Franklyn Farnum (born William Smith, also credited as Frank Farnum; June 5, 1878 – July 4, 1961) was an American character actor and Hollywood extra who appeared in at least 1,100 films. Farnum appeared in eight films that won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Contents
Life and career
Farnum's Broadway credits include Keep It Clean (1929), Ziegfeld 9 O'clock Frolic (1921), Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic (1921), and Somewhere Else (1913).
Farnum's career was dominated mostly by westerns. Some of his films include the serial Vanishing Trails (1920) and the features The Clock (1917), The Firebrand (1922), The Drug Store Cowboy (1925), and The Gambling Fool (1925). He left films in 1925 but returned five years later at the advent of sound, only to find himself billed much further down the credits, if billed at all. However, he continued on in these obscure roles well into the 1950s.
One of his three wives was actress Alma Rubens, to whom he was briefly married in 1918. The couple divorced in 1919. He had one daughter, actress Geraldine Rose Farnum (b. 1924), by his third wife Edith Goodwin Farnum nee Walker.
Farnum appeared in a record-eight Academy Award for Best Picture winners: The Life of Emile Zola (1937), Going My Way (1944), The Lost Weekend (1945), Gentleman's Agreement (1947), All About Eve (1950), The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), Around the World in 80 Days (1956), and The Apartment (1960). He shares the record with fellow character actress Bess Flowers; Farnum and Flowers appeared together (both uncredited) in All About Eve, The Greatest Show on Earth, and Around the World in 80 Days.
On July 4, 1961, Farnum died of cancer at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California, at the age of 83.
Selected filmography
1910s
The Devil's Pay Day (1917) – Gregory Van Houten
The Man Who Took a Chance (1917) – Monty Gray
The Clock (1917) – Jack Tempest
Bringing Home Father (1917) – Peter Drake
The Car of Chance (1917) – Arnold Baird
The Clean-Up (1917) – Stuart Adams
The Empty Gun (1917, Short) – Robber
A Stormy Knight (1917) – John Winton
Anything Once (1917) – Teddy Crosby
The Winged Mystery (1917) – Captain August Sieger / Louis Siever
The Scarlet Car (1917) – Billy Winthrop
Fast Company (1918) – Lawrence Percival Van Huyler
$5,000 Reward (1918) – Dick Arlington
The Fighting Grin (1918) – Billy Kennedy
The Empty Cab (1918) – Henry Egbert Xerxes
In Judgement Of (1918) – Dr. John O'Neill
Rough and Ready (1918) – Richard Bolton / Spike O'Brien
The Vanity Pool (1918) – Drew Garrett
Go-Get-Em Garringer (1919) – Garringer
The Virtuous Model (1919) – Edward Dorin
1920s
Vanishing Trails (1920) – Silent Joe
The Galloping Devil (1920) – Andy Green
The Land of Jazz (1920) – Minor Role
The Fighting Stranger (1921) – Australia Joe
The Hunger of the Blood (1921) – Maslun
The Last Chance (1921) – Rance Sparr
The Struggle (1921) – Dick Storm
The Raiders (1921) – Private Fitzgerald, RCMP
The White Masks (1921) – Jack Bray
So This Is Arizona (1922) – Norman Russell
Smiling Jim (1922) – Smiling Jim / Frank Harmon
When East Comes West (1922) – Jones
Texas (1922)
Trail's End (1922) – Wilder Armstrong
Angel Citizens (1922) – Frank Bartlett
Gun Shy (1922) – James Brown
Gold Grabbers (1922)
The Firebrand (1922) – Bill Holt
Cross Roads (1922) – The Hero
Wolves of the Border (1923)
The Man Getter (1923)
It Happened Out West (1923)
1930s
Beyond the Rio Grande (1930) – Joe Kemp
Beyond the Law (1930) – Army Lieutenant
The Third Alarm (1930) – Fire Department Captain
Dames Ahoy! (1930) - Master of Ceremonies (uncredited)
Oklahoma Jim (1931) – Army Captain
Hell's Valley (1931) - Manuel Valdez
Left Over Ladies (1931) - Benson
Mark of the Spur (1932) - Sheriff Jake Ludlow
The Reckless Rider (1932) - Sheriff
Human Targets (1932) - Sheriff
Frontier Days (1934) - George Wilson
Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935) - Bartender (uncredited)
Fighting Caballero (1935) - Bartender
Desert Mesa (1935) - Jones
The Ghost Rider (1935) - Jim Bullard
The Cowboy and the Bandit (1935) - Crooked Dealer
What Becomes of the Children? (1936) - Shelby (uncredited)
The Preview Murder Mystery (1936) - James Deley
In Early Arizona (1938) - Spike, Henchman
1940s
Meet John Doe (1941) (uncredited)
Appointment in Berlin (1943) - Royal Air Force Officer (uncredited)
Hail the Conquering Hero (1944) - Town Councilman (uncredited)
Going My Way (1944) - Church Usher (uncredited)
The White Cliffs of Dover (1944) - Ball Guest (uncredited)
The Lost Weekend (1945) - Concert Attendee / Barfly (uncredited)
The Jolson Story (1946) - Man in Audience (uncredited)
Gentleman's Agreement (1947) - Party Guest (uncredited)
Monsieur Verdoux (1947) - Victim of the stock market crash (uncredited)
Road to Rio (1947) - Ship Lounge Extra (uncredited)
Angel on the Amazon (1948) - Diner (uncredited)
Johnny Belinda (1948) - Man on Jury (uncredited)
I Remember Mama (1948) - Drug Store Pharmacist (uncredited)
The Fighting Kentuckian (1949) - De Marchand Party Guest (uncredited)
1950s
Destination Moon (1950) - Factory Worker (uncredited)
Sunset Boulevard (1950) - Undertaker
All About Eve (1950) - Sarah Siddons Awards Guest (uncredited)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) - Extra in Office Building Corridor (uncredited)
Here Comes the Groom (1951) - Airplane Passenger (uncredited)
The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) - Assistant on Set (uncredited)
Carrie (1952) - Restaurant Patron (uncredited)
The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) - Spectator (uncredited)
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) - Ballet-Goer (uncredited)
White Christmas (1954) - Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
Black Widow (1954) - Party Guest (uncredited)
The Long, Long Trailer (1954) - Trailer Park Extra (uncredited)
Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955) (Season 1 Episode 6: "Salvage") - Party Guest (uncredited)
No Man's Woman (1955) - Police Criminologist (uncredited)
East of Eden (1955) - Townsman at Carnival (uncredited)
You're Never Too Young (1955) - Man in Ticket Line (uncredited)