From fame and fortune to madness and lobotomy: the story of Hollywood diva Frances Farmer
'11.02.2021'
Source: Big Picture
In the 1940s, it was difficult to find a better-known woman in the United States than Frances Farmer. Talent, beauty, sense of style and constant outrageous antics made this actress the favorite of millions and one of the cult figures who define their time. Unfortunately, Farmer did not delight the audience for long with her beauty and artistry - a terrible ending awaited her, which was difficult to imagine, says Bigpicture.
The future Hollywood star Frances Elena Farmer was born on September 19, 1913 in Washington, DC, in the family of lawyer Ernest Melvin Farmer and dietitian Lillian Van Ornum. The family had four children, among whom Francis is the youngest. Parents constantly quarreled, parted, converged again, and the girl experienced these conflicts the hardest of all.
In 1929, Francis's parents parted ways forever. After the divorce, the father of the family stayed to make a career in the capital, and Lillian and her children settled in the small town of Bremerton, Washington. Here Frances Farmer realized that if she didn’t try, then the dull Bremerton would forever become her place of residence. She began to actively study and try herself in various fields.
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At school, Farmer showed herself as a skilled artist and author of excellent essays, so many advised the girl to choose between the professions of an illustrator and a journalist. Over the years of her studies, she became a laureate of many prizes in literature, and at the university she was even encouraged by a tour to the USSR to get acquainted with the Moscow Art Theater.
The trip, during which Francis saw the life of one of the best theaters in the world from the inside, had a huge impact on the girl's life, and she firmly decided to become an actress after graduation. After receiving her diploma, Farmer left for the cultural capital of the United States, New York, where she began going to auditions and screenings. There, the girl signed her first contract with the studio Paramount Pictures, after which she drove off to Hollywood - towards fame.
The very first picture of the young actress, called "Too Many Parents", brought her recognition - Farmer became famous and in demand. After the debut, films followed, in which stars of the first magnitude played along with Francis. For example, in the film "Rhythm on the Steep" she worked in tandem with Bing Crosby, which brought her even greater fame.
In the late 1930s, Farmer met actor Leif Erickson, who became her husband. Fate spoiled the budding star, and she had a sin to complain, but Francis all the time it seemed that she was getting something less from this life. It seemed to her that the producers were in no hurry to take her for the best roles, they deliberately impose stereotyped images, thereby closing the path to further development and career.
This depressed the star, made him angry with everyone around him, commit unacceptable acts on the set and create scandals. Farmer refused to communicate with colleagues in the acting workshop and avoided attending public events. All this negatively affected her career, but Frances was sure that everything was worse than ever.
As a result, disillusioned with the "dream factory", the actress drops everything and leaves for the East Coast to devote herself to theater. She meets the famous playwright Clifford Odets, who gave the actress several excellent roles that made her now a star on the stage.
Inspired by success, Farmer began an affair with Odets, who, like her, was not free. But this union turned out to be fragile and Clifford, a womanizer, after just a few months, changed his attitude towards his beloved and began to avoid her. The theatrical figure had a new favorite, who was immediately given the key roles of Francis in all performances.
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For the actress, such a betrayal was a serious blow - she fell into a prolonged depression, lost her will to live and became addicted to alcohol. The woman returned to Hollywood at Paramount Pictures, where she was cast in several serious roles. But Farmer's hysterical antics and constant binges quickly changed the attitude of studio leaders towards her.
In 1940, the actress stopped getting serious roles, and two years later the studio managers announced that they no longer needed her services and unilaterally terminated the contract. This coincided with the collapse of the actress's personal life - her marriage to Erickson fell apart. The wife was tired of the love affairs and alcoholic marathons of Francis, who was rapidly sinking to the very bottom.
In the same year, a woman was arrested for drunk driving and insulting a government official on duty. Then the actress got off with a fine and a suspended sentence, but did not learn any lesson from this. Before serving a suspended sentence, Farmer again committed a crime - attacking a guard in court and insulting a judge. This time she was not forgiven and sent to jail.
Frances did not serve her term, as she was rescued by an influential relative who held a high state post. At her petition, the actress was examined, declared incompetent and sent for treatment to a psychiatric clinic specializing in patients with alcohol dependence.
Doctors found out that Farmer suffers from manic-depressive psychosis, schizophrenia and, of course, severe alcohol addiction. In the 40s of the last century in the United States, psychiatrists were not very humane, and without her consent and permission of her relatives, they used “heavy artillery” in the form of insulin therapy to the beautiful actress. With the help of horse doses of hormones, Francis was periodically injected into an artificial coma, which, according to doctors, should help her.
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In between life-threatening procedures, after 9 months of suffering, Farmer managed to escape from the hospital. The woman returned to her mother, who immediately filed a lawsuit against the hospital. In order for her daughter to quickly forget the nightmares of an insane asylum and be distracted, her mother took her to Seattle, where Frances had to start life from scratch.
But Lillian's good intentions were shattered by another binge of her daughter, after which there was an aggravation of mental ailments. The actress began to show aggression towards others and even rush to people in order to injure them. The mother tolerated her daughter's antics until she began to threaten her with murder. After that, she again had to be placed in the care of inhuman American psychiatry.
The woman was placed in one of the clinics in Washington, where she again had to go through all the circles of hell. She was tortured with electroconvulsive procedures, kept in a bathtub filled with ice water and did not remove her straitjacket for weeks. After several months of such treatment, the patient almost ceased to react to what was happening around her, and then she was recognized as absolutely healthy.
But barely leaving the gates of the clinic, Frances set to work. She refused to return home and became a vagabond. Farmer roamed the East Coast cities, slept with the homeless under bridges and in shelters, performed with roving musicians, and drank constantly.
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After some time, the completely dipped former star ended up in California, where she was arrested for antisocial behavior and put in prison. By this time, not a trace remained of the brilliant actress - the woman was dressed in dirty rags, her hair had strayed into a ball, and her gaze was insane. Farmer did not think well and only asked for a drink and a smoke.
The police contacted the woman's mother, and she gave the go-ahead for a new course of treatment at the Western State Clinic. The infamous Dr. Walter Freeman, popularizer of transorbital lobotomy, practiced in this hospital at the time. It was this terrible operation that Farmer was subjected to, of course, without her consent.
Frances was lucky, she did not die after the barbaric procedure and did not even lose social skills, like many of her brothers in misfortune. After being discharged from the hospital, the woman settled in Seattle and got a job as a laundress at the Olympic Hotel. There she met her second husband, a public utility worker, Alfred Lobley. Her husband took her to the cozy town of Eureka, to sunny California, where the couple lived for several happy years.
But in 1957, Frances left her husband for the sake of producer Leand Mikesell, with whom she drove off "towards acting glory" in San Francisco. She managed to play several small roles in the theater and one role in the cinema, in the film "Kayfolom". The era of television began, and Farmer decided not to miss her chance - she wanted to make a career in a television show. She launched the Frances Farmer Presents project, which has had significant success.
Unfortunately, the actress did not last for a long time, and she began to drink again, thereby destroying everything that she managed to achieve again. Outbreaks of violence and drunkenness forced Mikesell to part with the actress, and soon her show was canceled. Frances Farmer died at the age of 56 from esophageal cancer, a disease that often overtakes alcohol abusers. She died alone, and only a few of her friends attended the funeral.
