John Villiers Farrow was an acclaimed Australian-born American cinema director, screenwriter, and producer who specialized in the film noir, western, and historical adventure genres during his time. He was a bright individual who excelled in a variety of subjects, and he was a man of many skills. His English ancestors were his parents. He started out as a sailor and traveled throughout the Pacific, composing poetry and short stories in his leisure time. He gradually worked his way into Hollywood, eventually landing a job as a script consultant. He established himself as a recognized screenwriter in a short period of time. He wrote numerous successful screenplays and directed over 35 pictures over his long and renowned Hollywood career. He also dabbled with producing on occasion. Warner Bros., RKO, and Paramount Pictures were among the major studios with which he collaborated. He was also a successful author who published seven works, including novels, biographies, history, and poetry. He was most known for his films, and several of them, such as “Wake Island” (1942) and “Around the World in 80 Days” (1956), garnered him Oscar nominations for Best Director and Best Screenplay, respectively.
Childhood and Adolescence
Farrow was born in Sydney, Australia, on February 10, 1904. He was the son of dressmaker Lucy Villiers (née Savage) and tailor’s trimmer Joseph Farrow. When he was three years old, he lost his mother.
His English ancestors were his parents. In Sydney, he attended Newtown Public School and Fort Street Boys’ High School. He began his career as a sailor at a young age and has traveled around the Pacific, including Fiji and Hawaii.
When he arrived in the United States, he enrolled at St Ignatius College, the University of San Francisco, which is run by the Jesuits. However, he quickly dropped out of the course.
He is suspected of fabricating his school qualifications when he arrived in Hollywood, claiming to have attended Newington College in Sydney, Australia, Winchester College in England, and the US Naval Academy.
Career of John Farrow
Farrow began his writing career while working as a sailor. A serendipitous meeting with film director Robert J. Flaherty later piqued his interest in scripting.
He made his way to Hollywood and was hired as a script consultant and technical adviser in 1927. He was already a well-known poet and short story writer at the time. He quickly established himself as a well-known screenwriter in Hollywood.
He created the scripts for films such as ‘Ladies of the Mob’ (1928) and ‘The Wolf Song’ (1929) for DeMille Productions, Paramount Pictures, and RKO Radio Pictures Inc. (1929).
He visited England in 1932 to work as a Writer (English translation) and Assistant Director on G. W. Pabst’s film ‘Don Quixote’ and wrote a novel called ‘Laughter Ends’ (1933).
He was detained in the United States on January 27, 1933, for entering the country illegally and violating his visa. He was threatened with deportation, but the following year he was released.
After recovering from the legal setback, he wrote and directed ‘Tarzan Escapes’ (1936), although his work was uncredited because the film was later re-written and re-shot. Later that year, he got a deal with Warner Bros. and directed his first film, ‘Men in Exile’ (1937). ‘West of Shanghai’ and ‘She Loved a Fireman’ were his next two songs.
Following that, he traveled to Europe to give talks about Father Damien, about whom he had written a book and been knighted by the Pope. In 1938, he directed Warners’ ‘The Invisible Menace,’ ‘Little Miss Thoroughbred,’ ‘Broadway Musketeers,’ and ‘My Bill.’
He moved to RKO the same year after directing ‘Women in the Wind,’ directing B-movies such as ‘Full Confession,’ ‘The Saint Strikes Back,’ ‘Five Came Back,’ ‘Reno,’ and ‘Sorority House.’ Some of them were a huge success. ‘Married and in Love’ and ‘A Bill of Divorcement’ were two films he directed in 1940.
He was eager to participate in World War II despite his successful profession and growing family. He enrolled in the Canadian Navy in Vancouver in November 1939. In March 1940, he was promoted to Lieutenant and posted to the Naval History and Controller of Information Unit.
He eventually caught typhoid fever and the Canadian Navy ruled him unfit. He was a technical consultant for the Royal Canadian Navy exhibition in 1943. He was compelled to fly to Britain with the Director of Special Services later in 1945.
In 1942, he began his filmmaking career by signing a long-term contract with Paramount Pictures, where he went on to become one of the studio’s top directors.
