The Strasbergs Remember Franchot

A friend of Lee and Paula Strasberg, Franchot also created lasting friendships with their children, Susan and John. Both went on to relate the details of Franchot's influence in their books.

Susan Strasberg on Franchot Tone

In her memoir Bittersweet, Susan recalled that her very first memories were being a toddler crawling around famous feet under the dining table. Those guests included Luise Rainier, John Garfield, Tallulah Bankhead, and Franchot Tone (whom she lovingly referred to as "Uncle".) Uncle Franchot was a "tender, aesthetic, scholarly gentleman" who often held young Susan, and Susan found it hard to reconcile his naturally kind, quiet nature with the version he presented one night when he arrived "drunk and bloody from a battle over some woman."

A close friend of the family, Franchot often visited the house to consult with Lee Strasberg—who was at times very tender (embracing Franchot with a heartfelt hug) yet frequently standoffish (blaring music and not making eye contact with Franchot despite his patiently waiting.)

Franchot and Susan read reviews of "The Diary of Anne Frank."
Source: Bittersweet

Franchot was present for many celebrations. When Susan performed in "The Diary of Anne Frank", Franchot (along with Marilyn Monroe and Joshua Logan) was waiting to congratulate her in the dressing room. At a party at Sardi's following her performance, Franchot "raised his glass. 'Little Susan, you have been launched on a long and glittering career. I drink to you.' As they waited for the reviews, everyone ate and drank champagne. Franchot ordered pizza—for inquiring minds, Franchot once told a reporter that his favorite pizza topping was "plain mozzarella."

Franchot with Burton, Fonda, and Ustinov at Susan's surprise party.
Source: scan from my collection

Franchot was also on hand for Susan's surprise 20th birthday party. The party was inside a dark theater and also present were Henry Fonda, Peter Ustinov, Laurence Olivier, Lena Horne, Julie Harris, Tony Perkins, and Richard Burton (whom Susan was dating at the time.) In her book, Susan also recalls attending Franchot's own small parties hosted at Don the Beachcomber's, and counts him as a person she "cared about and respected" when she saw him at a 1960's New Year's Eve party.

Franchot and Susan in rehearsal for The Time of Your Life, 1958.
Source: scan from my collection

Franchot and Susan had the pleasure to act together on several projects. They both appeared in a 1956 television production of J.M. Barrie's play "Dear Brutus" on Omnibus, an educational television program that aired on CBS. In 1958, they traveled—and actually financed the entire trip on their own dime after funding fell through— to the Brussels World's Fair to perform "The Time of Your Life." You can read more about that production here. In 1959, they toured together for the play "Caesar and Cleopatra." Getty Images has a great photo of them in costume for that production, which you can view here.

Franchot and Susan in a publicity photo for Caesar and Cleopatra in 1959.
Source: scan from my collection.

When Franchot realized Susan was struggling with her role as Camille in Franco Zeffirelli's "The Lady of the Camellias" in 1963, he came to her aid. "He described his mother, who had died of tuberculosis, Camille's disease, detailing for me her flushes, her fevers, and high gaiety followed by her complete collapses..."

John Strasberg on Franchot Tone

Susan's brother John also devoted space to Franchot in his own memoir. He wrote:

I don't remember feeling any peace or harmony from the moment we moved back to New York in 1947 until I began spending summers in Canada with Franchot Tone when I was twelve. We hunted and fished, camping in Quebec's wilderness country.

Franchot's wealthy industrialist family owned three houses that sat on a ridge of land between two lakes that were part of the Gatineau Fish and Game Club, near Gracefield, Quebec. We portaged deep into land that he owned, smearing honey under the canoes of poachers so that the bears would destroy them. Franchot became one of my heroes, once I realized that heroes could be human...Normally quiet and reflective, he could be very temperamental. He was a movie star, but to me, above all, he was a Renaissance man. He thought about more than just the theater. He gave me books he loved, like the writings of the Comte de Rochechouart and Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, and a Marlin .22 lever action rifle, the gift of which startled my parents and endeared Franchot to me even more.

He exposed me to a world that I loved and felt at home in, and that my parents knew nothing about. He loved women, smoked two packs of unfiltered Camel cigarettes a day, and drank double vodkas. So did I, but some years later. He was definitely more of what I wanted to be than was my own father, and I often wonder what kind of father he was to his own children. Franchot's humanity touched me deeply. It was due in part to his influence that I learned to define success on my own terms. Above all, he taught me that work is part of one's natural respect and love of human life, but it is not a way to ignore or dominate it.

Sources: 

• Roach, Janet. "Perfectionist Franchot Tone 'Sacrifices' Own Shirt for Play." The Day. New London, Connecticut. August 5, 1966. Page 12. 
• Strasberg, John. Accidentally on Purpose: Reflections on Life, Acting, and the Nine Natural Laws of Creativity. New York: Applause, 1996. Print. 8-9.
• Strasberg, Susan. Bittersweet. New York:, Putnam, 1980. Print.

Charles Brackett's Take on Five Graves to Cairo

Oscar-winning writer and producer Charles Brackett kept a diary throughout his career and it was published in Anthony Slide's 2014 book It's the Pictures that Got Small. I only read the parts concerning Five Graves to Cairo, but plan to go back and read the book in its entirety. It's a fascinating book, but it's also amusing—most entries concern Brackett complaining about something or someone on set and declarations that he cannot wait for it to be over. It struck me as funny because it reads much like the diary of any one of us who might talk about our job at the end of the day over dinner or keep a diary about all of our coworkers. You're grouped with people of all different personalities and egos and you're forced to problem solve and reach an ultimate goal together. It's bound to be mostly negative complaints, right?  Guess it's no different for Hollywood producers!

The diary entries serve as a wonderful timeline of the film with Brackett's thoughts on the director and cast.

In July and August 1942, the film is referred to as "Imperial Hotel" and "Imperial Palace" until on August 11, Brackett writes:

Settled on the title, Five Graves to Cairo, told it to Bill Dozier at the table and word-gamed successfully. In the afternoon, we were summoned to Buddy De Sylva with Bill Dozier, told Buddy the title. He didn't like it. The word "graves" would keep people away from the theatre. Before we left he had accepted it...no one but ourselves to know anything about the picture...

Their publicity plan was also mapped out during the meeting over the title.
As early as August 2, Brackett was struggling with collaborator and friend Billy Wilder, writing that their ideas were "miles apart" and wondering whether "our successful collaborative partnership is over."

Casting was discussed on August 6. Buddy De Sylva wanted Paulette Goddard or maybe Zorina for the role that eventually went to Anne Baxter, but Brackett's top pick was Simone Simon. Simone and Franchot tested as early as September 29. There seems to have been no debate over Franchot in the lead. After seeing the tests, Brackett realized that Simone was not a good fit after all. He writes:

As it was, she was only a good spare, comfortable to know we could fall back on in case we got stuck. She wanted to see the tests, made a scene over the telephone. It is fantastic how she alienated every human being from the hair-dresser to the cutter during the test itself. As a result, the atmosphere in the projection room where the test was shown was distinctly unfriendly...

In October, Wilder and Brackett met with a British captain for technical advice on the picture, but Brackett writes that he was "not impressed."

In November, Brackett is utterly frustrated with Wilder, writing that Billy related their story of Five Graves to Cairo "quite badly" to David Selznick, that he, himself, is "unenthusiastic" about Wilder's desire to have Anne Baxter ("as dreary a little piece as I ever saw") in the female lead, and that Wilder's confidence in the film is so badly "shaken" that he makes their session together "absolute hell." By the end of the month, before the film has even been fully cast, Brackett writes:

Tonight I am playing with the thought, ecstatically, of casting off the utterly foolish pretense that I am producing Five Graves to Cairo...

