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Frances Elena Farmer (September 19, 1913 - August 1, 1970) was an American actress of stage and screen. She is perhaps better known for sensationalized and fictional accounts of her life, and especially her involuntary commitment to a mental hospital. Farmer was the subject of three films, three books, and numerous songs and magazine articles.

Early life and education[link]

Farmer was born in Seattle, to Ernest Melvin Farmer and Cora Lillian (Van Ornum) Farmer. In 1931, while attending West Seattle High School, she entered and won $100 from The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, a writing contest sponsored by Scholastic Magazine, with her controversial essay "God Dies".^[1] It was a precocious attempt to reconcile her wish for, in her words, a "superfather" God, with her observations of a chaotic and godless world. In her autobiography she writes that the essay was influenced by her reading of Nietzsche, who "expressed the same doubts, only he said it in German: "Gott ist Tot." God is dead. This I could understand. I was not to assume that there was no God, but I could find no evidence in my life that He existed or that He had ever shown any particular interest in me. I was not an atheist, but I was surely an agnostic, and by the time I was sixteen I was well indoctrinated into this theory."^[2]

Although her father was a prominent lawyer, she showed independence by becoming an usherette in a cinema, a waitress, a tutor and a factory worker to pay her university fees before winning a popularity contest that entitled her to a trip to Europe.

In 1935, as a student at the University of Washington, Farmer won a subscription contest for the leftist newspaper The Voice of Action. First prize was a trip to the Soviet Union, which she took despite her mother's strong objections, in order to see the pioneering Moscow Art Theatre. These two incidents fostered speculations that Farmer was both an atheist and a Communist.

Farmer studied drama at the University of Washington. During the 1930s, its drama department productions were considered citywide cultural events and attended accordingly. While there she starred in plays including Helen of Troy, Everyman and Uncle Vanya. In late 1934, she starred in the school's production of Alien Corn, speaking foreign languages, playing the piano, and receiving rave reviews in what was then the longest-running play in the department's history.

Career[link]

Returning from the Soviet Union in the summer of 1935, Farmer stopped in New York City, hoping to launch a legitimate theater career. Instead, she was referred to a Paramount Pictures talent scout, Oscar Serlin, who arranged for a screen test. Paramount offered her a 7-year contract. Farmer signed it in New York on her 22nd birthday and moved to Hollywood. She had top billing in two well-received 1936 B-movies. She wed actor Leif Erickson in February 1936 while shooting the first of the movies, Too Many Parents. Later that year, Farmer was cast opposite Bing Crosby in her first "A" feature, Rhythm on the Range. During the summer of 1936, she was loaned to Samuel Goldwyn to appear in Come and Get It, based on the novel by Edna Ferber. Both of these films were sizable hits, and her portrayals of both the mother and daughter in Come and Get It were praised by the public and critics, with several reviews greeting Farmer as a new-found star.

Farmer was not entirely satisfied with her career, however. She felt stifled by Paramount's tendency to cast her in films which depended on her looks more than her talent. Her outspoken style made her seem uncooperative and contemptuous. In an age when the studios dictated every facet of a star's life, Farmer rebelled against the studio's control and resisted every attempt they made to glamorize her private life. She refused to attend Hollywood parties or to date other stars for the gossip columns. However, Farmer was sympathetically described in a 1937 Colliers article as being indifferent about the clothing she wore and was said to drive an older-model "green roadster".

Hoping to enhance her reputation as a serious actress, she left Hollywood in 1937 to do summer stock in Westchester, New York. There she attracted the attention of director Harold Clurman and playwright Clifford Odets. They invited her to appear in the Group Theatre production of Odets' play Golden Boy. Her performance at first received mixed reviews, with Time magazine commenting that she had been miscast. Due to Farmer's box office appeal, however, the play became the biggest hit in the Group's history. By 1938, when the production had embarked on a national tour, regional critics from Washington D.C. to Chicago gave her rave reviews.^[3]

Farmer had an affair with Odets, but he was married to actress Luise Rainer and didn't offer Farmer a commitment. Farmer felt betrayed when Odets suddenly ended the relationship; and when the Group chose another actress for its London run—an actress whose family funded the play—she came to believe that The Group had used her drawing power selfishly to further the success of the play. She returned to Hollywood, and arranged with Paramount to stay in Los Angeles for three months out of every year to make motion pictures. The rest of her time she intended to use for theater. Her next two appearances on Broadway had short runs. Farmer found herself back in Los Angeles, often loaned out by Paramount to other studios for starring roles. At her home studio, meanwhile, she was consigned to costarring appearances, which she often found unchallenging.

By 1939, her temperamental work habits and worsening alcoholism began to damage her reputation. In 1940, after abruptly quitting a Broadway production of a play by Ernest Hemingway, she starred in two major films, both loan-outs to other studios. A year later, however, she was again relegated to co-starring roles. In mid-1941 Clifford Odets attempted to lure her back to Broadway to star in his upcoming play Clash by Night, but she refused, telling him she thought she needed to stay in Hollywood to rebuild her career. She next appeared opposite Tyrone Power in the film Son of Fury (1942) (on loan-out to Twentieth Century-Fox) and received critical praise for her performance. Despite this, though, Paramount canceled her contract in 1942,^[4] reportedly because of her alcoholism and increasingly erratic behavior during pre-production of Take a Letter, Darling.^{[citation needed]} Meanwhile, her marriage to Erickson had disintegrated and ended in divorce in 1942.

Legal and psychological problems[link]

Arrest[link]

On October 19, 1942, Frances Farmer was stopped by the police in Santa Monica for driving with her headlights on bright in the wartime blackout zone that affected most of the West Coast. Some reports say she was unable to produce a driver's license and was verbally abusive. The police suspected her of being drunk and she was jailed overnight. Farmer was fined $500 and given a 180-day suspended sentence. She immediately paid $250 and was put on probation.

