When reporter Madeline Glass was assigned an interview with Franchot Tone for Picture Play Magazine in 1935, she was less than enthused. Glass had heard rumors that Franchot was haughty, disagreeable, and uncooperative. After her face-to-face meeting with a friendly Franchot on the set of Reckless, Glass shared her suspicion that "innate shyness has caused him to take refuge from argus-eyed reporters behind a barrier of aloofness. He strikes me as being a person whom one must know more than casually before his lurking friendliness can adequately manifest itself."
During their conversation, Franchot broached many subjects.
On his wealthy upbringing:
No, I've never been in want of material things. Sometimes I wish that life hadn't been so easy for me. A few hard knocks would have been beneficial, I think. At times I wonder how I would react if disaster did overtake me. I might crack up because of no previous experience in dealing with severe trials.
On rumors that he'd been difficult to work with on the set of Lives of a Bengal Lancer:
That was the only time I've asserted myself since coming to Hollywood, and my work in the production has proved to be the best I've done in pictures. Some of my dialogue was poor, so I changed it. I also insisted on doing some of my scenes the way that I felt would be most effective. I wouldn't work on Sunday as my contract stipulated that I need not.On his love of the theater:
I like picture work, but I can do better acting on the stage. There's more opportunity to create characterizations in a medium where one studies and rehearses a role for weeks. Pictures are made too rapidly for one to get a genuine understanding of the part one plays. Too much is left to chance. On the stage a role is developed gradually. In the end one has a complete characterization.Source:
Glass, Madeline. "Franchot Thaws." Picture Play Magazine. April 1935.
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