Finding Franchot: Exploring the Life and Career of Franchot Tone Posted by Franchot Tone Fan on December 9, 2016

It's time for the 2nd Annual Franchot Tone Holiday Gift Guide! This year's picks for that Franchot fan in your life (or, let's be honest, yourself!) are pictured above and include: Vintage tobacco card - Like many film stars, Franchot was featured on quite a few collectible tobacco cards in...   read more

Finding Franchot: Exploring the Life and Career of Franchot Tone Posted by Franchot Tone Fan on November 7, 2016

I'll conclude my Franchot & Politics series with a look at the 1936 film The Gorgeous Hussy. Directed by Clarence Brown and based on the 1934 novel by Samuel Hopkins Adams, The Gorgeous Hussy was a period piece designed for Joan Crawford in the part of Peggy Eaton. In addition...   read more

Finding Franchot: Exploring the Life and Career of Franchot Tone Posted by Franchot Tone Fan on October 30, 2016

When I learned of Pop Culture Reverie's timely Hail to the Chief Blogathon, I knew I had to write about Franchot Tone's portrayal of the fictional U.S. president in Otto Preminger's 1962 drama Advise & Consent. Last costarring with Bing Crosby and Jane Wyman in 1951's Capra film Here Comes...   read more

Finding Franchot: Exploring the Life and Career of Franchot Tone Posted by Franchot Tone Fan on October 22, 2016

For this week's (belated) entry into my Franchot & Politics series, I'd like to share with you some biographical sketches on the political figures of Franchot's maternal family. Franchot's grandfather and great grandfather held Republican seats in the Senate and Congress, respectively. Franchot'   read more

Finding Franchot: Exploring the Life and Career of Franchot Tone Posted by Franchot Tone Fan on October 14, 2016

I think all classic film enthusiasts have some knowledge about the powerful and predatory House Un-American Activities Committee that used public threats and scare tactics to terrorize the film industry. It would be denounced by former President Truman in the late 50's and lose its control in the 60   read more

Finding Franchot: Exploring the Life and Career of Franchot Tone Posted by Franchot Tone Fan on October 4, 2016

Franchot on They Gave Him a Gun set. Original photo from my collection. While making They Gave Him a Gun in 1937, Franchot was asked about his personality. As he talked about himself, Spencer Tracy and W.S. Van Dyke provided their own humorous interpretations. Franchot said about himself: "But   read more

Finding Franchot: Exploring the Life and Career of Franchot Tone Posted by Franchot Tone Fan on September 17, 2016

Some time ago, I read Dolores Dorn's short e-book Letters from a Hollywood Starlet. Dolores was Franchot's costar in Uncle Vanya as well as his fourth and final wife. I've wanted to write about Dolores' memories of their marriage and my own reflections on this time in Franchot's life for...   read more

Finding Franchot: Exploring the Life and Career of Franchot Tone Posted by Franchot Tone Fan on August 26, 2016

Actor, director, and writer John Strasberg (son of Lee and Paula Strasberg) was Franchot's godson and wrote about Franchot in his 1996 book Accidentally on Purpose: I don't remember feeling any peace or harmony from the moment we moved back to New York in 1947 until I began spending summers...   read more

Finding Franchot: Exploring the Life and Career of Franchot Tone Posted by Franchot Tone Fan on June 22, 2016

Helen Ferguson as an actress in the 1920's (left) and a publicist at an event in the early 1960's (right). Helen Ferguson was an actress-turned-publicist who represented many of classic Hollywood's biggest stars—Barbara Stanwyck, Loretta Young, Henry Fonda, Jeanette MacDonald, and so on. In   read more

Finding Franchot: Exploring the Life and Career of Franchot Tone Posted by Franchot Tone Fan on June 6, 2016

Recently, I watched the HBO documentary Nothing Left Unsaid: Gloria Vanderbilt & Anderson Cooper. Although I think there are actually several things unsaid, Gloria's reflections on her life and conversations with son Anderson were fascinating. Gloria does not discuss Franchot at all in the docum   read more