By January 1943, she failed to pay the rest of the fine and a bench warrant was issued for her arrest. At almost the same time,^[5] a studio hairdresser filed an assault charge alleging that Farmer had dislocated her jaw on the set. The police traced Farmer to the Knickerbocker Hotel in Hollywood. Getting no answer, they entered her room with a pass key. They reportedly found her in bed (some stories include an episode involving the bathroom) and made her dress quickly. By all accounts, she did not surrender peacefully.

At her hearing the next morning, she behaved erratically. She claimed the police had violated her civil rights, demanded an attorney, and threw an inkwell at the judge. He immediately sentenced her to 180 days in jail. She knocked down a policeman and bruised another, along with a matron. She ran to a phone booth where she tried to call her attorney, but was subdued by the police. They physically carried her away as she shouted, "Have you ever had a broken heart?"

Newspaper reports gave sensationalized accounts of her arrest. Through the efforts of her sister-in-law, a deputy sheriff in Los Angeles County, Farmer was transferred to the psychiatric ward of L.A. General Hospital.^[3] There she was diagnosed with "manic depressive psychosis".

First hospitalization[link]

Within days, having been sent to the Kimball Sanitarium in La Crescenta, Farmer was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. She was given insulin shock therapy, a treatment then accepted as standard psychiatric procedure. The side effects included intense nausea.

Her family later claimed they did not give their consent to the treatment, as documented in her sister's self-published book, Look Back in Love, and in court records. The sanitarium was a minimum-security facility. After about nine months, Farmer walked away one afternoon and went to her half-sister Rita's house, over 20 miles away. The pair called their mother in Seattle to complain about the insulin treatment.

Lillian Farmer traveled to California and began a lengthy legal battle to have guardianship of her daughter transferred from the state of California to her. Although several psychiatrists testified that Farmer needed further treatment, her mother prevailed. The two of them left Los Angeles by train on September 13, 1943.^[3]

Western State Hospital and later life[link]

Farmer moved back in with her parents in West Seattle, but she and her mother fought bitterly. Within six months, Farmer physically attacked her mother. Her mother then had Frances Farmer committed to Western State Hospital at Steilacoom, Washington. There, Farmer sometimes received electro-convulsive shock treatment (ECT). Three months later, during the summer of 1944, she was pronounced "completely cured" and released.

While traveling with her father to visit at an aunt's ranch in Reno, Nevada, Farmer ran away. She spent time with a family who had picked her up hitchhiking, but she was eventually arrested for vagrancy in Antioch, California. Her arrest received wide publicity. Offers of help came in from across the country, but Farmer ignored them all. After a long stay with her aunt in Nevada, Farmer went back to her parents. At her mother's request, at age 31, Farmer was recommitted to Western State Hospital in May 1945 and remained there almost five years, with the exception of a brief parole in 1946.^[3]

Claims of ill-treatment[link]

This article's factual accuracy is disputed. Please help to ensure that disputed facts are reliably sourced. See the relevant discussion on the talk page. (June 2010)

In the years following Farmer's death in 1970, her treatment at Western State was the subject of serious discussion and wild speculation. Kenneth Anger included a chapter relating her breakdown in Hollywood Babylon. Farmer's posthumously published autobiography Will There Really Be A Morning? described a brutal incarceration. It claimed Farmer had been brutalized and mistreated in numerous ways. Some of the claims included being forced to eat her own feces^[6] and act as a sex slave for male doctors and orderlies.^{[citation needed]}

Farmer recounted her stay in the state asylum as "unbearable terror": "I was raped by orderlies, gnawed on by rats and poisoned by tainted food. I was chained in padded cells, strapped into strait-jackets and half-drowned in ice baths."^[7]

Farmer's close friend and housemate, writer M. Jean "Jeanira" Ratcliffe, arranged the publication of Will There Really Be a Morning. Controversy exists over what portions of the book Ratcliffe may have edited or ghostwritten.

Beginning in the late 1970's, Scientology began using Farmer in their publicity materials advocating the abolition of psychiatry. The Scientology-related advocacy group the Citizens Commission on Human Rights reported the following about Western State Hospital: "Conditions were barbaric. Both criminals and the mentally retarded were crowded together, their meals thrown on the floor to be fought over. Farmer was subjected to regular and continuous electroshock. In addition, she was prostituted to soldiers from the local military base and raped and abused by the orderlies. One of the most vivid recollections of some veterans of the institution would be the sight of Frances Farmer being held down by the orderlies and raped by drunken gangs of soldiers. She was also used as an experimental subject for drugs such as Thorazine, Stelazine, Mellaril and Proxilin."^{[8][verification needed]} Critics of the CCHR's assertions have pointed out that all of these drugs were tested and manufactured years after Farmer's release from Western State, making them highly suspect.^{[citation needed]}

Lobotomy claims[link]

In 1978, Seattle film reviewer William Arnold published Shadowland, which for the first time alleged that Farmer had been the subject of a transorbital lobotomy. Scenes of Farmer being subjected to this lobotomy procedure were part of the 1982 film Frances, which had initially been planned as an adaptation of Shadowland, though its producers ultimately reneged on their agreement with Arnold.^[3] During a court case against Brooksfilm (the film's producers), Arnold revealed that the lobotomy episode and much of his biography about Farmer was "fictionalized".^[3] Years later, on a DVD commentary track of the film Frances, director Graeme Clifford stated, "We didn't want to nickel and dime people to death with facts."^[9]

Farmer's sister, Edith, denied that the procedure was done. She said the hospital asked her parents' permission to perform the lobotomy, but her father was “horrified” by the notion and threatened legal action "if they tried any of their guinea pig operations on her."^[10] Western State Hospital recorded all the lobotomies performed during Farmer's period there. Since lobotomies were considered ground-breaking medical procedure, the hospital did not attempt to conceal its work. Although nearly 300 patients received the procedure, no evidence supports a claim that Farmer was among them.^[3] In 1983 Seattle newspapers interviewed former hospital staff members, including all the lobotomy ward nurses who were on duty during Farmer's years at Western State, and they all stated Farmer was never a patient on that ward. Dr. Walter Freeman's private patient records contained no references to Farmer. Dr. Charles Jones, psychiatric resident at Western State during Farmer's stays, also stated that Farmer was never given a lobotomy.^[11]

Life after hospitalization[link]

On March 23, 1950, at her parents' request, Farmer was paroled back into her mother's care. She took a job sorting laundry at the Olympic Hotel in Seattle. This was the same hotel where Farmer had been fêted in 1936 at the world premiere of Come and Get It. Farmer believed her mother could have her institutionalized again. In 1953, at her own request, 10 years after the arrest at the Knickerbocker Hotel, a judge legally restored Farmer's competency and full civil rights.

