Glenda Farrell (June 30, 1904 – May 1, 1971) was an American film actress.

Career

Farrell came to Hollywood towards the end of the silent era. Farrell began her career with a theatrical company at the age of 7. She played Little Eva in Uncle Tom's Cabin. She paused at times to continue her education but appeared with a number of theatrical companies and in several Broadway productions.

She was in the cast of Cobra and The Best People with actress Charlotte Treadway, at the Morosco Theater in Los Angeles, California, in 1925.

Farrell was first signed to a long-term contract by First National Pictures in July 1930. She was given the feminine lead in Little Caesar directed by Mervyn Leroy.

Warner Brothers signed her to re-create on film the role she played in Life Begins on Broadway. Farrell worked on parts in twenty movies in her first year with the studio. She came to personify the wise-cracking, hard-boiled, and somewhat dizzy blonde of the early talkies, along with fellow Warner Brothers brassy blonde, Joan Blondell, with whom she would be frequently paired.

Her brassy persona was used to great effect in Little Caesar (1931) opposite Edward G. Robinson, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932) opposite Paul Muni, Havana Widows (1933) with Blondell, Bureau of Missing Persons (1933) opposite Pat O'Brien, Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933) opposite Lionel Atwill and Fay Wray, and The Big Shakedown (1934) with Charles Farrell and Bette Davis.

She became one of Warner Brothers’ most prolific actresses of the 1930s, solidifying her success with her own film film series, as Torchy Blane, "Girl Reporter". In this role Farrell was promoted as being able to speak 400 words in 40 seconds. Farrell would portray the character Torchy Blane in approximately eight films, from 1937 to 1939 when the role was taken over by Jane Wyman.

In 1937 she starred opposite Dick Powell and Joan Blondell in the Academy Award nominated Lloyd Bacon and Busby Berkeley directed musical comedy Gold Diggers of 1937.

When her Warner Brothers contact expired in 1939 she opted to focus on her stage career once again. She said that working in plays gave her more of a sense of individuality whereas in films you get frustrated because you feel you have no power over what you're doing.

Farrell went out of vogue in the 1940s but made a comeback later in life, winning an Emmy Award in 1963, for her work in the television series Ben Casey. She was appearing on Broadway in Forty Carats in 1969 when she was diagnosed with lung cancer. She remained with the show until ill health forced her departure in November 1970.

Glenda Farrell has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to Motion Pictures, at 6524 Hollywood Boulevard.

Personal life

Farrell was born to Charles and Wilhelmina "Minnie" Farrell of Irish and German descent in Enid, Oklahoma, and she had two brothers named Richard and Gene. Her son with her first husband Thomas Richards was B-Western "sidekick" actor Tommy Farrell. She dated Hollywood film writer Robert Riskin in the early 1930s and married Jack Durant of the Mitchell and Durant vaudeville team in June 1931. In 1941 Farrell became the wife of Dr. Henry Ross, a West Point graduate and Army physician who served on General Eisenhower's staff. In 1971, she died from lung cancer, aged 66, at her home in New York City and was interred in the West Point Cemetery, West Point, New York. When Dr. Ross died in 1991, he was buried with her.

Filmography

1928 Lucky Boy Bit Part uncredited

1931 Little Caesar Olga Stassoff

1932 Scandal for Sale Stella

Life Begins Florette Darien

Three on a Match Mrs. Black, Prisoner at Checkers Table uncredited

I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang Marie

The Match King Babe

1933 Mystery of the Wax Museum Florence Dempsey

Grand Slam Blondie

Girl Missing Kay Curtis

The Keyhole Dot

How to Break 90#2: Position and Back Swing Golfer's Wife uncredited

Gambling Ship Jeanne Sands

Mary Stevens, M.D. Glenda Carroll

Lady for a Day Missouri Martin

Bureau of Missing Persons Belle Howard Saunders

Man's Castle Fay La Rue

Havana Widows Sadie Appleby

1934 The Big Shakedown Lily 'Lil' Duran

Hi, Nellie! Gerry Krale

I've Got Your Number Bonnie, aka Madame Francis

Dark Hazard Valerie 'Val' Wilson

Heat Lightning Mrs. 'Feathers' Tifton

Merry Wives of Reno Bunny Fitch

The Personality Kid Joan McCarty

Kansas City Princess Marie Callahan

The Secret Bride Hazel Normandie

1935 Gold Diggers of 1935 Betty Hawes

Traveling Saleslady Claudette Ruggles

Go Into Your Dance Molly Howard, aka Lucille Thompson

In Caliente Mis Clara Thorne

We're in the Money Dixie Tilton

Little Big Shot Jean

Miss Pacific Fleet Mae O'Brien

1936 Snowed Under Daisy Lowell, Wife #2

The Law in Her Hands Dorothy 'Dot' Davis

Nobody's Fool Ruby Miller

High Tension Edith McNeil

Here Comes Carter Verna Kennedy

Gold Diggers of 1937 Genevieve 'Gen' Larkin

1937 Smart Blonde Torchy Blane

Fly Away Baby Torchy Blane

Dance Charlie Dance Fanny Morgan

You Live and Learn Mamie Wallis

Breakfast for Two Carol Wallace

The Adventurous Blonde Torchy Blane

Hollywood Hotel Jonesie

1938 Blondes at Work Torchy Blane

Stolen Heaven Rita

Prison Break Jean Fenderson

The Road to Reno Sylvia Shane

Exposed 'Click' Stewart

Torchy Gets Her Man Torchy Blane

1939 Torchy Blane in Chinatown Torchy Blane

Torchy Runs for Mayor Torchy Blane

1942 Johnny Eager Mae Blythe Agridowski

Twin Beds Sonya Cherupin

The Talk of the Town Regina Bush

1943 City Without Men Billy LaRue

A Night for Crime Susan

Klondike Kate Molly

1944 Ever Since Venus Babs Cartwright

1947 Heading for Heaven Nora Elkins

1948 I Love Trouble Hazel Bixby

Mary Lou Winnie Winford

Lulu Belle Molly Benson

1952 Apache War Smoke Fanny Webson

1953 Girls in the Night Alice Haynes

1954 Secret of the Incas Mrs. Winston

Susan Slept Here Maude Snodgrass

1955 The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing Mrs. Nesbit

1959 Middle of the Night Mrs. Mueller

1964 Kissin' Cousins Ma Tatum

The Disorderly Orderly Dr. Jean Howard

1968 Tiger by the Tail Sarah Harvey