Frances Farmer-Dark Era Of Bedlam

Farmer’s film debut was in 1936 in “Too Many Parents,” during the next six years she appeared in 18 films, three Broadway plays, thirty major radio shows and seven stock company productions – all by the age of 27. I can’t say I’ve ever seen her in any movies, but she rose to stardom back in the 30’s, in fact, she was coined “The new Greta Garbo,” but quickly spiraled down into a life of alcoholism, arrests, and confinement in a mental institution.

The story goes that it was her mother that was actually crazy and caused a lot of Farmer’s troubles. While Farmer’s professional career was in the upswing, her personal life was going down the tubes and fast. She had a number of failed relationships, one being with Lief Erickson, she became addicted to alcohol and amphetamines. This combination made her volatile and difficult. In 1943 she got into a fight and was arrested. The next day she was placed into the custody of psychiatrist Thomas H. Leonard. Farmer refused to cooperate with the shrink, and he soon diagnosed her as “suffering from manic-depressive psychosis-probably the forerunner of a definite dementia praecox.” She was transferred to the screen actor’s sanitarium in La Cresenta.

For the next seven years, Farmer would experience the darkest and primitive, by today’s standards, psychiatric treatment and abuse. She underwent a series of violent shock treatments, insulin shock treatments, and hydrotherapy, all intended to strip her of her dignity and talent. It has been said that she even underwent a lobotomy, but that is still questionable, or debated. She was repeatedly raped; she was also used as an experimental subject for drugs.

The dark era of bedlam was far from over in the 30’s and 40’s as we can see from this classic movie star’s experience. I have to think that if in fact she suffered a mental breakdown of some kind, and meds like we have today were available, she would’ve been ok. She was no different than the Brittney Spears, and Lindsey Lohan of today. In high school, Frances wrote a controversial poem titled, “God Dies,” and in fact, she won $100 in a contest for it. I’ve read it, many atheists think she was denouncing God, I saw it more like a kid mad a God, and not really understanding the ebb and flow of life. Sadly, this experience may have completely crushed any faith left inside her.

Frances Farmer died of cancer at the age of 57, destitute, and broken hearted.