After a brief second marriage to utility worker Alfred H. Lobley, in 1954 Farmer moved to Eureka, California, where she worked anonymously for almost three years in a photo studio as a secretary/bookkeeper.

Comeback attempt[link]

In 1957, Farmer met Leland C. Mikesell, an independent broadcast promoter from Indianapolis who helped her move to San Francisco. He got her work as a receptionist in a hotel and arranged for a reporter to recognize her and write an article. This led to renewed interest from the entertainment world.

Farmer told Modern Screen magazine, "I blame nobody for my fall... I think I have won the fight to control myself." She made two appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show and also appeared on This Is Your Life. When asked about her alcoholism and mental illness, Farmer said she had never believed she was mentally ill. She commented, "You know, if you get treated like a patient, you're apt to act like one."

In August 1957, Farmer returned to the stage in New Hope, Pennsylvania, for a summer stock production of The Chalk Garden.

Through the spring of 1958, Farmer appeared in several live television dramas, some of which are preserved on kinescope. The same year, she made her last film, The Party Crashers, produced by Paramount. During this period, she divorced Lobley and married Mikesell. Her national comeback ended in Indianapolis after six performances of The Chalk Garden when she accepted an offer to host afternoon movies on a local TV station. By March 1959 national wireservice reports were indicating she had separated from Mikesell and he was suing her for breach of contract. Their divorce was finalized in 1963 in Indianapolis.

Indianapolis[link]

From 1958 to 1964 Farmer hosted a successful TV show called Frances Farmer Presents which had the top audience ranking in its time slot throughout its run. She was also in demand as a public speaker. During the early 1960s Farmer was actress-in-residence at Purdue University and appeared in some campus productions. By 1964 her behavior had turned erratic again. Farmer was fired, re-hired and fired from her television program. The manager of that television station later suggested (in a 1983 interview) that her turn for the worse was triggered by an appearance he had arranged for her on NBC's The Today Show. He had hoped to get her good publicity but believed Farmer had been stressed by being asked on national television about her years of institutionalization.

Farmer's last acting role was in The Visit at Loeb Playhouse on the Purdue University campus in West Lafayette, Indiana, which ran from October 22 to October 30, 1965. She was arrested for drunk driving during this engagement.

As a result of the guilt she felt over her illegal abortions, Farmer had for years avoided contact with children. At this period of her life she became attached to the five little daughters of a friend, and this helped to ease her guilt. In the summer of 1968, one of the girls, nestling against her, whispered in her ear, "I love you so much, because you're good." Farmer was deeply moved: "No one had ever said that to me before. No one had probably ever thought it, for that matter, and it was there, at that moment, that a heart chiseled of stone melted." When the girl left, Farmer burst into tears and it seemed to her that all the evil that had surrounded her was being washed away. She felt that God had come into her life and sensed that she "would have to find a disciplined avenue of faith and worship". Shortly after, she found herself sitting in St. Joan of Arc, the local Catholic church. She petitioned that very day to begin her instructions and was converted to the Roman Catholic faith.^[12][13] Farmer had a great affection for St. Joan of Arc Church and attended services there regularly.^[14] During this period, she gave up drinking.^[15]

Farmer and Jean Ratcliffe attempted to start a small company producing cosmetics, but although their products were successfully field-tested, the project failed after their funds were embezzled by the man who handled their investment portfolio.^[16]

In 1970, Farmer died from esophageal cancer. She is interred at Oaklawn Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Fishers, Indiana. Jean Ratcliffe is buried in the same cemetery.

Depictions[link]

Jessica Lange played Farmer in the 1982 film Frances, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. Kim Stanley was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for portraying Farmer's mother. The film contained a fictional scene which depicted Farmer undergoing a transorbital lobotomy. In Hollywood style, the film also omitted numerous facts and added a fictional life-long, love-interest character named "Harry".

Susan Blakely portrayed Farmer in a 1983 television production Will There Really Be a Morning?, which was named after Farmer's autobiography.^[17] Academy Award winner Lee Grant portrayed her mother in the same production.

In 1984, Culture Club had a #32 hit in the UK Single Charts "The Medal Song", which was about the actress.

Tracey Thorn's song "Ugly Little Dreams" on Everything But The Girl's 1985 LP "Love Not Money" was also inspired by Frances Farmer.

The Nirvana song "Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle", written by fellow Washington native Kurt Cobain, was named after Farmer and appears on the band's 1993 In Utero album.

Patterson Hood, singer, guitarist and songwriter with the rock band Drive-By Truckers, included a song about Farmer (titled "Frances Farmer") on his 2004 solo album, Killers and Stars. The album's cover features a drawing of Farmer by Toby Cole.

Carol Decker of the band T'Pau wrote a song "Monkey House" about Frances Farmer's mental illness which was featured on the 1987 album "Bridge Of Spies"

French singer Mylène Jeanne Gautier, changed her name into Mylène Farmer as a tribute to Frances.

