} Unhappy with the opportunities the studio gave her, Farmer returned to stock theater in 1937 before being cast in the original [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] production of [[Clifford Odets]]'s ''[[Golden Boy (play)|Golden Boy]]'', staged by New York City's [[Group Theatre (New York)|Group Theatre]]. She followed this with two Broadway productions directed by [[Elia Kazan]] in 1939, but a battle with [[clinical depression|depression]] and [[binge drinking]] caused her to drop out of a subsequent [[Ernest Hemingway]] stage adaptation.

Farmer returned to Los Angeles, earning supporting roles in the comedy ''[[World Premiere (film)|World Premiere]]'' (1941) and the film noir ''[[Among the Living (1941 film)|Among the Living]]'' (1941). In 1942, publicity of her reportedly erratic behavior began to surface, and after several arrests and committals to psychiatric institutions, Farmer was diagnosed with [[paranoid schizophrenia]]. At the request of her family, particularly her mother, she was committed to an institution in her home state of Washington, where she remained a patient until 1950. Farmer attempted an acting comeback, mainly appearing as a television host in [[Indianapolis]] on her own series, ''[[Frances Farmer Presents]]''. Her final film role was in the 1958 drama ''[[The Party Crashers]]'', after which she spent the majority of the 1960s occasionally performing in local theater productions staged by [[Purdue University]]. In the spring of 1970, she was diagnosed with [[esophageal cancer]], from which she died on August 1, 1970, aged 56.

Farmer has been the subject of two feature films and several books focusing on her time spent institutionalized, during which she claimed to have been subjected to systematic abuse.<ref name=yahoo>{{cite web|work=Yahoo! Movies|title=Frances Farmer Biography|url=https://movies.yahoo.com/person/frances-farmer/biography.html|url-status=dead|access-date=July 9, 2018|archive-date=December 24, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224120047/https://movies.yahoo.com/person/frances-farmer/biography.html}}</ref> Her posthumously released, ghostwritten autobiography, ''Will There Really Be a Morning?'' (1972), details these claims, but has been exposed as a largely fictional work by a friend of Farmer's to clear debts.<ref>Shelley, Peter, 'Frances Farmer: The Life and Films of a Troubled Star', pp60-64</ref> A [[Frances (film)|1982 biographical film]] based on this book depicted these events as true, resulting in renewed interest in her life and career.