December is no better. Brackett writes of more "hell," calls Anne Baxter "as plain as a pikestaff but nice," and questions Wilder's mental state writing:

There are times when I look at Billy, the best dramatic mind with which I ever came in contact, with the appalling feeling this his mind is dropping apart before my eyes—its brilliant decisiveness crumbling to utterly foolish indecisions.

Franchot, who apparently had a large appetite that day, is filming the scene in which he runs into the town by January 4, 1943. Brackett observes:

Then the sun rose and the excess water dried and the shooting began. Franchot [Tone], running towards the town, Franchot seeing the town, rising to his feet, starting his run, Franchot addressing the imaginary sentry...The time for shooting was brief, due to the direction of the hotel, which has the sun on its face for three brief hours. Lunched at the commissary, the point of interest being F.T.'s appetite, which is prodigious...wandered on the set to see Franchot do his crawl to the road, his eerie laugh as he saw the town.

Later that week, Franchot's buddy Buzz (actor Burgess Meredith) visited the set and Brackett enjoyed talking with them before they left. By January 12, Brackett is growing frustrated with Franchot:

In the afternoon Franchot Tone resumed his curious, quiet, automatic argument over every comma of the script. It's not that he really objects to the stuff, he just argues—uninterestingly, seemingly for the sake of conversation. I offered to give him a lecture on the subject but Billy said not yet, "But it is going to get on my nerves"...

Two weeks later, Franchot objected to the line "Like kind Uncle 'Erbert on Christmas Eve." Brackett:

Listened to his argument that he, as an American playing an Englishman, didn't want to have to play an Englishman imitating a Cockney. Suggested some lines, heard his objections, and had one of my old-fashioned ground-fits, from sheer boredeom—which scared the hell out of Tone and should prove valuable to Billy in future.

Actor Erich von Stroheim requested changes to his dialogue as well and Brackett calls the changes "absurd" and describes Von Stroheim as elderly, writing of his "slowness, lack of sureness, inability to remember his lines."

Brackett thought the January rushes he viewed were good but by February was concerned that the new rushes were only "fair" and called them "slightly ridiculous." By February 21, he was savoring the "unspeakable rapture of not having to work on Five Graves to Cairo." By March 2, they had a rough cut of the entire film and the first week of April, Wilder and Brackett had written the introductory title for the film though Brackett wrote "we're no good together any longer. There's so stimulation in the relationship."

At the final preview of the film in early April, Brackett wrote:

The picture played infinitely better without the omitted music, save for the sun-struck scene which seemed to need it. The ending was truncated and awful. The audience was completely absorbed in the story, and the picture isn't a great success. It has no real warmth, partly due to Tone. It is taut and contrived. Wish to hell we'd made anything but a war picture.

Although Brackett and Wilder didn't see eye to eye on Five Graves to Cairo, they would actually go on to collaborate through the end of 1948, completing 12 films together before going their separate ways.

Now that we've read Brackett's complaints, I have one of  my own—the design of most of the promotional posters and the DVD cover. Franchot is the male lead and the focal character throughout the entire film, but he is non-existent on the most widely distributed film poster.

And look how tiny little crawling Franchot is on the modern DVD cover.

Production-wise and story-wise, Five Graves to Cairo stands as one of Franchot's finest films. If you are a fan of Mutiny on the Bounty and The Lives of a Bengal Lancer, you'll appreciate Five Graves to Cairo—strangely, I've never written film summaries with screen captures for any of those three here! I guess I assumed a lot of people have seen those and started with some of the more rare films first. They are on the to-do list.

There's a wonderful behind-the-scenes photo album on TCM's website: http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/75054/Five-Graves-to-Cairo/#tcmarcp-500479-500481

Source:
Slide, Anthony. "It's the Pictures That Got Small": Charles Brackett on Billy Wilder and Hollywood's Golden Age. Columbia University Press, Nov 25, 2014.

Henry Hathaway on Franchot Tone

Autographed photo (to Eleanor) of Franchot
Tone on the set of The Lives of a Bengal Lancer.
Source: my collection

In a series of interviews with Polly Platt, director Henry Hathaway discussed the initial difficulty of getting Franchot secured for the role of Lieutenant John Forysthe and why he thought Franchot was perfect for it. Hathaway explained:

Well, the part had to be a man in balance. I considered this a love story between two guys; I don't mean a love story about homosexuals. Great affection and great love. And respect. When they gave me [Henry] Wilcoxon, I went in and protested. I said, "This man can be a first mate on a ship or a tough sergeant 'cause he's got a tough look about him. But he could not be a gentleman from the Blues." And it's much better to have a gentlemen instead of an Englishman. For balance. I said I wanted Franchot Tone and they said he was at M-G-M and he wasn't an Englishman and I had to use Wilcoxon...I started to work and I tried to get the balance in this stuff and I worked like hell with Wilcoxon, trying to get him a little softer, a little more gentle, more affable, tried to get him to be a gentleman...

About a month into filming the picture, Hathaway knew that Wilcoxon was the wrong fit. He went to Manny Cohen and said that if Wilcoxon wasn't out, then Henry himself would quit the picture. Hathaway felt his future career as a director hinged on this moment and he was willing to abandon the project if his wishes were not met. He told Cohen that he wanted Franchot Tone for the part. A meeting was held with the studio's lawyers, Cohen, and Hathaway. Hathaway requested Franchot Tone. The studio said no and offered Cary Grant and then Ray Milland. Hathaway recalls he demanded:

"Why don't you get me the man I want? Get me Tone." They said, "He's in a picture." "I don't believe it. Call Metro." They called Metro and they said they'd talk to Tone about it. I said to send Tone over to talk to us. He came over and I talked to him about the whole thing and he said, "Fine, I'll do it." So I went back to work with Tone. You know that the picture would not have been the same without Tone. Would it?

At this point, interviewer Polly Platt agrees and adds that "Tone is more interesting I think than Cooper." Hathaway responds, "And the fun he had with the Cooper character because he wasn't as classy as he was."

Platt then praises Hathaway for how the characters were set up and interacted with one another "and Tone does this wonderful look. Who could get away with that? Any other man?"

Hathaway responds, "If it was Wilcoxon, you'd have hated Wilcoxon. He's like the heavy."

Of course, Henry Wilcoxon starred in many of Cecil B. DeMille's films and went on to become a television actor and producer. We're fortunate that Hathaway pressed for Tone's involvement and that Franchot returned the interest despite M-G-M's leanings against it. Hathaway's insistence provided Franchot with one of the finest performances and films of his career. It was a role Franchot took pride in and would screen at home for his own enjoyment.

Source:
Hathaway, Henry and Polly Platt. Henry Hathaway. Scarecrow Press, 2001.

Irving Thalberg's Support and Ultimate Surrender of Franchot's Career

Irving Thalberg began his film career immediately following his high school graduation. While still a teen, Thalberg became a secretary for Universal and remained there until 1924, when the promise of a more lucrative salary drew him to Louis B. Mayer and MGM. There, Thalberg helped to turn (some would argue that he alone turned) the studio into the powerhouse it became in the late 1920's through the 1940's. He had a knack for knowing the public's tastes and expertly creating stars out of MGM's players, yet yearned for a studio that created only solid, important films.

Prone to illness since childhood, Thalberg's immune system was as weak as his mind was strong. He was forced to take an extended rest after a heart attack in 1932 and during this time, Mayer demoted him from production supervisor to unit producer. From 1933 to his untimely death in 1936, Thalberg produced some of MGM's most successful films. During this period, the "Boy Wonder"—as he was termed by his colleagues—would fight for Franchot Tone, but would ultimately fail to convince Louis B. Mayer of Tone's worth.