Filmography[link]

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Agan, Patrick. The Decline and Fall of the Love Goddesses. Pinnacle Books, 1979. ISBN 0-523-40623-1.
• Arnold, William. Shadowland. McGraw-Hill Education. December 1978. ISBN 0-07-002311-5.
• Elliot, Edith Farmer. Look Back in Love. Gemaia Press, 1979. ISBN 0-9602232-1-5.
• Farmer, Frances. Will There Really Be a Morning? Allison & Busby, 1973. ISBN 0-85031-109-8.
• Shelley, Peter. Frances Farmer: The Life and Times of a Troubled Star. McFarland & Company, Inc., 2011. ISBN 978-0-7864-4745-9.

External links[link]

Biography portal

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Frances Farmer

• Shedding Light on Shadowland - Essay debunking many commonly believed myths about Farmer, with a wealth of previously undisclosed information about her
• Frances Farmer biography by HistoryLink, Washington State
• Frances Farmer at the Internet Movie Database
• Frances Farmer at the TCM Movie Database
• Frances Farmer at the Internet Broadway Database
• Frances Farmer at Find a Grave

This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (February 2012)

Jessica Lange
Lange at the 62nd Annual Academy Awards in 1990
Born	Jessica Phyllis Lange (1949-04-20) April 20, 1949 (age 63) Cloquet, Minnesota, U.S.
Education	Cloquet High School (1967) University of Minnesota (1967)
Occupation	Actress, producer, photographer
Years active	1976–present
Spouse	Francisco Grande (1970–81)
Partner	Mikhail Baryshnikov (1976–82) Samuel Shepard (1982–2010)
Children	3
Awards	Academy Awards (1983, 1995) Golden Globes (1977, 1983, 1995, 1996, 2012) Emmy Award (2010) Screen Actors Guild Award (2012)

Jessica Phyllis Lange (born April 20, 1949) is an American actress who has worked in film, theatre and television. The recipient of multiple awards, including two Academy Awards, five Golden Globes, one Emmy and one Screen Actors Guild Award, Lange is regarded as one of the première actors of her generation.^[1]

Lange was discovered by producer Dino De Laurentiis and made her professional film debut in 1976's King Kong. In 1982, she became the first actor in forty years to receive two Oscar nominations within the same year; she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as a soap opera star in Tootsie and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of the troubled actress Frances Farmer in Frances. Lange received three more nominations for Country (1984), Sweet Dreams (1985), and Music Box (1989) before being nominated a sixth time and winning the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as a manic depressive in Blue Sky (1994).

In addition to acting, Lange is a photographer with two published works,^[2] and is a humanitarian, holding a position as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF, specializing in the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Congo and Russia.^[3][4]

Early life[link]

Lange was born in Cloquet, Minnesota on April 20, 1949. The third of four children, she is the daughter of Dorothy Florence (née Sahlman; 1913–98) and Albert John Lange (1913–89), a teacher and traveling salesman.^[5] Her maternal grandparents were of Finnish descent, while her paternal grandparents were German and Dutch.^[6][7][8] Due to the nature of her father's professions, Lange and her family moved often throughout her childhood, though they eventually returned to and settled in Minnesota.^{[citation needed]}

Lange studied art and photography at the University of Minnesota where she formed a relationship with photographer Francisco "Paco" Grande. The two married, and Lange dropped out of the university in favor of travelling with Grande throughout the United States, both of them living the "bohemian life" out of a "beat-up van" throughout the late 1960s. She then relocated to Paris, France, where their relationship would eventually end. Lange, however, remained in Paris and studied mime with the renowned Étienne Decroux. In 1973, Lange returned to New York to "witness Nixon get impeached". Supporting herself as a waitress at the Lion's Head Tavern while sharing an apartment with Jerry Hall and Grace Jones in Manhattan, she was discovered by fashion illustrator Antonio Lopez^[9] and was briefly a fashion model for the Wilhelmina Models agency before being discovered by Hollywood producer Dino De Laurentiis.

Career[link]

Early career[link]

Lange made her professional film debut in 1976's King Kong. Despite being a box office hit, the film and her performance were panned by most film critics and Hollywood. However, Pauline Kael praised Lange for her performance, comparing her to Carole Lombard and calling the film "campy fun". Lange won the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year and the film became the fifth highest-grossing movie of 1976. Lange wouldn't work for nearly three years, however.^[10][11] Still, she was determined to pursue her dream of becoming a professional actress and returned to work as a waitress at the Lion's Head Tavern while attending classes at the Actors Studio in Greenwich Village.

In 1979, Lange was cast as the 'Angel of Death' in Bob Fosse's semi-autobiographical film, All That Jazz. The two were romantically linked until Lange met and became involved with Russian ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov, with whom she would have her first child. It is reported that Fosse wrote the part with Lange in mind. Soon thereafter, she was contacted by Bob Rafelson regarding a project he and Jack Nicholson were working on. Coincidentally, Nicholson had auditioned Lange for a part in his directorial debut, 1978's Goin' South. Though Lange lost the role to Mary Steenburgen, Nicholson was impressed and remained extremely interested in working with her, telling the actress that they would soon share the screen together. After several meetings and auditions, Rafelson would offer Lange the lead role, originated by Lana Turner, opposite Nicholson in 1981's The Postman Always Rings Twice, a remake of the classic film noir. Reportedly, after their first meeting, Rafelson wrote Lange's name on a slip of paper and placed it in a sealed envelope, knowing he had found his "first choice". Upon offering Lange the role, he handed her the envelope as a vote of confidence in her abilities. During filming, Nicholson became quite enamored with the actress for both her beauty and strength. He was quoted as referring to Lange as "a cross between a delicate fawn and a Buick."^[12] Although the controversial film received mixed reviews, critics took special notice of Lange, who was unanimously praised for her performance, some citing it as her "true film debut". Major critical and financial success soon followed.

