Born in Seattle, Frances Farmer studied drama at the University of Washington, Seattle. In 1935, she went to Hollywood where she secured a seven-year contract with Paramount. In 1943, she was wrongfully declared 'mentally incompetent' and committed to a series of asylums and public mental hospitals, where eventually she received a lobotomy. After eleven years she was released, and spent some of the remaining years of her life tending the parents who had committed her and taking odd jobs. She appeared on This Is Your Life, and ran her own TV show, Frances Farmer Presents for six years. She died of cancer in 1970.



Come and Get It (1936): $75/week
Too Many Parents (1936): $100/week

Farmer was the subject of a song Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge On Seattle on the album In-Utero by Nirvana. Frances Farmer My Hero - The Unauthorized Biography is a rock opera based on the life of the tragic screen star. Singer Patterson Hood included the song Frances Farmer in his 2004 album Killers and Stars which features Farmer's picture on the cover. French-Canadian singer Mylène Farmer chose her stage name in homage to Frances, and her first hit song, Maman a tort, in 1984 was about the actress. Was portrayed by Susan Blakely in Will There Really Be a Morning? (1983) (TV). Her life is also profiled in the A&E documentary "Frances Farmer: Paradise Lost" (2001) directed by Lawrence Williams. For her very special tribute appearance on "This Is Your Life" (1952), Frances was given an automobile -- an Edsel. Her third, and last, husband Leland C. Mikesell was born May 20, 1904 and died January 1971.