In a letter written in October 1933, Irving writes of his initial push for support of Franchot and his defeat by Mayer:

I made a request of Louis, inasmuch as Franchot Tone was dissatisfied with the treatment he had been receiving and was insisting on abrogating his contract, that I be permitted to take him over for a certain length of time. Since he's been with us, he's been used only in bits and means nothing, and I believed I would be rendering the company a great service in taking over this man, meaning nothing, and making him into a star—which I felt I could do. Louis couldn't see it—and rather than press the matter, I dropped it completely.

In this letter, Irving expresses frustration over MGM executives' "demoralized and uninspired" attitude and their readiness to produce "juvenile, immature" films instead of taking the time to focus on their talent (like Tone) and the scripts represented.

Irving expected Franchot's contract to include an availability clause that would give him first rights to Franchot and other artists he believed in. Despite his calls to MGM's legal department, Irving lost this contract dispute and other producers and studios were able to use Franchot first—further alienating Franchot from the more mature, star-making films Irving may have had in mind.

Thalberg, of course, bought and produced Mutiny on the Bounty, which would be a huge success for MGM and win Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Mutiny on the Bounty turned out to be Franchot's most successful film and would earn him esteem in the film community in addition to a Best Actor nomination. Even though Irving lost control over Franchot's image and career, he does deserve credit for helping to land Franchot in this career-defining role. It provided the perfect character in which Franchot could show his unique acting skills to his advantage. (Strangely though, Franchot was not Thalberg's first choice for Byam. It was offered to Franchot after Cary Grant turned it down.) In 1947, Franchot would tell the Saturday Evening Post that he knew Mutiny on the Bounty would be an important film because Irving was "behind the wheel."

1935 should have been a pivotal career year for Franchot. He starred in three films with Oscar nominations in that year alone: Mutiny, Dangerous, and The Lives of a Bengal Lancer. I'm certain that these opportunities made Franchot feel that his career was on the right path and that he'd be offered more substantial parts in the future. However, 1936—the year Irving Thalberg died—only brought more second leads for Franchot. Following his Oscar nomination, MGM placed him right back as a supporting actor in vehicles for Joan Crawford, Jean Harlow, Clark Gable, and Cary Grant. I enjoy his '36 films, but I'm sure they are not what Franchot had in mind for himself following such success the previous year.

I can only wonder what may have become of Franchot's career had Irving Thalberg survived and gained his previous power at MGM. I only wish that Irving had fought harder for Franchot and his rights to him in 1933. Had Irving been able to have his say in the pictures Franchot starred from 1933 on, Franchot's popularity and lasting legacy today may have looked very different. I feel like Irving had a keen eye for an actor's strengths and—had he fought harder against Mayer early on and Franchot fought harder for himself—could've placed Franchot in the right films to build him up as an actor and as a more prominent star.

Franchot and Joan at Irving's funeral. Source: sangfroidwoolf.tumblr.com

Sources:

• Crowther, Bosley. Hollywood Rajah: The Life and Times of Louis B. Mayer. Dell, 1960. p. 241.
• "Irving G. Thalberg." TCM. http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/190595%7C73388/Irving-G-Thalberg/
• Tone, Franchot. “The Role I Liked Best,” Saturday Evening Post, June 7, 1947, p. 132
• Viera, Mark. Irving Thalberg: Boy Wonder to Producer Prince. University of California Press. 2010. p. 182-183.

Payton-Tone: The Altercation

If you missed my first post on the Barbara Payton and Franchot Tone relationship, you may want to start here: The Beginning. This is a painful post to write and read if Franchot is dear to you. Although it reads like a soap opera, the whole thing is more like a scary movie to me. You want to scream,  "Franchot, don't go to the house!," "Franchot, don't do it! It's a trap!" Spoiler alert: He does go to the house and he does fall into a trap. Well, here we go...

Barbara and Tom in 1952. Source: UCLA Digital Collections.

When we left off, Barbara had met Tom Neal and thoughtlessly renounced Franchot while he was away on business. Throughout August 1951, Barbara would change her mind several times over which man she wanted and amazingly, the men seemed to comply. Finally, Barbara stated she would marry Tom and they spent nearly the first two weeks of September together. On September 13, Franchot came to town and Barbara spent the entire day with him at Beverly Hills Hotel and the evening at Ciro's. After 1 a.m., an inebriated Franchot and Barbara returned to her apartment to find an equally inebriated Tom and his friends.

Franchot and Tom confronted each other. In I Am Not Ashamed, Barbara relates that what set Franchot off was a pair of dumbbells on the patio—a painful reminder that Tom had been living with Barbara in the apartment Franchot paid for. According to author and Payton researcher John O'Dowd, as the argument became more heated, Barbara kissed Franchot and told him to "get rid of Tom." Throughout this entire affair, Franchot had seen the printed publicity in which Tom Neal had called him old and dull. Barbara would say that during this particular argument Tom would question Franchot's virility and ability to please Barbara. Now 46-years-old, Franchot's ego must have taken a hit at these comments. To prove himself to Barbara and regain control, Franchot (about 25 pounds thinner than his opponent) challenged Tom to a fight outside.

Tom threw the first punch and it was so powerful that it lifted Franchot up in the air and then forced him to the ground. Once Franchot was down, Tom jumped on top of him and beat him mercilessly. A next door neighbor would report that he saw Tom punch Franchot over 30 times in less than 10 minutes, but the uncouth Tom would later say that he only hit him a handful of times, else Franchot "wouldn't have any face or head left!"

Franchot lost consciousness several times and was unable to remember a lot of details of the fight. He would later tell District Attorney Roll:

Neal's first blow rendered me unconscious. I regained consciousness two or three seconds subsequently, to find Mr. Neal sitting on top of me, beating me about the head and face. I raised my hand to protect my face, but lost consciousness again immediately.

After one of Neal's friends tore Tom off Franchot, Franchot, in grave condition, was rushed to the nearby California Lutheran Hospital. Reporters who caught wind of the beating and hurried to the hospital waiting room were told that there was concern about blood clots and strokes and that this was essentially a “death watch.”

The beating left Franchot with a shattered cheekbone, fractured upper jaw, broken nose, and concussion. His face was so damaged that the doctors performed emergency plastic surgery and warned that his face might never look exactly the same as the public remembered. Immediately following the fight, Barbara stated to the press that she planned to marry Franchot and called Tom a “vicious man.” Although she snuck in martinis to a bandage-wrapped and pained Franchot, Barbara’s main focus seemed to be embracing the publicity that the ordeal had produced. She didn’t appear to understand why she was getting such negative press and offered no explanations. And she didn’t alter her behavior, either.

Barbara visiting Franchot in the hospital. Source: UCLA Digital Collections.

While Franchot was recuperating in the hospital, Barbara was photographed dancing with Tom in nightclubs. Reporters witnessed Tom enter Barbara’s apartment in the evenings and exit with her each morning before Barbara, alone, went to visit her badly beaten, on-again fiancée in the hospital. The fact that Barbara continued to go behind an ailing Franchot’s back to be with the man that beat him senselessly is something that I, personally, have a hard time understanding. It’s just such a cold, selfish way to behave and a horrible way to treat any person. Payton’s son John Lee thinks that Barbara behaved this way because she didn’t understand how to give or receive love. Barbara’s friend Tina Ballard commented that Barbara was one of those people who is so deeply self-destructive that they unintentionally wreck the lives of all in their path. In O’Dowd’s biography, Tina also described Barbara’s feelings for both men:

I think Barbara wished she could combine Franchot's qualities of wealth, intelligence and class with Tom's down-and-dirty, somewhat raw sexuality, and make a whole other person out of them! She loved and admired both men...the pull to Tom, though, was way stronger...