1980s[link]

In 1982, Lange became the first performer in 40 years to receive two Academy Award nominations in the same year for her performance in Frances, co-starring Kim Stanley, and for her supporting role in Tootsie, starring Dustin Hoffman. Lange also received two Golden Globe nominations that year for these performances. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Tootsie, which became the second highest-grossing film of 1982 (following Steven Spielberg's E.T.). Her performance also earned her a second Golden Globe in the supporting category, along with awards from the National Society of Film Critics, the New York Film Critics Circle, the Boston Society of Film Critics and the Kansas City Film Critics Circle. Lange also won Best Actress at the Moscow International Film Festival for her performance in Frances.

Lange first became aware of 1930s actress Frances Farmer while living in New York City in the 1970s, and spoke of fatefully being told by acting teacher Warren Robertson, "You know, if they ever make a film about Frances Farmer, you should play Frances." Film editor for The Postman Always Rings Twice, Graeme Clifford, who was preparing a biopic on Farmer's life, had noticed Lange's range as an actress and the uncanny resemblance she bore to Farmer and suggested her as his first choice to producer Mel Brooks, who had favored Tuesday Weld for the role. Brooks would later speak of agreeing with Clifford after his first meeting with Lange.

Filming Frances was a grueling and emotionally taxing experience for Lange, who has spoken of "going over the edge" during the shoot. However, it was during this time that she met and fell in love with co-star Sam Shepard. The two would soon move in together and have their first child the following year.

The now "established actress" quickly became a highly sought-after star and was offered roles in box-office hits such as 1984's Romancing the Stone, Places In The Heart, The River and 1988's Gorillas in the Mist. The power and prestige she had earned with her sudden success afforded her the opportunity to both star in and act as executive producer of her next film, 1984's Country, inspired by an article in a Midwest newspaper about a family facing farm foreclosure, and co-starring Shepard. Lange was a staunch supporter of farmers' rights, admitting that her own "Midwestern upbringing" made her especially empathetic to their plight. Her performance earned her a third Academy Award nomination and fourth Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress. In 1985, she made her television debut as Maggie the Cat, starring opposite Tommy Lee Jones in a CBS Playhouse production of Tennessee Williams's Cat On a Hot Tin Roof. The following year she testified before the United States Congress on behalf of the Democratic House Task Force on Agriculture, alongside Jane Fonda and Sissy Spacek, with whom she formed a close frienship.^[13] At the close of 1985, she would portray legendary country singer Patsy Cline in Karel Reisz's biopic, Sweet Dreams, opposite Ed Harris, Ann Wedgeworth and John Goodman, for which she was nominated for her fourth Academy Award. In several interviews, Meryl Streep has stated that she "begged" Reisz, who directed her in 1981's The French Lieutenant's Woman, for the role of Cline but that his first choice had always been Lange. Streep has also been quite vocal and adamant in her praise of Lange's performance,^{[14][15][16][17]} calling her "beyond wonderful" in the film and stating:

I couldn't imagine doing it as well or even coming close to what Jessica did because she was so amazing in it.^[14]

Lange's films throughout the mid and late 1980s were mostly low profile and underperformed at the box office. In 1989, she starred in Costa-Gavras' Music Box, written by Joe Eszterhas and loosely based on the screenwriter's own experiences with his father. Lange played a Hungarian lawyer defending her father of Nazi war crimes. Her performance earned her a fifth Academy Award nomination and sixth Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress.

1990s[link]

Lange's film work during the 1990s became somewhat sporadic due to her taking time off to raise her children and to her increasing interest in stage work. In 1989 she starred in Paul Brickman's Men Don't Leave, which introduced Chris O'Donnell and co-starred Joan Cusack and Kathy Bates. In 1991, Martin Scorsese and Robert DeNiro, who had both auditioned Lange for 1981's Raging Bull, approached her to star in a remake of the 1962 film noir classic, Cape Fear, starring DeNiro along with Nick Nolte and Juliette Lewis. The film and cast received tremendous critical praise and it became the eighth highest-grossing film of 1991. In 1992, Lange starred in a television adaptation of Willa Cather's O Pioneers!, receiving her seventh Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress. Her Broadway debut also occurred that same year as she portrayed Blanche DuBois in Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire opposite Alec Baldwin. Critics panned Lange's performance as being "too cinematic" and criticized her for her lack of stage technique and experience. A few critics, however, lauded her performance, citing it as one of the best and most realistic interpretations of Williams' seminal character on Broadway.

Tony Richardson's Blue Sky, which was completed in 1991, was shelved after Orion Pictures declared bankruptcy that same year. In 1994, after sitting in a bank vault in New York City for three years, Lynn Arost persisted in pushing for the film's release. Lange was lauded for her performance as a manic depressive army wife in the 1960s. She won the 1994 Academy Award for Best Actress, along with the Golden Globe Award, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association award and the Sant Jordi de Cine award for Best Actress. During her acceptance speech for the Oscar, Lange dedicated her award to her children and to the memory and brilliance of director Tony Richardson, who had recently died from AIDS-related complications. Backstage, when asked by the press how she "managed to challenge age", Lange jokingly replied, "Well, they need some old girls, sometimes."^{[cite this quote]} Her victory placed her in an elite group of thespians who have won Oscars in both the supporting and lead categories. (see Academy Award for Best Actress and Academy Award for Best Actor). She would follow her victory with further critically lauded performances in 1995's Losing Isaiah, opposite Halle Berry, and Rob Roy, with Liam Neeson. That same year, Lange would reprise her role as Blanche DuBois in a CBS television adaptation "A Streetcar Named Desire", opposite Alec Baldwin, Diane Lane, and John Goodman. This time, she received rave reviews for her performance, winning her a fourth Golden Globe and her first Emmy nomination for Best Actress.

