January 27, 2007

Interview. Farley Granger.

Farley Granger: Include Me Out At the fourth annual Noir City festival in San Francisco, Jonathan Marlow cornered actor Farley Granger to discuss his fabled and fascinating career. Granger had the good fortune to work with a number of great directors over the years - Luchino Visconti, Alfred Hitchcock, Anthony Mann, Henri Verneuil - and his performances were always memorable, contributing greatly to the best qualities of every movie in which he appeared.

If Jonathan's conversation ignites your interest, he and his good friend Robert Calhoun have written a book, Include Me Out: My Life from Goldwyn to Broadway, which expands greatly on the stories that you'll find there. This much anticipated autobiography finally hits the shelves in February.



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Posted by dwhudson at January 27, 2007 3:47 PM

Comments

What a fun interview to read. Thanks for posting it. Granger's one of those actors that everybody's seen, but only obsessive film types (you know the sort -- the type of folks that write and read film blogs) really ever get around to acknowledging and appreciating. After reading 'Live Fast, Die Young - The Wild Ride of Making Rebel Without a Cause' a year or so ago, I decided that I could no longer wait for an American company to release 'They Live By Night' on dvd, and went ahead and bought the French import. Wow! The film is even better than I'd read! It's not only reminiscent of Altman's charmed remake, 'Thieves Like Us', but also of 'Rebel' itself and the less sweet, more noirish, Lawrence Tierney flick, 'Dillinger'. Oh, and French dvd also includes a 2nd disc with hours of interviews, vintage advertisements and a behind the scenes documentary of an eye-patched Nicholas Ray directing 'We Can't Go Home Again' with a bunch of hippie film students acting as cast and crew and, um..."muse".

Posted by: Ju-osh at January 28, 2007 8:47 AM

He had the look but not so much the talent - although his ineptness could be manipulated to the benefit of the film (namely Hitchcock in Rope and Strangers on a Train).

Posted by: Mace at January 28, 2007 9:26 AM

I don't know. It was this same 'ineptness' of character that was featured in 'They Live By Night', and he was perfect for/in that role, too. Perhaps this was just the type of character Granger excelled at playing. I'd agree that his range was limited, but I'd also say that he demonstrated quite a bit of talent within the confines of those limitations.

Posted by: Ju-osh at January 28, 2007 12:16 PM

As I mentioned to you f2f the other night, Jonathan, this was indeed a fun read and--for someone feeling beleaguered by festival reportage--a great lesson in setting one's own deadlines.

Posted by: Michael Guillen at January 28, 2007 2:15 PM

Hmm. Quite interesting, but there's something wrong with an interview when the interviewer has more to say than the interviewee. Perhaps not Calhoun's fault. About two years ago, Granger was in London rehearsing for a play, I think it was Rope in the Jimmy Stewart role, but he just couldn't go through with for some reason.

Posted by: ronald bergan at January 28, 2007 2:38 PM

Sorry, I meant Jonathan Marlow.

Posted by: ronald bergan at January 28, 2007 11:27 PM