In Memoriam

Farley Granger (1925 – 2011)

I haven’t seen much of this handsome actor’s work besides the excellent Strangers on a Train, but he’s worth a mention because of his admitted bisexuality and for the fact that he refused to play the “marrying game” just to get ahead in Hollywood, like so many gay and lesbian stars still do today.

From Towleroad:

Actor Farley Granger, who starred in Hitchock's Rope (1948) and Strangers On a Train (1951), Nicholas Ray's They Live By Night (1949, above) and Luchino Visconti's Senso (1953), among others, has died at the age of 85 in New York.

The Guardian writes:

Granger failed to sustain the momentum of those (early) years, meandering into television, some stage work and often indifferent European and American movies.

The reasons were complicated, owing much to his sexuality and an unwillingness to conform to Hollywood pressures, notably from his contract studio, MGM, and the mogul Samuel Goldwyn. Granger refused to play the publicity or marrying game common among other gay stars and turned down roles he considered unsuitable, earning a reputation – in his own words – for being "a naughty boy".