In 1996, Lange made her London stage debut, starring again as Blanche DuBois. The following year she starred opposite Michelle Pfeiffer in a film adaptation of Jane Smiley's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, A Thousand Acres. The film also starred Jason Robards and Jennifer Jason Leigh, and received generally mixed reviews. Lange was nominated for her ninth Golden Globe and won the Venice Film Festival's Schermi d'Amore award. In 1998, she starred opposite Elizabeth Shue in a film adaptation of Balzac's Cousin Bette, for which she would receive strong reviews. That same year Lange also starred opposite Gwyneth Paltrow in the semi cult classic, Hush. Her performance was panned as "over the top" by many critics, though Roger Ebert disagreed, writing:

The film's most intriguing element is the performance by Jessica Lange, who by not going over the top provides Martha with a little pathos to leaven the psychopathology."^[18]

Lange received rave reviews for her performance in Titus, Julie Taymor's 1999 adaptation of William Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus, opposite Anthony Hopkins and Alan Cumming. During promotional interviews for the film, Hopkins revealed his admiration for Lange, stating that her performance in Frances was his favorite by an actress. Entertainment Weekly film critic, Lisa Schwarzbaum, included Lange in a "for your consideration" article directed at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences:

Jessica Lange already has two Oscars and six nominations to her credit, so her appearance near the words Academy Awards should never be a surprise. But everything about her daring performance in Titus as Tamora, the Queen of the Goths, is an astonishment. Donning breastplates, vowing vengeance, tearing into Shakespeare for the first time as if nothing could be more fun, Lange steals the show — and when the star of the show is Anthony Hopkins, that's grand theft.^[19]

2000s[link]

Lange began the new millennium with a London stage production of Eugene O'Neill's, Long Day's Journey Into Night, playing the part of the heroin-addicted Mary Tyrone, for which she received positive reviews and an Olivier Award nomination.

She appeared mostly in supporting roles after, most notably opposite Christina Ricci in the 2001 adaptation of Elizabeth Wurtzel's best-selling memoir on depression, Prozac Nation. In 2003, Lange starred opposite Tom Wilkinson in HBO's highly-acclaimed Normal, a film about a man who reveals to his wife his decision to have a sex change. She followed this with notable performances in the Bob Dylan vehicle, Masked and Anonymous (2003), Tim Burton's Big Fish (2003), Jim Jarmusch's Broken Flowers (2005) and Wim Wenders' Don't Come Knocking (2005), before starring opposite Christian Slater and Sarah Paulson in a Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie for which she received generally mixed reviews. She later starred with Tammy Blanchard in a remake of Sybil in 2007.

Lange would see a resurgence in her popularity in 2009 with her performance as Big Edie, opposite Drew Barrymore, in HBO's Grey Gardens, based on the 1975 documentary of the same name. The two women would form a tight "mother-daughter" bond during filming, spending the entire shoot together "in each other's hotel rooms". She won her first Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress In A Movie after two previous nominations in the same category. During her acceptance speech, Lange thanked Barrymore, dedicating half of the award to her and Barrymore's taped reaction saw her mouthing the response, "I love you mother darling." Lange also received her eleventh Golden Globe nomination and second Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for her performance, losing both awards to Barrymore.

2010s[link]

In 2011, Lange joined the cast of the FX horror series American Horror Story. Series co-creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk originally wrote the role of Constance, a nosy next-door neighbor, as a supporting character, but after Lange acquired the role, they expanded it considerably. Murphy also stated that he had repeatedly seen Lange as Blanche DuBois on Broadway in 1992 after which he grew "obsessed" with her, citing her and her performance as his ultimate favorites.^[20] American Horror Story debuted as FX's highest-rated premiere, quickly becoming one of the network's highest-rated shows ever.^[21] Once again, Lange has seen a resurgence in her popularity and has received rave reviews for her controversial role. The International Press Academy awarded Lange a Special Achievement Satellite Award for Outstanding Performance in a Television Series. Lange also received her first Screen Actors Guild Award, after two previous nominations, this being her first in the category of Best Actress in a Drama Series, and won her fifth Golden Globe Award, her first in the category of Best Supporting Actress on Television. She was also awarded the Dorian Award by the Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association for Television Performance of the Year. In addition, she was chosen by TV Guide, Entertainment Weekly and MTV for giving one of the "best performances of 2011".^[22][23][24]

Lange starred in Michael Sucsy's The Vow (2012), opposite Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams. She is attached to star in a film adaptation of the television show, The Big Valley, in the role Barbara Stanwyck made famous. In March of 2012, it was announced that Lange would be replacing Glenn Close in an adaptation of Émile Zola's Thérèse Raquin, which is scheduled to begin filming in the Spring of 2012, and will also star Elizabeth Olsen, Tom Felton and Oscar Isaac.

Humanitarian work and political views[link]

Lange is a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), specializing in the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Congo and in spreading awareness of the disease in Russia.^[3][4] She has also been a public critic of former U.S. President George W. Bush, once calling his administration, "a self-serving regime of deceit, hypocrisy and belligerence,"^[25] and has been a fervent human rights supporter of the Buddhist monks in Nepal.

Personal life[link]

Lange was married to photographer Francisco "Paco" Grande from 1970 to 1981.^[26] Since 1982, she lived with playwright/actor Sam Shepard, but separated in 2010.^[27] She has three children, Alexandra (born 1981) from her relationship with dancer/actor Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Hannah Jane (born 1985) and Samuel Walker (born 1987) with Shepard.^[28][29][30]

In 2008, Lange published her own collection of black-and-white pictures entitled 50 Photographs (powerHouse Books) with a special introduction by Patti Smith.^[31] An exhibition of her work, along with a series of her films, was presented at the oldest international museum of photography and film, the George Eastman House, after which Lange was presented with the first George Eastman House Honors Award in 2009.^[32] In 2010, she published a second collection of photographs, In Mexico.^[33]

Awards[link]

In total, Lange has received six Academy Award nominations, winning two Oscars, twelve Golden Globe nominations, winning five, three Emmy nominations, winning one, three Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, winning one, four Satellite Award nominations, winning one, one British Academy Film Award nomination, and one Laurence Olivier Award nomination, among several other prestigious awards and nominations. Her work has also earned her the National Society of Film Critics award, the New York Film Critics Circle award, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association award, the Boston Society of Film Critics award, the Chicago Film Critics Association award, the Kansas City Film Critics Circle award, the Moscow International Film Festival award, the Taormina Film Festival award, and the Donostia Award from the San Sebastián International Film Festival, among several other critics' circle and festival awards. Lange has also been awarded a prestigious "Gala Tribute" from the Film Society of Lincoln Center, a Theater World Award, and a Crystal Award, among other specialized awards and tributes.^[34][35]

Filmography[link]

Television[link]

Theatre[link]

In 1992, Lange made her Broadway-theatre début in New York City opposite Alec Baldwin in Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire. She appeared in the West End in London, United Kingdom, in 2000, as Mary Tyrone in Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night and was nominated for an Olivier Award. In 2005, she returned to Broadway in another Tennessee Williams play, The Glass Menagerie, with Christian Slater.