Finding Franchot: Exploring the Life and Career of Franchot Tone Posted by Franchot Tone Fan on April 24, 2016

Franchot & Christopher in the Alcoa production of Even the Weariest River, 1956.Source: www.fantasfilm.org Not too many years ago, Christopher Plummer published his autobiography, In Spite of Myself. I greatly admire Mr. Plummer, so much so that I wrote him a letter gushing to him just how much   read more

Finding Franchot: Exploring the Life and Career of Franchot Tone Posted by Franchot Tone Fan on April 22, 2016

Fresh from the New York stage and with only one film (The Wiser Sex with Claudette Colbert) under his belt, Franchot Tone was assigned the role of Ronnie in the 1933 war drama Today We Live. The leading lady of the picture would be Joan Crawford, flapper-turned-dramatic actress, who was...   read more

Finding Franchot: Exploring the Life and Career of Franchot Tone Posted by Franchot Tone Fan on February 27, 2016

Franchot was born on this day in 1905. It's hard to believe that he would be 111 years old. Even though I was born years after his death, I always think of Franchot as someone who hasn't been gone that long. I suppose it is because he comes across as...   read more

Finding Franchot: Exploring the Life and Career of Franchot Tone Posted by Franchot Tone Fan on February 13, 2016

"If all young ladies of nineteen were as naturally lovely, unaffected, talented, and intelligent as Deanna Durbin, America would indeed be the land of the Pilgrim's Pride." -Franchot Tone, Modern Screen, Dec 1940 - Nov 1941 Shared with me by James de Menna As a par   read more

Finding Franchot: Exploring the Life and Career of Franchot Tone Posted by Franchot Tone Fan on December 7, 2015

Have a Franchot Tone fan in your life or want to treat yourself to a new Franchot DVD this holiday season? Here are my picks for the movies that should be wrapped under your tree! Wish you had been able to see Franchot in a live play? Buy the 1957...   read more

Finding Franchot: Exploring the Life and Career of Franchot Tone Posted by Franchot Tone Fan on September 14, 2015

In his autobiography, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. who was, of course, married to Joan Crawford when she met Franchot Tone on the set of the 1933 film Today We Live, called Franchot “a fine actor from New York.” Fairbanks, Jr. also said: Today we would call Tone a concerned citizen—he   read more

Finding Franchot: Exploring the Life and Career of Franchot Tone Posted by Franchot Tone Fan on August 3, 2015

Since I've had my own gray hair and wrinkles, producers have been willing to recognize me as a character actor. There was a long spell in Hollywood where I appeared in nothing but bad romantic comedies. They were 'dress suit roles.' Acting talent didn't matter. The important thing was to...   read more

Finding Franchot: Exploring the Life and Career of Franchot Tone Posted by Franchot Tone Fan on May 27, 2015

"If I ever had an image, it was the playboy, the white tie and tails, the elegant fellow with the good tailor. That was my image for the mass movie audience. But not for the theater audience. They saw me as an actor. Now my television image is the character...   read more

Finding Franchot: Exploring the Life and Career of Franchot Tone Posted by Franchot Tone Fan on May 15, 2015

I’ve never had any setbacks. I’ve always lived in the style to which I’m accustomed. I’ve never been out of work. Most important to me, I have never had to take an acting job that I didn’t want to do.” -Franchot Tone Source: "Who Has Ever Had a Better Time?   read more

Finding Franchot: Exploring the Life and Career of Franchot Tone Posted by Franchot Tone Fan on May 13, 2015

Joan Crawford on why her marriage to Franchot did not last. (To be fair though, Joan is taking quite a bit of the blame, when both Franchot and she contributed to the deterioration of their marriage.) "Franchot loved the theater and despised Hollywood, and I wasn't as nice to him,...   read more