Farley Granger was best known for his roles in two films by Alfred Hitchcock: Rope (1948) and Strangers on a Train (1951) - both about murder.
When Farley was just 17, he auditioned for Samuel Goldwyn and was cast in two films which led to a seven-year contract for $100 per week. But World War II on, and Grange decided to enlist in the Navy. He was shipped to Hawaii, but he suffered from extreme seasickness - losing 23 pounds by the time the ship arrived in Honolulu. During his recovery, he was assigned to the Army Special Services commanded by actor Maurice Evans. The unit arranged entertainment for the troops in the Pacific.
By the time the war ended, Farley was 21 and still a virgin, so he decided to visit a bordelo. He wrote later about that evening - after having sex with a “lovely” female prostitute, he met a “handsome” Navy officer as he was leaving the house. Farley soon had sex with him as well.
"I lost my virginity twice in one night… I came to the conclusion that for me, everything I had done that night was as natural and as good as it felt ... I was never ashamed, and I never felt the need to explain or apologize for my relationships to anyone… I have loved men. I have loved women.
After the war, Hitchcock cast Granger in Rope (1948), a fictionalized version of the notorious 1929 Leopold and Loeb murder case (two college students killed a 14-year-old boy). The movie was controversial because the killers were homosexual lovers, and Hitchcock hinted at this (verboten during the Hates Office censorship). Granger’s costar, John Dall, was gay.
“John and I did discuss the [gay] relationship between our characters, but we never discussed our own private lives… No one discussed those things openly then… The word ‘gay’ wasn’t even appropriated yet.”
Shortly before he began work on Rope, Granger had met Arthur Laurents at a party hosted by Gene Kelly. They flirted with each other. In his own autobiography, Laurent wrote of their first meeting:
"As striking and improbable as Farley's looks were, he seemed unaware of them; and once you knew him, what you marveled at was his sweetness.“
Granger and Laurents moved in together but pretended to just be roommates. Of course, they went out on double dates with young actresses so they could be out in public together.
Samuel Goldwyn tried to discourage Granger's relationship with Laurents. Granger described Goldwyn as tightfisted, tyrannical, and homophobic— someone who would micromanage his career and personal life. After Granger had a disagreement with Goldwyn, he was suspended without pay. Granger and Laurents used the opportunity to tour Italy, Austria, and Germany together.
(Granger would eventually buy himself out of his contract with Goldwyn.)
Granger and Laurent’s would be together for four years, but the duo weren’t entirely exclusive. Granger once caught Laurents having sex with a delivery boy. Granger had a two-night fling with Leonard Bernstein.
Three years after “Rope”, Granger starred in Hitchcock’s “Strangers on a Train” (1951). It costarred Robert Walker, who offered to kill Granger’s character’s wife in exchange for Granger murdering his father. Hitchcock, being Hitchcock, added a twist to subvert the tension— casting Wagner, a straight actor playing gay, while Granger, a gay actor, played straight.
Farley Granger’s list of sexual partners wasn’t entirely with men. He had an affair with Ava Gardner (they met at a Christmas party after each had a fight with their dates).
“We met at the bar and left together. It was a short but pretty intense and enormously fun affair.”
Granger met Shelley Winters when they appeared together in “Behave Yourself!" (1951). Their friendship would evolve into an on-again, off-again love affair— he would later describe her as his “lifelong romance”.
"I would have married her if she hadn't been quite as crazy as she was… She could be very, very difficult, and she could also be very funny and very dear, really. It was the angel and the monster all together."
In 1955, Granger appeared on Broadway with Janice Rule. They began a relationship, and Granger was again tempted to walk down the aisle with her.
"But something was saying, "Don't do this" … I'm glad I didn't."
But Farley Granger’s longest relationship was with Robert Calhoun. They met in 1963 when Granger was appearing in “The Seagull” with the National Repertory Theater. Calhoun was the production supervisor. They quickly became lovers, and Calhoun followed Granger to California when the production ended.
While Granger continued to act in films and television, Calhoun became a successful TV producer, being nominated several times for Emmys and winning for his work on “As the World Turns” in 1987.
Calhoun helped Granger write his memoir, “Include Me Out,” which was published in 2007. They were together for 45 years.
The memoir revealed Granger’s love life to the public but…
“I never considered myself in the closet. When I had my relationship with Arthur Laurents during the filming of Rope, all of my friends knew about it. We went out to dinner together and went to parties together. It was the crowd we hung out with … None of those people cared a fig about whom you were having sex with.”
Granger avoided labeling himself as Gay or Bisexual.
“I never have felt the need to belong to any exclusive, self-defining, or special group. … I was never ashamed, and I never felt the need to explain or apologize for my relationships to anyone.”
“We’re not going to emerge as untarnished until we get rid of labels. Until we have the perception that sex is only part of what makes up a human, the enemy will always be able to say, “He’s just a faggot.”
But when Granger was pressed by the New York Times, he replied:
"I've lived the greater part of my life with a man, so obviously that's the most satisfying to me."
Farley Granger died of natural causes in 2011 at the age of 86. Robert Calhoun preceded him in 2008 at the age of 77.
