Farley Granger, Star of Hitchcock's "Strangers on a Train" Dies at 85

Farley Granger (1925-2011), star of the Alfred Hitchcock classics Rope (1948) and Strangers on a Train (1951) died on Sunday. He was 85. 

The North Star was Farley Granger's first movie role.

Teenage Movie Star
Plucked from obscurity by a talent scout representing Samuel Goldwyn, Granger starred along side Dana Andrews, Anne Baxter, and Walter Houston in his very first film, The North Star (1943). The plot revolved around the residents of a Ukrainian village preparing for a Nazi invasion in the early days of World War II. Lewis Milestone directed the movie written by playwright Lillian Hellman. Milestone directed the anti-war classic All Quiet on the Western Front (1930). 

The Purple Heart was Granger's second film.

Navy Blue
Granger’s boyish good looks made him an instant hit with film fans. After The North Star, he again starred alongside Andrews in The Purple Heart (1944). After completing that film, Granger went into military service in the Navy. 

Granger, James Steward, and John Dall in Alfred Hitchcock's Rope

Post-War Movie Career
Upon his return to Hollywood after the war, Granger was loaned out to Hitchcock for Rope (1948) starring James Stewart. The film about two young men who murder a former schoolmate for the thrill of it was quite jarring for post-World War II audiences. Considered a classic today by many modern critics, the film wasn’t well received when originally released. Granger went on to star as Bowie in the Nicholas Ray classic They Live By Night (1949).  

Most Famous Role
Probably his most famous role was that of tennis pro Guy Haines in the Hitchcock directed Strangers on a Train (1951). In the film, Granger is manipulated by an obsessed, opportunistic fan (Robert Walker) who concocts a plan to “swap murders.”  The climax on a run-away carousel is one of the most famous in the history of cinema. 

Granger, left, with Robert Walker in Strangers on a Train

Stage Struck
Being under contract to Goldwyn was confining for Granger, who found himself constantly suspended for turning down film assignments. Eventually he bought himself out of his contract so he could pursue a career on Broadway. While he was learning how to navigate the stage world, Granger supported himself by starring on TV during its Golden Age in the 1950s. During this period, he made the occasional film like The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing (1955), but Granger remained a mainstay on the small screen well into the 1960s. Although the stage career never turned out the way he had hoped it would, Granger did have some memorable roles. He starred as the king in The King and I at New York's City Center in 1960 and played John Proctor in the 1964 Broadway production of Arthur Miller's the Crucible.

In 2007, Granger published his autobiography, Include Me Out: My Life From Goldwyn to Broadway, written with his longtime companion, Robert Calhoun.

Friday quotes - Katharine Hepburn

"If you obey all the rules you
miss all the fun"
Katharine Hepburn(1907-2003)
I've always adored Katharine Hepburn, she's strong, intelligent, witty and beautiful.  What more could you want in a woman?  Oh, and I love her wardrobe.  Here are some of my favourite quotes from the wonderful Ms Hepburn.

"When I started out I didn't have any desire to be an actress or to learn how to act.  I just

The legacy of screenwriter John Michael Hayes

Best work with Hitchcock

Screenwriter John Michael Hayes did some of his best work while under the employ of director Alfred Hitchcock. Their four-film collaboration was short, but it produced three classic movies, including Rear Window  (1954) and To Catch a Thief (1955). The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) was one of the biggest box office hits of the year.

Hayes’s screenplays for Hitchcock, bright and sophisticated when first produced, have remained fresh and contemporary, even in the been-there-done-that era in which we live today.

Rear window ethics

Sample this piece of dialogue between Jeff (James Stewart) and Stella (Thelma Ritter) from Rear Window.

Stella :You heard of that market crash in '29? I predicted that.
Jeff: Oh, just how did you do that, Stella?
Stella: Oh, simple. I was nursing a director of General Motors. Kidney ailment, they said. Nerves, I said. And I asked myself, "What's General Motors got to be nervous about?" Overproduction, I says; collapse. When General Motors has to go to the bathroom ten times a day, the whole country's ready to let go.

Few people before or since, have been able to match Hayes’s ear for authentic-sounding dialogue. Granted, having Stewart and Ritter mouth what you’ve written helps, but they had great material to work with to build their characterizations.

Three out of four isn't bad

The one picture that didn’t catch on with the public was The Trouble With Harry. It was too British in its black humor, according to Hitchcock (although apparently the British didn't like it much either). To Hitchcock fans, it's a fun film for a number of reasons. It features the film debut of Shirley MacLaine for one and a pre-Leave it to Beaver Jerry Mathers for another. It also has some beautiful cinematography and a pounding score by composer Bernard Herrmann. This was the beginning of a long professional relationship between Hitchcock and Herrmann, that lasted until Marnie (1964).

After Hayes moved on and worked more independently, his services were in great demand. He wrote the screenplays for some of the biggest blockbusters of the 1950s and 1960s, including Peyton Place (1957), The Carpetbaggers (1964), and Nevada Smith (1966). Still, his most enduring work remains the films he wrote for the master of suspense.

Hayes’s last screenplay was for the film Iron Will (1994) starring Kevin Spacey. Hayes died in November 2008 at the age of 89.