The fight placed negative publicity on all three principal players. Barbara walked away with a pretty horrible reputation in the public's opinion and was dropped from a leading role in Lady in the Iron Mask (I’ll get into her dreary post-Franchot years in a later blog post.) Franchot was able to redeem his reputation and career after some time, but it would take years of dedication to his craft and re-embracing the privately-lived life he’d known before Barbara.

In the year after the fight, however, Franchot was ridiculed by the press for his behavior with Barbara and publicly humiliated (even by some colleagues) for engaging in and losing a fight with a physically stronger man. But the embarrassment of the situation and stain against his character were nothing compared to the physical damages Franchot suffered. I think the plastic surgeons were extremely skilled, because they were able to maintain his recognizable facial features. Still, to me, he never looked quite the same after the fight. How could he after a shattered cheekbone, fractured upper jaw, and broken nose? Franchot looked like himself, just a slightly different version.

I do not have source info for this photo, but I think it's a good example of the
work done on Franchot's face. His nose looks differently here. Smoother, not with
the natural, imperfect slope of his nose prior to the incident.

Here's a good side-by-side comparison that shows
how Franchot's nose bump and nostrils looked in 1937 and
then after required plastic surgery in 1951.

His voice was affected, too. Don’t get me wrong. I realize that a lot of his vocal change in later years was due to cigarettes and scotch. Barbara herself said that Franchot never quite talked the same way and a few years later, in 1953, Franchot would unsuccessfully sue Lloyds of London for damages inflicted by Tom. Franchot stated that he had suffered “facial disfigurement and impairment of his voice.” (Resisting the suit, Lloyds argued that Franchot “was intoxicated, provoked a fight and exposed himself deliberately to danger.”)

Tom’s post-Franchot life will require a future post as well, but immediately following the assault, Tom was facing felony charges and possible prison time. Franchot was planning on pressing charges on Tom and following his hospital release, gave his version of the event to District Attorney S. Ernest Roll. During the meeting, a still-in-recovery Franchot, who was described as being very swollen, bloodshot, and pale, made it clear that Tom was the aggressor, but his fiancée backpedaled on it. Despite her earlier statements that Tom was a violent brute who nearly killed Franchot, Barbara was now obviously lessening those charges in order to protect Tom.

Franchot on September 25, 1951. This was the first photo of Franchot following the assault
and his hospital stay. It was taken at the DA's office. Source:UCLA Digital Collections.

Between that meeting and September 27^th, Barbara privately convinced her fiancée not to file charges on her lover (former lover, thought Franchot, but the world knew differently.) On September 26^th, Barbara flew with her son for a visit of her hometown in Minnesota. The next day, Franchot angered the district attorney when he withdrew charges on Neal and caught a flight to Minnesota.

Franchot waiving assault charges against Tom Neal. Source: UCLA Digital Collections.

By September 28^th, Franchot and Barbara were married.

Next week, I'll share the story of Franchot and Barbara's hasty marriage and, as most predicted, divorce less than 9 months later.

Sources:

• "Lloyd's Fights Tone's Suit." New York Times. May 10, 1953.
• O'Dowd, John. Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye: The Barbara Payton Story. Bear Manor Media, 2006.
• Payton, Barbara. I Am Not Ashamed. Holloway House, 1963.
• UCLA Digital Collections. http://digital2.library.ucla.edu/

Payton-Tone: The Beginning

I've avoided posting about the tempestuous relationship and ensuing scandal of Franchot and Barbara Payton for a good 21 months. Not because I was trying to deny its existence, but because I didn't want to fall into the noticeable trend of recognizing him for this brief moment in his life over the years of accomplishments. When I first became interested in Franchot and started searching for information on him, I was discouraged to find that nearly every site, article, even his obituaries shouted out things like "Tone beaten to a pulp by boxer!" There's so much more to Franchot than this incident, this relationship, this two-year period—but there's also much insight to be gained from Franchot's participation in and response to it. I want to take a full look into the Tone-Payton relationship so I'm breaking this topic up into a series of posts. Naturally, we'll start at the beginning of their relationship.

Barbara Payton was born Barbara Lee Redfield in Minnesota in 1927. By the time she began her acting career, Barbara had married twice—the first marriage annulled and the second to John Payton ending in a 1948 separation and 1950 divorce—and had a young son. In 1949, Payton gained notice in several films which resulted in starring roles with top actors James Cagney, Gary Cooper, and Gregory Peck in Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye, Dallas, and Only the Valiant, respectively. She would go onto to make a total of 15 films, but her popularity waned after a few short years of bad publicity. I've only watched one Payton film, Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye, but found her to be a talented actress and an especially good fit for film noirs.

When Franchot met Barbara, he had just ended his marriage to actress and model Jean Wallace. Married in 1941, Franchot and Jean appeared to have a happy marriage during the first half of the forties. They proudly talked about their two sons and each other's best traits in fan magazines and look relaxed and in love in photographs. In keeping with Franchot's attraction to strong, unflinching, outgoing women, I've read claims that Jean (who was half Franchot's age) could be as spirited and high-maintenance as Joan Crawford and Barbara Payton. Sometime before their divorce in 1948, things fell apart—although Franchot and Jean were professional enough to co-star in two films, Man on the Eiffel Tower and Jigsaw, during this time.

John O'Dowd's biography Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye: The Barbara Payton Story was written with the cooperation of Payton's son John Lee Payton and is an excellent, well-researched book. It celebrates Barbara's accomplishments and good traits—her son praises her as a mother and her friends note her endless generosity—but doesn't shy away from the bad decisions she made and the people she wronged. It presents all the facts and goes in-depth at discovering who Barbara was and what helped to form her as a person. Parts of it are hard to read (because of her story, not the writing itself), but at the same time, it's impossible to put down. As much as I value and recommend the book, I was left confused about the exact details of Franchot and Barbara's first meeting (this may be due to reader error, so feel free to let me know if I misunderstood a passage.) O'Dowd tells us that Barbara first met Franchot at Ciro's in the early months of 1950. Yet in another passage, O'Dowd states that Franchot was "instantly hooked" when he judged a Charleston dance contest at the Mocambo and saw Barbara (who won first prize) for the first time. Whichever came first, Franchot and Barbara met in a popular nightclub in 1950 and embarked on a very public, whirlwind romance.

Over ten years later, a destitute Payton participated with tabloid journalist Leo Guild in an exploitative autobiography project entitled I Am Not Ashamed and described her attraction to Franchot. If you've not read I Am Not Ashamed yet, be warned that you probably will not like Barbara very much once you have. She unapologetically brags about using people (for example, Franchot) to move up in the world. (Note: Biographer John O'Dowd asserts that much of the book's content was fictitious and sensationalized due to Guild's involvement.)

Payton referred to Franchot as "the actor with the most class in Hollywood' and recalled:

I went out with every big male star in town. They wanted my body and I needed their name for success...Franchot Tone, suave, likeable, quiet, unexciting Franchot asked me to do a play with him in New York. He was hooked on me. He believed in me, too. That was the route I had to travel. He spelled it out for me and I read him...'Kiss me and your troubles are over.' Right? So I went East with Tone...

Despite warnings from friends that he may be entering into dangerous territory, 45-year-old Franchot fell hard and devoted himself to wooing 23-year-old Barbara. According to O'Dowd's book, Franchot took a Pygmalion interest in Barbara. He was drawn to her gutsiness and rough-around-the-edges persona. Franchot liked that Barbara wore temporary face tattoos and had pink dye in her hair, atypical of 1950's beauty norms. As much as he liked this side of Barbara, Franchot felt the need to guide her into his version of the perfect lady. He gifted her with jewelry and expensive furs and introduced her to the most well-respected people and establishments. Barbara was certainly unfair to Franchot in many ways, but it was also unrealistic and unfair of Franchot to expect Barbara to eventually change to suit him.

