Actor Farley Granger found success in film in the 1940s and had a long career on stage and screen. He stood out as one of the few people in Hollywood to publicly share that he was bisexual.
Granger was born on 1 July 1925 in San Jose, California. He was born into a wealthy family, but the stock market crash of 1929 saw their fortunes swept away. During the Great Depression, their circumstances dramatically changed and the family fell on hard times. Hoping her son might become a tap dancer, Granger’s mother enrolled him in classes at the same school where Shirley Temple and Judy Garland got their start.
In the early 1940s, Granger began acting in local theatre. His performance in a play, in which he performed a Cockney accent, attracted the attention of studio executives. Soon afterwards, he was cast in the film The North Star, where he played a Russian teenager. He was then signed to a seven-year contract with producer Samuel Goldwyn.
In 1944, he appeared in the wartime film The Purple Heart. Not long after filming wrapped, he enlisted in the navy. His time at sea was short-lived as he suffered from severe seasickness and was assigned to a land-based role in Hawaii. In his memoir, he later recounted that he had his first sexual experiences with both men and women during this period.
Returning to Hollywood, Granger appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1948 film Rope, followed by Enchantment alongside British actor David Niven. Around this time, Granger entered into a relationship with screenwriter Arthur Laurents, which lasted around a year. While filming Side Street (1950) in Manhattan, he met and began a short relationship with composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein. Although their relationship was brief, they remained lifelong friends.
In 1951, he appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s Strangers on a Train. Around the same time, he was known to have dated choreographer Jerome Robbins, while also having a relationship with actor Ava Gardner.
Throughout the 1950s, he appeared in a steady stream of films alongside Shelley Winters (with whom he also had a relationship), Danny Kaye, Leslie Caron, Ethel Barrymore, Jane Powell, Ann Miller, Joan Crawford and many other notable performers.
In 1955, he made his Broadway debut in The Carefree Tree, with a cast that included Janice Rule, Frances Sternhagen, Jerry Stiller and Alvin Ailey. The show closed after just 24 performances. As his film and stage career faltered, Granger found new success in television, making guest appearances in many programmes.
His early attempts on Broadway were met with limited success, but he later achieved acclaim in productions of The Seagull, The Crucible, The Glass Menagerie and The King and I. His career continued with appearances in film, television and theatre. Later, he found roles in daytime soap operas, including As the World Turns and One Life to Live.
In 1963, Granger began a relationship with production supervisor Robert Calhoun. They remained a couple until Calhoun’s death in 2008. Granger died in 2011 at the age of 85.