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Jeffries, J. T. (1986). Jessica Lange: A Biography. New York City, United States: St. Martin's Press. p. 158. ISBN 978-0-312-44200-2. http://books.google.com/books?id=rVn2PAAACAAJ. 
• Shewey, Don (1997). Sam Shepard. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Da Capo Press. p. 269. ISBN 978-0-306-80770-1. http://books.google.com/books?id=kihaAAAAMAAJ. 
• Lange, Jessica (2008). 50 Photographs. Brooklyn, New York: powerHouse Books. p. 50. ISBN 978-1-57687-453-0. http://books.google.com/books?id=uV7zNAAACAAJ. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jessica Lange

• Jessica Lange at AllRovi
• Jessica Lange at the Internet Movie Database
• Jessica Lange at the Internet Broadway Database
• Jessica Lange at the TCM Movie Database

Jay Reatard
Jay Reatard performing at the Bowery Ballroom in 2008.
Background information
Birth name	Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr.
Born	May 1, 1980 Lilbourn, Missouri, U.S.
Died	January 13, 2010(2010-01-13) (aged 29) Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.
Genres	Garage punk, punk rock, indie rock[1]
Occupations	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, bass guitar, percussion, keyboards
Years active	1998–2010
Labels	Matador, Shattered, In the Red, Goner
Associated acts	The Reatards, Lost Sounds, Nervous Patterns, The Final Solutions, Digital Leather, Angry Angles, Terror Visions, Bad Times, Evil Army
Website	www.jayreatard.com
Notable instruments
Gibson Flying V

Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr. (May 1, 1980 – January 13, 2010), better known by the stage name Jay Reatard, was an American musician from Memphis, Tennessee. Lindsey was signed to Matador Records. He released recordings as a solo artist and as a member of The Reatards and Lost Sounds.

Biography[link]

1990s[link]

Lindsey's recording career began at the age of 15, when a home-made demo tape he had sent in to Goner Records caught the ear of former-Oblivian and Goner Records’ owner, Eric Friedl.^[2] Lindsey's introduction to Friedl and his Oblivians bandmates had come that same year when the Oblivians had returned home to Memphis as an opening act for Rocket from the Crypt. Upon seeing the act live, Lindsey became enamored with their sloppy, lo-fi music and set forth creating his own brand of heavily distorted garage rock music.^[3] Friedl was impressed by Lindsey's demos and signed him to his label, later commenting, "I loved the racket so we did the record, and I've been a fan of everything he's done since. He's a pretty amazing kid."^[2]

Lindsey named his first project the Reatards, which at the time included only himself as a member, and adopted an Oblivians-influenced surname,^[3] calling himself Jay Reatard. The Reatards’ first release on Goner was a 7” EP called Get Real Stupid, which featured Lindsey as a solo performer alternating between playing guitar, singing, and beating on a bucket to provide a percussive rhythm. Around this time Greg Cartwright, a member of The Oblivians, briefly played drums for Lindsey. Cartwright played shows and recorded with Lindsey on his first (self-released) cassette, Fuck Elvis, Here's The Reatards (No-Fi Records) - which featured recording assistance from Jack Yarber, another Oblivian.

For Lindsey’s second vinyl release he recruited a backing band, hiring bassist Steve Albundy and drummer Elvis Wong to accompany him. The Reatards’ first LP as a trio was 1998’s Teenage Hate. This was followed by a second LP, Grown Up Fucked Up, and a number of singles.^[4] The Reatards' first European tour came in 1998, when Lindsey was just 18.^[3]

2000s[link]

In 2001 Lindsey began recording music with Alicja Trout and Rich Crook as the Lost Sounds, a side project which would ultimately usurp the Reatards as Lindsey’s primary musical venture. With alternating male and female vocals, as well as prominently-employed synthesizers, the Lost Sounds were a departure from the guitar-driven garage rock of the Reatards, and had a sound more akin to the early punk rock of The Screamers, a synthesizer-heavy punk band that Lindsey had been exposed to by Elvis Wong shortly after the recording of the Reatards’ first LP. Lindsey once claimed that his time in the Lost Sounds "was and is more fun than anything else I have ever done."^[5] Yet despite Lindsey’s enthusiasm for the band, the Lost Sounds bitterly broke up in 2005.

Lindsey was a prolific songwriter, often acting as a member and contributing compositions to two or more bands concurrently. One of Lindsey’s first side projects was the Bad Times, a one-off band which included Eric Friedl and King Louie Bankston. The band recorded an album’s worth of material after only one practice session in 1998, releasing a self-titled LP in 2001. After one live performance the band disbanded, the members returning to their respective solo commitments.^[5]

While Lindsey was still a member of both the Reatards and the Lost Sounds he joined a side project called the Final Solutions. Lindsey’s association with the future members of the Final Solutions began while he was still a teenager. Fighting problems at home, Lindsey opted to take up residence with members of a local band called the Jackmonkeys. While he was rooming with the band he was conscripted to play drums for them at a battle of the bands which was being held at the school's cafeteria. With Lindsey on drums, the band, under the moniker "the High and Mightys," performed a set of Oblivians covers, earning instant hate in the competition (FS bassist Tommy Trouble's band, the Squirrels earned third place). After separating for a number of years the group reformed under the name the Final Solutions and began touring and releasing albums.^[5]

In 2004, Lindsey, together with his ex-girlfriend, Alix Brown of Atlanta rock band the Lids, formed Shattered Records, an independent record label that released mainly limited edition vinyl.^[6] Shattered Records released records for a number of lo-fi punk and rock bands, including: Kajun SS, Jack Oblivian, Tokyo Electron, Retards, Final Solutions, Terror Visions, Angry Angles, Carbonas, Rat Traps, Digital Leather and the Knaughty Knights.