Franchot was only 6 years younger than Barbara's father Lee "Flip" Redfield, and Barbara seemed to view Franchot as a father-figure of sorts. Barbara had always desired more love and attention from her father (there's some speculation out there that abuse may have occurred between father and daughter which created Barbara's need to please men and eagerness for attention.) During their courtship, Barbara called Franchot "Doc," liked to cook for him, and embraced his guidance.

In the summer of 1950, Franchot traveled with Barbara to the Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye premiere and a key to the city presentation in Miami. A man who usually shielded himself from publicity of any kind, Franchot embraced public appearances with his new girlfriend. In September 1950, Franchot and Barbara costarred in a production of The Second Man. (Franchot would later reprise his role in the play with Margaret Lindsay as his costar.)

By October of 1950, Franchot and Barbara announced their engagement. That same month, Barbara garnered negative attention when she was a defense witness in the perjury trial of Stanley Adams, a friend of Barbara's who was suspected of murder.  December 1950 marked the second occasion of bad publicity for the couple. Before Franchot's custody battle with ex-wife Jean Wallace, the write-ups on Franchot and Barbara's association were pretty benign. Jean testified that she was concerned about her sons being near Barbara and didn't approve of Barbara's social activities. On the stand, Franchot had to publicly state that he'd seen Barbara nude on many occasions. Not scandalous by today's standards, but it made quite a headline in 1950.

In January 1951, the engaged couple hit the premiere of the film Operation Pacific looking glamorous and receiving big applause from the audience at the Pantage Theater. Barbara's career and her relationship with Franchot seemed to be going smoothly. She had met his friends and family and he, hers. Barbara's friend and sister-in-law, Jan Zollinger Redfield said:

Franchot Tone was a very nice and extremely generous person. We saw him several times at Barbara's apartment and he was a lovely man. Although I don't think I ever saw him without a drink in his hand, he was never out of line nor did I ever hear him raise his voice at Barbara—ever. His manners were always impeccable. Lee and Mabel [Barbara's parents] both liked him and were impressed with how cultured he was. I know they were hoping that he would get Barbara to finally settle down and start behaving herself...Franchot was a gentle human being, and Frank and I were always very comfortable around him. And he adored Barbara. He showered her with gifts and she loved it!

By the middle of 1951, Franchot had heard gossip that Barbara was fooling around with costars on her movie sets. Franchot hired a private detective to tale Barbara and caught her with actor Guy Madison. Despite this, Franchot remained dedicated to the couple's engagement. (I have no knowledge about the terms of Franchot's own physical fidelity during the Payton relationship, so I cannot vouch for his own innocence.)

In July, Franchot traveled to fulfill an obligation in New York and Barbara stayed behind to work in Bride of the Gorilla. Only a few days passed before Barbara set her eyes on a muscular, 37-year-old actor named Tom Neal. Several days later, and obviously without Franchot's knowledge, Barbara had moved Tom into her apartment (on which Franchot paid the rent) and began introducing him as her boyfriend to others. When a concerned friend asked her about Franchot, Barbara dismissed it with the explanation that she'd deal with Franchot later. Barbara publicly called off her engagement to Franchot by the end of July.

In I Am Not Ashamed, Barbara said of the situation:

I didn't want to get involved with him [Neal] on any permanent basis because he was just another bit player with a gorgeous physique. But he lusted for me and I lusted for him...Here a sociably acceptable Mr. Tone was begging to pay my bills legally and Mr. Have-Nothing was living in my house while I was in New York doing his exercises by the pool...Like all feminine romantics, I thought if I stayed long enough from Tom, he'd beg me to marry him. That's why I held off Franchot until we got back to Hollywood.

August saw Barbara back with Franchot then abruptly back with Tom. September found the entire screwed-up affair blowing up in everyone's faces and presenting lasting consequences for all involved. Stay tuned for details of the Neal-Tone altercation, my second post in the Payton-Tone series.

Sources:

• O'Dowd, John. Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye: The Barbara Payton Story. Bear Manor Media, 2006.
• Payton, Barbara. I Am Not Ashamed. Holloway House, 1963.

Franchot Targeted in the Blacklist: Franchot & Politics

I think all classic film enthusiasts have some knowledge about the powerful and predatory House Un-American Activities Committee that used public threats and scare tactics to terrorize the film industry. It would be denounced by former President Truman in the late 50's and lose its control in the 60's. But by the end of McCarthy era, the damage had already been done. Due to the spiteful insinuations of the committee's public witch hunt, many in the film industry were never able to work again. Although Franchot cleared his name in front of the Dies Committee as early as 1940, an interrogation of anti-communist leader Vincent Hartnett would reveal that Franchot Tone continued to feel the pressure of the blacklist throughout his television career of the 1950's and 60's.

Franchot preferred to work in plays with messages about the human condition and state of the world. He was always most proud of his early association with the Group Theatre, a group of idealistic and educated thespians, playwrights, and directors who valued scripts with artistic integrity, realism, and truth. Like Franchot, many Group Theatre veterans (most famously and tragically, John Garfield) were investigated in some capacity by the House Un-American Activities Committee for their liberal views by the 1950's.

In 1938, conservative congressman Martin Dies relocated to Los Angeles to sniff out communists hiding in the entertainment industry. By 1940, Communist Party organizer John Leech had provided a list of actors he associated with leftist ideas. Among others, the list included: Humphrey Bogart, Fredric March, Franchot Tone, James Cagney, Luise Rainer, Francis Lederer, and Jean Muir. Dies vowed that all named actors would be cleared if they would appear at a hearing before the Dies Committee. If the named actors did not agree to a meeting, Dies announced he would find them guilty of anti-American activity.

Source: Spokane Daily Chronicle. August 28, 1940.

The above photo appeared in newspapers across the county in August 1940. The caption that accompanied it read, "Movie actor Franchot Tone (right) is shown being sworn in by Representative Martin Dies (Dem., Texas) (left) at special hearing before house committee investigating un-American activities at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York. Tone was exonerated at the hearing, which was held yesterday." Further investigation reveals that actress Luise Rainer and actor Francis Lederer were also cleared with Franchot of being communist sympathizers. Martin Dies, the committee representative, noted that although the three actors had allowed their "names to be used or have contributed money" to what the committee deemed communist-led organizations, no evidence existed that their "cooperation was for any purpose except humanitarian." When questioned about his support of needy causes, Franchot was reported to have defended himself by saying, "You see, when you have so much money thrown in your lap, your conscience is aroused."

Source: Motion Picture Herald headline. August 24, 1940.

Still, in 1949, Franchot was listed as one of "Stalin's Stars" in the Red Treason in Hollywood published by Myron C. Fagan. Also accused were Franchot's past costars Bette Davis, Melvyn Douglas, Katharine Hepburn, Gene Kelly, and Sylvia Sidney. In his 1963 book Fear on Trial, author John Henry Faulk includes a transcript of attorney Louis Nizer's interrogation of Vincent Hartnett. Faulk was a humorist who was publicly accused of communist activity by Hartnett after he staunchly opposed Hartnett's right-wing organization AWARE, Inc. Hartnett's organization specialized in blacklisting entertainers and was successful in the blacklisting of Faulk from 1957 to 1962.  As early as 1956, Faulk took legal action against Hartnett's libel. The trial did not begin until 1962, at which time Faulk was vindicated and awarded damages. In the court testimony provided by Faulk, I learned that Franchot was being quietly, but actively blacklisted throughout the 1950's. During the trial, attorney Nizer asked Hartnett if he had written to Laurence Johnson (AWARE, Inc. cofounder) about Franchot. Here's the revealing exchange:

Nizer: What were you writing to Mr. Laurence Johnson with respect to Mr. Franchot Tone? Will you reconstruct that for us?

