Franchot Tone

Biography: Born into a socially well-connected family, Franchot Tone began his acting career while an undergraduate at Cornell University, where he served as president of the Dramatic Club. Blessed with good looks and a deep, persuasive voice, he went professional in 1927, graduating to Broadway shortly afterward. In films from 1932, he was under contract to MGM, working steadily in both A-pictures and B-films, generally cast as a debonair playboy. In 1935, he appeared in two of his finest films, Mutiny on the Bounty (for which he earned an Oscar nomination) and Paramount's Lives of the Bengal Lancers, in which he slyly stole the picture right from under its nominal star Gary Cooper. His popularity waned in the 1940s, though he still delivered impressive performances as the reluctant undercover agent in Wilder's Five Graves to Cairo (1943) and the worldly homicidal maniac in Phantom Lady (1943). By the end of the decade, he was better-known for his romantic imbroglios and occasionalBorn into a socially well-connected family, Franchot Tone began his acting career while an undergraduate at Cornell University, where he served as president of the Dramatic Club. Blessed with good looks and a deep, persuasive voice, he went professional in 1927, graduating to Broadway shortly afterward. In films from 1932, he was under contract to MGM, working steadily in both A-pictures and B-films, generally cast as a debonair playboy. In 1935, he appeared in two of his finest films, Mutiny on the Bounty (for which he earned an Oscar nomination) and Paramount's Lives of the Bengal Lancers, in which he slyly stole the picture right from under its nominal star Gary Cooper. His popularity waned in the 1940s, though he still delivered impressive performances as the reluctant undercover agent in Wilder's Five Graves to Cairo (1943) and the worldly homicidal maniac in Phantom Lady (1943). By the end of the decade, he was better-known for his romantic imbroglios and occasional nightclub brawls than his film career, whereupon he took stock of himself and returned to the stage. He appeared in such well-received productions as Inherit the Wind, the 1963 revival of Strange Interlude, and in 1958 produced, directed, and starred an inexpensive but not uninteresting film adaptation of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya. During this period he was also a collaborator on several film and stage productions with his closest friend, actor Burgess Meredith. His TV credits included dozens of guest appearances on such anthologies as Twilight Zone and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, as a well as a season's worth of episodes on TV's Ben Casey, replacing the ailing Sam Jaffee. Of his final film roles, only his stint as the U.S. president in Preminger's Advise and Consent (1962) and his supporting part in Arthur Hill's hallucinatory Mickey One (1965) truly stand out. Franchot Tone was married four times, each time to an actress: Joan Crawford, Jean Wallace, Barbara Payton, and Dolores Dorn-Heft.… Expand