March 13, 2014
This A-list actor who got his start on Broadway died an unexpected death, presumably from a heart condition he had since birth. That's only partly true. He had a major nose candy habit which further quickened his demise. Sometimes he would share the coke with that troubled actress/biopic subject whom he co-starred with frequently on and off screen
John Garfield and Frances Farmer
This A-list actor who got his start on Broadway died an unexpected death, presumably from a heart condition he had since birth. That's only partly true. He had a major nose candy habit which further quickened his demise. Sometimes he would share the coke with that troubled actress/biopic subject whom he co-starred with frequently on and off screen
John Garfield and Frances Farmer
Love Francis. R.I.P. but not surprised.
ReplyDelete(Ahhh) Higher, baby
ReplyDelete(Ahhh) Get higher, baby!
(Ahhh) Get higher, baby!
And don't ever come down! (Freebase!)
Cocaine, helluva drug.
ReplyDelete@Paint Chips ID'ed Garfield and no one got poor poorFrances
ReplyDeleteHe was a serious left-wing activist, and the more noble version of the Garfield legend is that the stress of the HUAC/ McCarthy hearings brought on his heart attack. But coke works too.
ReplyDeleteHe was so perfectly suited to noir. Match made in a misty, deserted alley at 2:00 AM.
ReplyDeleteFrom Wikipedia:
ReplyDeleteGarfield was newly separated from his wife Roberta a member of the Communist party, who reportedly left him because he planned to reveal secrets about the party in Look Magazine....In the morning of May 20 Garfield, against his doctor's strict orders, played several strenuous sets of tennis with a friend, mentioning the fact that he had not been to bed the night before. He met actress Iris Whitney for dinner and afterward became suddenly ill complaining that he felt chilled. She took him to her apartment where he refused to let her call a doctor and instead went to bed. The next morning she found him dead. Long-term heart problems, allegedly aggravated by the stress of his blacklisting, had led to his death at the age of 39.
So it sounds like coke *and* politics.
Not sure about working together frequently on screen. I thought they only did one picture together - Flowing Gold, 1940.
ReplyDeleteWho is writing these, Darwin Porter? Farmer was living in Seattle at the time of Garfield's death. Unless he means they shared some blow 12 years before he died.
ReplyDeleteI got the late John Garfield blues.
ReplyDeleteHUAC shit didn't help, he always had a heart condition from birth. His death downward spiral was marked exactly from when the red-scare bullshit started.
ReplyDeleteThey were both involved in the Group Theater in the '30s when Frances starred in Golden Boy, which was written by Odets with Garfield in mind, but he didn't ultimately play the role, according to Wiki. So, they probably did hang around a lot in New York.
ReplyDeleteMakes sense--or at least it does after learning how Rick James died so early--& Barrymore of course loved his liquor too. The pulmonary system is not a fan of long-term coke or amphetamine abuse.
ReplyDelete