Hartnett: As best I recall, he had probably asked me for a report on Franchot Tone, which I furnished him; and I believe I had made inquiry to see if Franchot Tone had offset his past record, and had been told he had not done so, at least my source of information. Yet, as best I recall, I expressed an opinion that Franchot Tone should do more than—

Nizer: Before he could appear on television?

Bolan: I object.

Nizer: He should do more before he could appear—he should appear or be allowed to appear on television? Isn't that the substance of it?

Hartnett: Before he was allowed to appear on television?

Nizer: Yes.

Hartnett: Could be. I am not sure of that.

Nizer: Could be. Did you ever write to him, 'if he refused to take a public stand, then we can take the necessary measures?' Did you ever write that to Laurence Johnson?

Hartnett: Yes, that sounds right.

Nizer: 'We' in that case is you and Laurence Johnson, right?

Hartnett: It would seem so...

Nizer: So you asked groups, various individuals to write protests to try to get people off the air that in your opinion had pro-communist affiliation; right?

Hartnett: Yes, I did.

As you can read, Hartnett admits to a directed attack of Franchot and his career in the 1950's. As early as 1934, Franchot's political ties were publicly questioned when columnist Walter Winchell reported that Franchot Tone was the only major film actor who had refused to contribute money to the Republican campaign fund, despite strong demands and pressure to do so.

Several of Franchot's ancestors were prominent Republican politicians and his mother was an outspoken member of women's liberal groups, so Franchot was well-versed in both the conservative and liberal views. (Next week's post will be on the impressive political careers of Franchot's maternal family.) In an interview with Andre Soares on Alt Film Guide, Tone researcher Lisa Burks commented on Franchot's belief in the democratic process, his eagerness to help families in need, and his family background. You can read that full interview here.

During the blacklist, Franchot felt compelled to help other professionals in need. Anonymously, Franchot supported blacklisted screenwriters who were no longer able to gain employment. Screenwriter Ring Lardner, Jr. worked under a pseudonym when Franchot hired him "out of conviction." Lardner, Jr. recalled, in Tender Comrades and Dark History of Hollywood:

I had to go into a bank in Beverly Hills where Franchot Tone withdrew $10,000 in cash and gave it to me.

Knowing now just how targeted Franchot was by Hartnett, I realize how fortunate Franchot was to survive the blacklist.  I can't imagine having those classic Twilight Zone, Bonanza, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and Ben Casey episodes without Franchot's unique and memorable performances in them. It is clear, through the Faulk case testimony, that Franchot was denied many other opportunities in the 1950's.

With a heart for humanity and the wealth to support others in need, Franchot defended himself in front of the Dies Committee and, years later, the FBI. In the process, he never sacrificed his colleagues and never abandoned his convictions.

If you'd like to read more about the Hollywood blacklist, please see my sources below. For other posts in the Franchot & Politics series, click here. Stay tuned for next Friday's entry into the series!

Sources:

• Ceplair, Larry, and Steven Englund. The Inquisition in Hollywood: Politics in the Film Community, 1930-1960. Garden City, NY: Anchor/Doubleday, 1980. Print.
• Connolly, Kieron. Dark History of Hollywood: A Century of Greed, Corruption, and Scandal behind the Movies. London: Amber, 2014. Print.
• Faulk, John Henry. Fear on Trial. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1964. Print. 
• "It Seems to Me." Pittsburgh Press. October 29, 1934.
• McGilligan, Patrick, and Paul Buhle. Tender Comrades: A Backstory of the Hollywood Blacklist. New York: St. Martin's, 1997. 
• Morgan, Ted. Reds: McCarthyism in Twentieth-century America. New York: Random House, 2004. Print.Print. 
• Radosh, Ronald, and Allis Radosh. Red Star over Hollywood: The Film Colony's Long Romance with the Left. San Francisco: Encounter, 2005. Print. 
• "Screen Players Freed of Charge." Evening Independent. August 28, 1940.
• Slide, Anthony. Actors on Red Alert: Career Interviews with Five Actors and Actresses Affected by the Blacklist. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 1999. Print. 
• Smith, Wendy. Real Life Drama: The Group Theatre and America, 1931-1940; New York: Knopf, 1990.
• "Wirephoto: Dies Committee Clears Actor Franchot Tone of Red Charges." Spokane Daily Chronicle. August 28, 1940.
• Slate:http://www.slate.com/articles/podcasts/you_must_remember_this/2016/02/the_origins_of_the_hollywood_blacklist.html
• University of Texas: https://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/utcah/01497/cah-01497.html
• Alt Film Guide: http://www.altfg.com/film/franchot-tone-lisa-burks/

Dolores Dorn on Franchot Tone

Some time ago, I read Dolores Dorn's short e-book Letters from a Hollywood Starlet. Dolores was Franchot's costar in Uncle Vanya as well as his fourth and final wife. I've wanted to write about Dolores' memories of their marriage and my own reflections on this time in Franchot's life for a while now.

First Impressions and First Date
Actress Dolores Dorn first met Franchot Tone when she read for the part of Elena's understudy in Uncle Vanya. Dolores met Franchot and director David Ross for the audition at Franchot's Warwick Hotel penthouse. Dolores was immediately struck by Franchot:

I'd met a lot of sophisticated, attractive men in London and Hollywood but none with the presence and savoir-faire of this man. And did I mention he was handsome with a twinkle in his eye too?...True, he was older, but I'd never met anyone like him in my life. Now I had another reason for wanting the part.

Franchot and David were impressed with Dolores and she won the understudy part. When Signe Hasso left the play, Dolores took over the role of Elena and entered into a relationship with Franchot:

After playing the role a few weeks Franchot asked me to have something to eat after the show. I didn't hesitate. The attraction between us on stage was obvious to everyone. The attraction I felt for him offstage I could barely conceal...Franchot and I went out almost every night after the show. For my birthday, he gave me a beautiful heavy gold bracelet with two dolphins going in the opposite directions supposed to symbolize my astrological sign of Pisces from Van Cleef & Arpels.

Despite Dolores' mother persistently vocalizing her dislike of the 29-year age gap in the relationship, Dolores and Franchot were undeterred by the difference and remained very much in love. It's apparent that Dolores was enchanted by Franchot as she can still recall all of the conversation covered in their first date. In her memoir, Dolores remembers that over a quiet French dinner, Franchot shared much about himself.  He told Dolores of his family history. He was proud that his dad had worked his way up from a teacher's son to the president of a company. Franchot grew up with all the perks of wealth yet revealed that he struggled with his classification in the upper class. He shared the experience of producing The Man on the Eiffel Tower and working with his best friends, Charles Laughton and Burgess Meredith. He agreed with Dolores in her dislike of the studio system and love of the theater and was eager to hear all about her experiences and aspirations. Franchot expressed his goal of owning his own theater where he could produce plays that included real-life issues (reminiscent of his Group Theatre days).

A "Secret" Wedding and Private Marriage

On May 14, 1956, Franchot and Dolores held a private wedding at the Montreal mayor's house and honeymooned at Franchot's Canadian home, which he called a "summer camp." Dolores described it as:

two rustic houses nestled in the woods between two fresh water lakes. The main house had two bedrooms, a kitchen, a dining room, a living room with a large stone fireplace and a large screened-in porch with a view of "Thirty-One Mile Lake." The other house was larger and was used as a guest house. They stood on an acre of woods.

