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Frances Farmer
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===1959–1964: Stage and television work=== Farmer's stage work proved beneficial, as she received the opportunity to host her own daytime movie program, ''Frances Farmer Presents.'' The show was created after a television executive from the local [[NBC|National Broadcasting Company (NBC)]] [[WRTV#As an ABC affiliate|affiliate]], WFBM-TV (now known as [[WRTV]]), saw her performance in ''The Chalk Garden'' in August 1958.<ref name="Tmn" /> The program made her popular as an amiable host, and she subsequently received an award as a local businesswoman of the year.<ref name="Tmn" /> By March 1959, though, national wire service reports indicated that she had separated from Mikesell and that he was suing her for breach of contract.{{efn|Edith claimed the lawsuit against Farmer totaled $50,000, though Farmer herself claimed in a letter to Edith that the suit was actually $200,000.{{sfn|Shelley|2010|p=49}}}} In 1959, Farmer moved in with Jeanira "Jean" Ratcliffe, a widow with whom she became good friends in Indianapolis.{{sfn|Lund|1980|p=28}} In 1962, Farmer appeared in a [[Purdue University]] production of [[Anton Chekhov]]'s ''[[The Seagull]]''.<ref name="Tate">{{cite web|title=Farmer, Frances (1913–1970) – Part 2 HistoryLink.org Essay 5058|url=https://www.historylink.org/File/5058|work=HistoryLink.org|publisher=Historylink|access-date=January 4, 2013|last=Tate|first=Cassandra|format=Essay|date=January 17, 2003}}</ref> The following year, her divorce from Mikesell was finalized in Indianapolis.{{sfn|Agan|1979|p=32}} ''Frances Farmer Presents'' ended in the summer of 1964; the station's general manager had fired her in April, hired her back two months later, but then dismissed Farmer permanently in late August/early September, aggravated by her alleged drinking binges.{{sfn|Agan|1979|p=32}} Farmer continued her stage work and accepted a role in a Purdue Summer Theatre production of [[Ketti Frings]]'s ''[[Look Homeward, Angel (play)|Look Homeward, Angel]]''.<ref name="Tate" /> In 1965, she played Claire Zachanassian in Purdue's production of [[Friedrich Dürrenmatt]]'s ''[[The Visit (play)|The Visit]]'', which ran at the Loeb Playhouse on campus from October 22 to 30, 1965. The production has been described as follows: {{quote|The Purdue production wasn't to be the slick Broadway or Hollywood adaptations of the play, but the original "grotesque version". Zachanassian, the richest woman in the world, yet also weirdly handicapped (she sports a wooden leg and an ivory hand), has returned triumphantly (but as an old woman) to the impoverished village of her youth. She offers to save its citizens from poverty on one terrible condition: that they kill Albert Ill, the local grocer, who'd broken her heart when they were teenagers. Zachanassian is a charming and terrible figure—imagine the lovechild of [[Frankenstein]] and [[Greta Garbo]].<ref name="Tmn" />}} During the production of ''The Visit'', Farmer was involved in a drunk-driving crash.{{sfn|Shelley|2010|p=55}} When confronted by police, she recalled: "Rather than answering as Frances Farmer, I reverted to my role in the play and [suddenly became] the richest woman in the world, shouting to high heaven that I would buy his goddamned town. I got out stiff-legged and ivory-handed, quoting all the imperious lines I could remember. Unfortunately, this did not [sit] well with the [cop], and a patrol car took me to jail."<ref name="Tmn" /> Ironically, following reports of the incident in the media, the next night's performance of ''The Visit'' completely sold out. Farmer was very reluctant to return to the stage, but was encouraged by Ratcliffe; Farmer recounted the experience of the performance in her autobiography: "[T]here was a long silent pause as I stood there, followed by the most thunderous applause of my career. [The audience] swept the scandal under the rug with their ovation." It was "my finest and final performance. I knew I would never need to act onstage again. I felt satisfied and rewarded."{{sfn|Farmer|1972|p=292}}
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