Actor Farley Granger, who starred in Hitchock's Rope (1948) and Strangers On a Train (1951), Nicholas Ray's They Live By Night (1949, above) and Luchino Visconti's Senso (1953), among others, has died at the age of 85 in New York.
Granger failed to sustain the momentum of those (early) years, meandering into television, some stage work and often indifferent European and American movies.
The reasons were complicated, owing much to his sexuality and an unwillingness to conform to Hollywood pressures, notably from his contract studio, MGM, and the mogul Samuel Goldwyn. Granger refused to play the publicity or marrying game common among other gay stars and turned down roles he considered unsuitable, earning a reputation – in his own words – for being "a naughty boy".
The actor came out about his bisexuality in a 2007 memoir and revealed his affairs with the likes of Shelley Winters, Ava Gardner and Patricia Neal as well as playwright Arthur Laurents and musician Leonard Bernstein. He lived with his longtime partner Robert Calhoun since the 1960's through to Calhoun's death three years ago.