Attending their wedding were Franchot's friends Jean Paul and Libby Dejordins, who celebrated with champagne, before driving Franchot and Dolores to the cabin. There, housekeeper and cook Donalda and her husband John, had a meal and a cozy fire prepared for the newlyweds. (Note: I'll be adding Dolores' description of the cabin and wedding to the post on Franchot's ties to Canada that I did last week.) After a long weekend, the Tones returned to New York and quietly resumed work on Uncle Vanya.

Although their close friends all knew, Franchot and Dolores managed to keep their marriage a secret for 2 more years! It wasn't until someone overheard Dolores answer to the name Mrs. Tone in a restaurant that Franchot and Dolores confirmed their marriage in 1958. Although Dolores doesn't say in her memoir and Franchot never spoke of it, I assume that their marriage was kept secret for two reasons:
1. They were happy in their relationship and didn't need public confirmation of it to remain content.
2. Franchot had such a horrible publicity experience in his very public relationship and brief, tempestuous marriage to Barbara Payton. I imagine he wanted to keep this new relationship and marriage a secret to maintain its authenticity and avoid public scrutiny.

Franchot and Dolores in their library in 1958 following confirmation of their 1956 marriage.

The Undoing Over Uncle Vanya and Franchot's Increasing Unpredictability

Franchot was so proud of Uncle Vanya (a play he had starred in even before he became a film star) and the positive response to its current run that he decided to produce it on film. Dolores and the rest of the cast were excited about the project as well and agreed to shoot the film during the day and perform the play on stage each night. Franchot first encountered difficulty finding an American distributor and later a European one. Certain of the film's success and eager to produce the type of film he'd always hoped to do, Franchot ended up using $250,000 of his own money to ensure the film was completed. (According to www.measuringworth.com, that's the equivalent of a little over 2 million dollars today.) Although the film received good reviews, it did not do well enough commercially to earn Franchot his money back.

Franchot submitted the film to the first San Francisco International Film Festival and even emceed the festival's opening night on December 4, 1957. The film was well-received there, but didn't garner the award for best film or for best actor. Disappointed that his own performance went unnoticed, Franchot was not congratulatory when a surprised but absolutely deserving Dolores was announced the winner of the Best Actress Award. He had been so supportive of her career up until this point, but that night, Dolores writes, a depressed Franchot became "very drunk and verbally abusive."

The film was out of sight from that night until it was released on DVD a few years ago, but the disappointment associated with it lingered with Franchot for some time. It's a shame that the film didn't gain more of a following, because Franchot had put so much time and work and poured so much of himself into it and that is all visible in the final product. Uncle Vanya is one of my favorite films and although I have a hard time naming just one favorite Franchot performance, his portrayal of Astroff may top the list. He's not just playing Astroff. In many ways, Franchot is Astroff. Elena Gonzalvo wrote a fantastic article on the similarities between Astroff and Franchot that you can read here.

Dolores writes:

He became more and more depressed when nothing worked out. He began to drink and became more and more verbally abusive...His drinking behavior was getting me down. I felt badly for him and badly for myself.

In most of my research of Franchot in the 50's and 60's, many of those who knew him mention that he was brilliant, kind, gentle, and had a serious drinking problem. From what I've read, he would start off the day hopeful and charming but by the end of the night, he was full of melancholy and seeking comfort in a bottle of Scotch. It's sad to me that he had an inner pain so great that he felt the need to dull it with alcohol. Certainly, he drank before the 50's (it's hard to recall a film star who didn't), but it really seemed to become noticeable to those around him in the last two decades of his life. For the most part, Franchot was able to control the effects of drinking. Except the visible aging of his face, his heavy drinking was not apparent in the quality performances he turned out night after night on stage and on television. However, his drinking seemed to be the cause of the dissolution of his marriage to Dolores. She writes of a man who was unpredictable. When sober, Franchot was deeply supportive of her career. He advised her of good parts to accept and encouraged her to take lessons with Strasberg. Drunk, he was resentful of her quick success and possibly, her youth. Dolores even heard rumors that Franchot may have asked the Actor's Studio not to pass her audition. This rumor was never proven and Dolores did pass her audition, but Dolores says she always wondered if it was true. In her memoir, Dolores reflects:

At first it seemed like a betrayal to me but then I thought that Franchot didn't seem to want me to work as an actress. Did he want a more traditional marriage? It was beginning to look like that from the call and some subtle and not so subtle message he'd been giving me. Could I do that? I loved him, yes, but could I do that? Should I do that?

Following her miscarriage and peritonitis, a loving Franchot took good care of Dolores in the hospital. Shortly after, Dolores decided that she needed to move on. They separated and divorced in 1959. Dolores did not expect to see much of Franchot after the divorce, but as it turned out, they actually became good friends and remained that way until his death in 1968.

My Reflection

Dolores Dorn's short memoir only covers a brief time in her life and seems to suggest that she plans to write more later. I hope she does as I'd like to learn more about her life and career after Franchot. She comes across as a sweet, determined woman who truly loved Franchot. They had similar career interests and seemed to get along well in the beginning. I wonder if the marriage could've lasted had they not had that 29-year age gap. It seems to me that they were a good match. If Franchot had been younger, was just starting out in the theater like Dolores, had not experienced so many disappointments already, and had not turned to alcohol to cope with those disappointments, I believe Franchot and Dolores may have experienced a long-lasting marriage. I think it's important to note that there was still enough respect between the two of them to warrant a friendship that survived their divorce.

As an admirer of Franchot or any classic film star, it can be difficult when you uncover less-than-great things they did. I wish he had been happy for Dolores when she won Best Actress at the festival. I wish he hadn't let his own disappointments in life negatively affect his relationship with her. But Franchot, like all of us, was human. If you're really interested in a person and want to have a full picture of him, you can't ignore the flaws in his character. You can't deny that these flaws exist and I am frustrated when I see other devoted fans of the classic Hollywood era flat-out deny that their favorite star ever made any mistakes.

For the most part, I've found that Franchot was a thoughtful, hard-working, compassionate man who made others feel special and respected. That's the Franchot the majority of my posts focus on, because those qualities truly made up the majority of who he was. But I can't deny that he drank heavily and that habit affected his actions and in this particular case, his marriage to Dolores Dorn. We are all complicated beings, even my favorite Mr. Tone.

John Strasberg on Franchot Tone

Actor, director, and writer John Strasberg (son of Lee and Paula Strasberg) was Franchot's godson and wrote about Franchot in his 1996 book Accidentally on Purpose:

I don't remember feeling any peace or harmony from the moment we moved back to New York in 1947 until I began spending summers in Canada with Franchot Tone when I was twelve. We hunted and fished, camping in Quebec's wilderness country.

Franchot's wealthy industrialist family owned three houses that sat on a ridge of land between two lakes that were part of the Gatineau Fish and Game Club, near Gracefield, Quebec. We portaged deep into land that he owned, smearing honey under the canoes of poachers so that the bears would destroy them.  Franchot became one of my heroes, once I realized that heroes could be human...Normally quiet and reflective, he could be very temperamental. He was a movie star, but to me, above all, he was a Renaissance man. He thought about more than just the theater. He gave me books he loved, like the writings of the Comte de Rochechouart and Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, and a Marlin .22 lever action rifle, the gift of which startled my parents and endeared Franchot to me even more.   

