*** Welcome to piglix ***

John Farrow

John Farrow
John Farrow family 1950.jpg
John Farrow and family in 1950
Born John Villiers Farrow
(1904-02-10)10 February 1904
Sydney, Australia
Died 27 January 1963(1963-01-27) (aged 58)
Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Occupation Actor director, producer and screenwriter
Years active 1927–62
Spouse(s) Felice Lewin (1924-1934) (divorced) (1 child)
Maureen O'Sullivan (1936–1963; his death; 7 children)

John Villiers Farrow, KGCHS (10 February 1904 – 27 January 1963) was an Australian-American film director, producer and screenwriter. In 1957, he won the Academy Award for Best Writing/Best Screenplay for Around the World in Eighty Days and in 1942 he was nominated as Best Director for Wake Island. He had seven children by his wife, actress Maureen O'Sullivan, including actress Mia Farrow.

Farrow was born in Sydney, Australia, the son of Lucy Villiers (née Savage; 1881-1907), a dressmaker, and Joseph Farrow (1880-1925), a tailor's trimmer. His mother died when he was three years old. His parents were both of English descent. Farrow was educated at Newtown Public School and Fort Street Boys' High School and then started a career in accountancy. He claimed to have run away to sea in an American barquentine, sailed "all over the Pacific", and fought in revolts in Nicaragua and Mexico. Reaching the United States, he enrolled at the Jesuits' St Ignatius College in San Francisco in 1923, but left after one month. He traveled throughout the Pacific, including Fiji, Hawaii and Guam. On arrival in Hollywood, Farrow fabricated his education, saying he had attended Newington College in Sydney, Australia (he lived in a street below its ovals), Winchester College in England and the US Naval Academy. Many publications and websites still contain this information.

Farrow started writing while working as a sailor and became interested in screenwriting after a chance voyage in the South Seas with the film-maker Robert J. Flaherty. Re-entering the United States, allegedly by jumping ship at San Francisco, he found his way to Hollywood where from 1927 his nautical expertise brought him work as a script consultant and technical adviser. He had already earned minor recognition as a poet and writer of short stories. He soon established himself as a notable screenwriter. He worked for DeMille Productions, Paramount Pictures and RKO Radio Pictures Inc.


...
Wikipedia

...