He started his career at Paramount by directing the patriotic film ‘Wake Island’ (1942), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award. It was his biggest hit, and because of its success, he went on to direct several other World War II films, including ‘Commandos Strike at Dawn’ (1942), ‘China’ (1943), ‘The Hitler Gang’ (1944), ‘You Came Along (1945)’, and so on.
The adventure film ‘Two Years Before the Mast’ (1946) and the western ‘California’ followed (1947). In 1947, he also directed ‘Easy Come, Easy Go,’ ‘Blaze of Noon,’ and the criminal drama ‘Calcutta.’
He produced and directed the legendary film noir ‘The Big Clock,’ an adaptation of Kenneth Fearing’s novel, the following year in 1948. In 1948, he also directed the films ‘Beyond Glory’ and ‘Night Has a Thousand Eyes.’ ‘Alias Nick Beal’ and the comedy ‘Red, Hot, and Blue’ were his final films of the decade.
He directed the films ‘Copper Canyon’ and ‘Where Danger Lives’ in 1950. He made ‘His Kind of Woman’ and ‘Submarine Command’ the following year. In 1953, films such as ‘Ride, Vaquero!,’ ‘Plunder of the Sun,’ and ‘Botany Bay’ were released.
He also directed the three-dimensional film ‘Hondo’ in 1953. The following films were ‘A Bullet is Waiting’ (1954) and ‘The Sea Chase’ (1955).
He took a break from acting in 1956 to co-write the adventure comedy ‘Around the World in 80 Days,’ which won him his only Academy Award. His most recent flicks have failed to make an impression. In 1956, he reworked ‘Five Came Back’ as ‘Back from Eternity,’ and directed ‘The Unholy Wife,’ followed by ‘John Paul Jones,’ his final picture before retirement, in 1957.
Major Projects of John Farrow
Farrow’s most famous work was ‘Pageant of the Popes,’ a chronicle of the pope that won him the Catholic Literary Prize in 1942. Novels such as ‘The Bad Ones’ (1930) and ‘Laughter Ends’ (1933), as well as biographies such as ‘Damien the Leper’ (1937) and ‘Story of Sir Thomas More’ (1956).
‘Around the World in 80 Days,’ a 1956 Technicolor epic action-adventure comedy film that won five Academy Awards, including Best Screenplay and Best Picture, was written by him.
His 1942 film “Wake Island” chronicles the narrative of the United States military barracks on Wake Island and the Japanese onslaught that followed the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director for the picture.
Achievements & Awards
Throughout his life, Farrow received numerous honors and awards. Pope Pius XI awarded him the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre in 1937.
His picture ‘Wake Island,’ released in 1942, was a great hit. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director and won the New York Critics Award for Best Direction.
In 1951, he was awarded the Order of St John of Jerusalem, and in 1953, he was appointed Honorary Commander of the British Empire (CBE).
For ‘Around the World in Eighty Days,’ he earned both the Academy Award and the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Screenplay (Adapted) in 1957.
At 6304 Hollywood Blvd., he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Personal History and Legacy
Farrow married twice throughout her life. In 1924, he married Felice Lewin, with whom he had a daughter the following year. In 1934, the couple decided to divorce.
He married actress Maureen O’Sullivan in 1934. After he converted to Catholicism, the pair married on September 12, 1936. In July 1947, he became an American citizen.
He had seven children with Maureen: four daughters, Mia (born 1945), Prudence (born 1948), Stephanie (born 1949), and Tisa (born 1951), all of whom went on to become famous performers; and three sons, Michael Damien (1939–1958), Patrick Joseph (1942–2009), and John Charles (1942–2009). (born 1946).
He died of a heart attack on January 27, 1963 in Beverly Hills, California. He was laid to rest in Culver City’s Holy Cross Cemetery.
John Farrow’s Net Worth
John Farrow is one of the wealthiest directors and one of the most well-known. John Farrow’s net worth is estimated to be $1.5 million, according to Wikipedia, Forbes, and Business Insider.
Trivia
In his final feature, ‘John Paul Jones,’ his daughter Mia made her film debut (1959).
He was Frank Sinatra’s and André Previn’s ex-husband.