Editing Frances Farmer (section)

=== 1935–1936: Early films and rise to fame ===
[[File:Frances Farmer Paramount still.jpg|thumb|right|upright=.8|Farmer in a publicity still. (1938)]]
Returning from the Soviet Union in the summer of 1935, Farmer stopped in New York City, hoping to launch a theater career.{{sfn|Shelley|2010|pages=9–11}} She met up with old college friend, actress [[Jane Rose]], and moved into her small upper west side Manhattan apartment.{{sfn|Agan|1979|p=13}} Soon after, she met with talent agent [[Shepard Traube]] (1907–1983),<ref name="nytimes-shepard-traube-76">{{cite web |last1=Fraser |first1=C. Gerald |title=SHEPARD TRAUBE, 76, IS DEAD; STAGE PRODUCER AND DIRECTOR |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/25/obituaries/shepard-traube-76-is-dead-stage-producer-and-director.html |website=The New York Times |date=25 July 1983}}</ref>{{sfn|Shelley|2010|p=9}} who referred her to [[Paramount Pictures]] talent scout [[Oscar Serlin]], who arranged for a screen test.{{sfn|Shelley|2010|p=10}} Paramount offered her a seven-year contract, which Farmer signed in New York City on her 22nd birthday.{{sfn|Shelley|2010|p=10}} After completing screen tests on [[Long Island]], Farmer moved to Los Angeles to begin working for Paramount.{{sfn|Shelley|2010|pages=9–10}} Upon arrival, she underwent dental surgery to fix a gap in her front teeth, and she spent long hours screen-testing and training on the Paramount studio lot.{{sfn|Shelley|2010|p=11}} In November 1935, she was cast in the [[B-movie]] ''[[Too Many Parents]]'' (1936), a comedy about young men in military school.{{sfn|Shelley|2010|p=12}} The film was a box-office success.{{sfn|Shelley|2010|p=12}} Farmer later described the making of the film as a "dull, professionally humiliating experience."{{sfn|Farmer|1972|p=114}} After completing it in February 1936, Farmer wed fellow Paramount contract player Wycliffe Anderson<ref>https://www.historylink.org/file/5058</ref> (who had changed his name to William Anderson, and later to Glenn Erickson, and finally to [[Leif Erickson (actor)|Leif Erickson]], after the Viking explorer).{{sfn|Agan|1979|p=16}} She was then cast in a lead role in the drama ''[[Border Flight]]''.{{sfn|Shelley|2010|p=79-80}}{{Sfn|Reid|2013|p=11}}

Later that year, Farmer was cast in her first "A" feature, ''[[Rhythm on the Range]]'', a musical Western starring [[Bing Crosby]].{{sfn|Agan|1979|p=17}} She recalled of the film: "I had had a crush on him [Crosby] since my high school days, and stood in awe of the fact that in my first important film I was actually working as his leading lady."{{sfn|Agan|1979|p=18}} ''Rhythm on the Range'' earned favorable reviews and brought Farmer an enhanced public reputation.{{sfn|Agan|1979|p=17}} After its release, Paramount studio head [[Adolph Zukor]] phoned her and told her, "now that she was a rising star she'd have to start acting like one."{{sfn|Agan|1979|p=17}} Farmer was resistant, however, and spent most of her time at her home in [[Laurel Canyon]] with Erickson, forgoing invitations to Hollywood parties and events.{{sfn|Agan|1979|p=17}} In an attempt to make her marketable, Paramount chose to brand her in press releases as "the star who would not go Hollywood," focusing on her "eccentric" fashion tastes.{{sfn|Agan|1979|p=17}}

During the summer of 1936, she was lent to [[Samuel Goldwyn]] to appear in ''[[Come and Get It (1936 film)|Come and Get It]]'', based on the novel by [[Edna Ferber]], in which she played a dual role - as both mother and daughter - as a young woman pursued by her mother's former lover. [[Howard Hawks]] was originally signed to direct, but was replaced by [[William Wyler]] midway through production; Farmer was indignant and clashed with Wyler during filming.{{sfn|Agan|1979|p=18}} Farmer was quoted as saying that "acting with Wyler is the nearest thing to slavery."{{sfn|Shelley|2010|p=13}} Wyler later stated, "The nicest thing I can say about Frances Farmer is that she is unbearable."{{sfn|Malone|2015|p=35}} Though her working relationship with Wyler was tumultuous, Hawks remembered Farmer with admiration, saying that she "had more talent than anyone I ever worked with."{{sfn|Karney|1984|p=62}} Hawks also said of Farmer, "She was probably one of the cleanest, simplest, hardest-working persons I ever knew."{{sfn|McBride|1982|p=96}} Producers chose to premiere the film in Seattle, Farmer's hometown.{{sfn|Agan|1979|p=18}} At the premiere, Farmer was notably quiet and spoke little to reporters, which resulted in news reports that she was cold and aloof.{{sfn|Agan|1979|p=18}} Nevertheless, ''Come and Get It'' earned praise from the public and critics, with several reviews greeting Farmer as a newfound star, some likening her to [[Greta Garbo]].{{sfn|Agan|1979|p=18}}

In 1937, she was lent to [[RKO Pictures|RKO]] to star opposite [[Cary Grant]] in ''[[The Toast of New York]]'', the story of a [[Wall Street]] tycoon.{{sfn|Agan|1979|p=18}} The film's production was turbulent as Farmer was unhappy with the rebranding of her character from a hard-edged vixen to "an [[ingénue]] fresh from [[Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm|Sunnybrook]]."{{sfn|Agan|1979|p=18}} On set, she argued with director [[Rowland V. Lee]] and gave belittling interviews to the press.{{sfn|Agan|1979|p=19}} Grant was later quoted as saying about Farmer, "She came to Hollywood knowing the rules but chose to flout them. She was self-destructive."{{sfn|Hadleigh|1994|p=25}} Unsatisfied with her career direction after ''The Toast of New York'', Farmer resisted the studio's control and every attempt it made to glamorize her private life. A 1937 ''[[Collier's]]'' article, though, sympathetically described her as indifferent to the clothing she wore and said she drove an older-model "green roadster".{{sfn|Shelley|2010|p=16}} Also in 1937, she appeared in the crime drama ''[[Exclusive (film)|Exclusive]]'' opposite [[Fred MacMurray]] and the [[Technicolor]] adventure film ''[[Ebb Tide (1937 film)|Ebb Tide]]'' opposite [[Ray Milland]].{{sfn|Agan|1979|p=19}} [[Frank Nugent]], in his review of ''Ebb Tide'' for ''[[The New York Times]]'' wrote, "Frances Farmer has a fine pair of shoulders which, picturesque though they may be, yet were made to bear a weightier dramatic burden."{{sfn|Shelley|2010|p=121}}