He exposed me to a world that I loved and felt at home in, and that my parents knew nothing about. He loved women, smoked two packs of unfiltered Camel cigarettes a day, and drank double vodkas.  So did I, but some years later. He was definitely more of what I wanted to be than was my own father, and I often wonder what kind of father he was to his own children. Franchot's humanity touched me deeply.  It was due in part to his influence that I learned to define success on my own terms. Above all, he taught me that work is part of one's natural respect and love of human life, but it is not a way to ignore or dominate it.

Source:
Strasberg, John. Accidentally on Purpose: Reflections on Life, Acting, and the Nine Natural Laws of Creativity. New York: Applause, 1996. Print. 8-9.

Gloria Vanderbilt on Franchot Tone

Recently, I watched the HBO documentary Nothing Left Unsaid: Gloria Vanderbilt & Anderson Cooper. Although I think there are actually several things unsaid, Gloria's reflections on her life and conversations with son Anderson were fascinating. Gloria does not discuss Franchot at all in the documentary, but I knew that Gloria and Franchot worked together in a Colgate Comedy Hour special and in the Saroyan Pulitzer-winning play The Time of Your Life.

Knowing that they both indulged in many romances, I assumed that Franchot and Gloria probably had one of their own at this time so I picked up Vanderbilt's romance memoir It Seemed Important at the Time at my library. My hunch paid off. The memoir includes a brief 2-page chapter dedicated to Mr. Tone.

Franchot & Gloria. Source: http://www.cinemarx.ro/

Franchot & Gloria. Source: http://www.cinemarx.ro/

The Pulitzer-winning play The Time of Your Life starring Franchot and Gloria was produced by the New York City Theatre Company. During the play's run in January 1955, Franchot and Gloria engaged in an affair that Gloria says they both knew was "transient."

Gloria talks about how she idolized the handsome, charming Franchot of the screen during her youth. When Gloria joined the cast of The Time of Your Life, she and Franchot began a romance. According to Gloria, Franchot told her that he was "King Arthur searching for Lady Guinevere." She elaborates on her romance with Franchot:

We spent a lot of time at Birdland and other hot spots, and he sent flowers with notes saying things like, 'I love you in the many mirrors of the real, but really too.'...There was a gentleness about him, a fineness, but by the end of an evening he would descend fuzzily into a passive melancholy that reminded me of the Clifford Odets play Golden Boy. 'I have a lump inside and I drink to dissolve it.' But it was too late for that and I wasn't the drink he was looking for. Soon after, Sinatra winged along and we parted without even saying good-bye.

Gloria is not the first person to comment on the inherent pain within the fineness of Franchot. I'm working on a future post about this characteristic of Franchot's personality and his peers' observations about his use of alcohol to dull that pain.


Sources:
Vanderbilt, Gloria. It Seemed Important at the Time: A Romance Memoir. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2004. Print.

Christopher Plummer on Franchot Tone

Franchot & Christopher in the Alcoa production of Even the Weariest River, 1956.
Source: www.fantasfilm.org

Not too many years ago, Christopher Plummer published his autobiography, In Spite of Myself. I greatly admire Mr. Plummer, so much so that I wrote him a letter gushing to him just how much I loved him several years ago. In Spite of Myself is one of the most intelligent, entertaining, and encompassing autobiographies I've ever read. I've always considered Christopher and Franchot to be similar in their approach to their work, sensitivity, and intelligence. In fact, I keep my autographed photos of the two proudly displayed together.

For me, it's only fitting that the older and ailing Franchot's final scene in a film is with the young Christopher Plummer in the 1968 film Nobody Runs Forever. It's over in a heartbeat, but to see these two actors I admire share a bit of brief dialogue and knowing looks with one another is a cherished film moment for me.

Many years before Nobody Runs Forever, Plummer and Tone worked together in the Bermuda Repertory Theatre (I believe this was in/around 1952). Plummer dedicated several pages of his book to his experience with and analysis of Tone. I think his words on Franchot as an actor and as a man are the most insightful I've ever read. I was pleased that Christopher was able to see the similarities that I've noticed in Franchot and himself, and I was vastly moved by his eloquent summary of my favorite actor of all time.


On Franchot's early theater days:

At one time, not too far into the recent past, he was considered by critics, pundits and public alike 'the bright white hope of the American theatre.'...he had shown staggering potential in the famed Group Theatre days...Franchot, with his and his family's money had largely financed the Group Theatre from its inception. So it would not be an exaggeration to surmise that almost single-handedly he had oiled the machinery for the great New Wave movement...

On Franchot's vulnerability and pain:

But Franchot had a weakness for the movies and a penchant for domineering, glamorous women...He seemed to search for this kind of self-destructive alliance, and alliance that could not but help inflict certain pain. Indeed, Franchot Tone was a handsome, sensitive, highly educated and tremendously talented gentleman who was, nevertheless, motivated and driven by pain. His hard living had somewhat diminished his former brilliance, but every so often his work showed strong evidence of great depth and nobility of spirit...His sense of humor, as one might guess, was seeringly self-deprecating, drawn as always from this inexplicable inner torment. These vulnerable qualities were to make his Chekovian performances (Uncle Vanya and A Moon for the Misbegotten), both of which I later saw, so memorable—a rare combination of lightness and poignancy.

On working with Franchot in "The Petrified Forest":

He brought a substance to the play it didn't quite deserve...he managed at times to lift the piece far above its ken into the loftier spheres of O'Neill.

On their similarities:

...we shared an unspoken bond. We were both romantics—incurable to the last—and our separate upbringings shared the same confusion of identity. He may have seen in me, occasionally, his younger self. I'm not sure and I wouldn't wish it on him; but I saw in him someone I could perhaps aspire to; not the hidden sad, pained man that was part of Franchot but the part he couldn't conceal, no matter how hard he tried, the part that was refined, noble and infinitely kind—the man of golden promise.

Nobody Runs Forever, 1968

Source: Plummer, Christopher. In Spite of Myself: A Memoir. New York: Afred A. Knopf, 2008. Print. 104-107.

The Great Fan Magazines

I had quite a Franchot day this past Friday. Enjoying a lazy day off work, I managed to squeeze in two films I had never seen before. First up was Mickey One, a 1965 drama starring Warren Beatty with Franchot as a minor, yet memorable character. Second was Here Comes the Groom, a 1951 musical comedy starring Bing Crosby and Franchot Tone, who playfully compete to win the affections of Jane Wyman. I will, of course, feature these two very different films in later, more detailed posts.

Viewing those two films would have made me happy enough, but then came a discovery! I use one room in my house as a library for all my classic film biographies, pictorial histories, encyclopedias, photographs, and memorabilia.As a great fan of coffee table-sized Hollywood compilation books, I pulled out an old one I haven't browsed in years. The title is Hollywood and the Great Fan Magazines and it is a collection of random movie star magazine articles from the 1930s. I purchased it for $2.00 at a used book store close to ten years ago.At the time, I remember skipping around to read the articles on Jean Harlow, Shirley Temple, and Greta Garbo.  It's been in my bookcase all these years, but I've overlooked it for the expansive pictorial histories of Rita Hayworth, Audrey Hepburn, and many other lovely Old Hollywood ladies.

As I flipped through the pages, a familiar face grabbed my attention. I was delighted to discover that there is a lengthy biographical article on Franchot, written very early on in his Hollywood days. The article, "The Intimate Life of a Gentleman Rebel", is written by Walter Ramsey and includes quotes and details about Franchot's early background, college life, and theater experience before his big Hollywood break. In the future, I will definitely be including some of the quotes on this blog. Spanning multiple pages, the article also includes these fascinating photos of a very young Franchot in a variety of early acting performances.

I've owned this book for many years and never realized such a great piece of Franchot history was hidden within its pages!

Images Source: Levin, Martin. Hollywood and the Great Fan Magazines. New York: Arbor House, 1970. Print.