A Tribute from Shepard Traube

Eleven days after Franchot's death—of lung cancer at the age of 63 on September 18, 1968—Shepard Traube wrote to the editor of The New York Times. I've transcribed that letter here.

To the editor:

I am filled with sorrow that Franchot Tone is no longer with us. He was an artist and a man of grace.

When we were both young men, Franchot was the featured juvenile in a now-forgotten play, "A Thousand Summers," the first Broadway production that I directed. In our company were such deathless stars as Jane Cowl, Osgood Perkins and Josephine Hull. In that group of superb actors, Franchot was a kind of flame. We all knew he was our most promising star of the future, the Hamlet of tomorrow.

It didn't work out quite that way. Franchot went to Hollywood and there was a good deal of turbulence in his life. Yet he never lost his poise, his sense of humor, or his dedication to exquisite standards of taste in the theater.

A couple of summers ago, I took a train to Waterford, Conn., where I was scheduled to participate in a panel discussion for the Eugene O'Neill Foundation people. As I sank into my chair and looked around, there was Franchot, grinning at me quizzically. He was preparing for an experimental production of a play about Gordon Craig, and he was boiling over with excitement about it. There was fire and purpose in him. We babbled to each other during the entire train ride, and continued to talk throughout the day in Waterford. I remember that I had to go back to New York at the end of the afternoon, while he remained on for rehearsals. We hugged each other and said, "Break a bone..."

That's the way I shall remember Franchot.

Shepard Traube

I find this to be a very fitting and, from all I've read about him, an accurate tribute to Franchot. Septembers are always difficult. This year on the anniversary of Franchot's death I needed to see him having fun onscreen so I had a delightful movie marathon featuring the comedies Honeymoon, Man-Proof and The Girl from Missouri.

I ponder what might've been had Franchot lived to the ripe old age of 95. Would he have transitioned into a full-time director and settled down in the theater he purchased shortly before his death? Or maybe change things up and become a theater professor? Would we have seen him finally get his due at awards ceremonies in the 1970's or 1980's? Would he have made a hilarious cameo as a suitor on the first season of The Golden Girls? Franchot was always so versatile that the possibilities are truly endless. 

Source: "Franchot Tone 1905-1968." The New York Times. September 29, 1968.