In 2007 Lindsey put Shattered Records on hold while he promoted his solo records.^[3] Then in 2009 Lindsey revived the label with the "Shattered Record Club" and the announcement of his final solo album, Watch Me Fall.

Out of this partnership came another musical endeavor for Lindsey, the Angry Angles. Together with Brown, and alternating between drummers Paul Artigues from Die Rotzz and Ryan Rousseau ('Elvis Wong') from Tokyo Electron, the band began touring the U.S. in the Fall of 2006. Before the band had even released its second single, Lindsey and Brown began a short European tour. The Angry Angles disbanded after releasing a number of vinyl singles.^[7]

By 2005 both the Reatards and the Lost Sounds had broken up, and Lindsey focused his attention on a handful of side projects, working with and releasing material as Terror Visions and Destruction Unit. Though after he began focusing on his solo career in 2006, Lindsey said he has no desire to reform his previous bands. "I'd just feel like I was going backwards if I worked on anything else," Lindsey said.^[8]

2006 saw the release of Blood Visions (In the Red), Lindsey's first solo album under the moniker Jay Reatard. After a lengthy tour supporting his solo album, in 2008 he signed a multi-album, exclusive deal with the New York-based indie label Matador Records. Reatard chose Matador because he felt they were "the only ones keeping any of the promises they'd made along the way." A number of major labels like Universal Records, Columbia Records, and Vice Records along with independent Fat Possum wanted to meet with him in the hopes of signing him.^[9] He released six limited, 7" singles throughout 2008 with Matador. Soon after the release of the first single and write-ups in NME, Spin Magazine and Rolling Stone, Lindsey began playing larger shows and various music festivals all over the world.^[8]

"My Shadow" was featured in MLB 2K8.^[10]

In October 2008 Reatard's Matador Singles '08 LP compiled all six of the 2008 singles on one LP/CD. Lindsey again hit the road to support the album with a second, extensive 2008 tour. Lindsey's later records sound drastically different from his early punk records. He said writers often misinterpret his newer sound. "I just think it's noisy pop music," Lindsey said.^[8]

Lindsey's final album, Watch Me Fall (his first proper studio album with Matador), was released in August 2009. He described this collection of songs as more melodic and twee-inspired. In a 2009 interview, Lindsey said "these new batch of songs feature organ, some mandolins, a cello, a lot more back-ups and harmonies."^[8] He noted that he's "become a little bit more about the melodies... I think I stripped away a layer of the fuzz; I might have been challenging people before to find them and this time I might be making them a little bit more obvious."^[11]

While he claimed Watch Me Fall was more mellow than his previous works, Lindsey said his live show would remain energetic. "I just want it to be like an assault live, and softer on records," he said.^[8] In a August 2009 interview with Turn it Down Interviews, Lindsey said the album's lyrics are centered around his growing fear of death and the betrayal of close friends. [1]

After the release of Watch Me Fall, Lindsey contributed to a tribute album for New Zealand rock and roll musician Chris Knox, with whom he was to collaborate until Knox suffered a stroke in June 2009. All proceeds from the album will go towards Knox's recovery.^[12]

Lindsey's band (that consisted of members of another Memphis band, The Barbaras) quit playing with Lindsey around October 5, 2009, although specific details were not released.^[13] He finished the dates he had previously booked with replacement players, the bassist and drummer of the Danish band Cola Freaks, with whom he had previously toured.^[14]

Death[link]

Lindsey was found dead in his home in the Cooper-Young neighborhood of Midtown, Memphis, around 3:30 a.m. on Wednesday, January 13, 2010.^[15] He was found in his bed by a roommate.^[16] Lindsey was 29 years old. A statement was posted on the website of Goner Records, that Reatard had died in his sleep. Friends of Lindsey stated that he had recently complained of flu-like symptoms.^[15] An autopsy was performed by the Shelby County medical examiner.^[16] Memphis's Commercial Appeal reported on February 3 that Lindsey had died of "cocaine toxicity, and that alcohol was a contributing factor in his death."^[17]

An investigation was opened by the Memphis police homicide bureau. MyFox Memphis reported that police had begun a homicide investigation and were actively looking for a possible suspect. The report was later removed from the TV station's website.^[18]

A memorial was held for Lindsey on Saturday, January 16 in Memphis at Memorial Park Funeral Home, attended by family and friends. Musician and friend Eric Friedl, founder of Goner Records, and bandmate Stephen Pope were those that eulogized Lindsey.^[19] One of Lindsey's trademark white Gibson Flying V guitars hung behind his coffin at the funeral home; he was buried with the guitar the next day.^[20] His grave is near that of Memphis soul musician Isaac Hayes.

Re-issues and posthumous releases of Lindsey's recordings are in the works, including those with The Reatards and The Lost Sounds. At the time of his death, Lindsey had been working on at least six songs for a new solo album for Matador Records.

A feature length documentary film entitled Better Than Something: Jay Reatard has been completed and will be released in March 2012. The film, made by New York City filmmakers Alex Hammond and Ian Markiewicz, is an elaboration of their short film Waiting For Something. The film predominantly features footage shot with Lindsey in April 2009, along with never before seen concert and home video footage, and cameos from many of Lindsey’s family members and colleagues. Better Than Something: Jay Reatard premiered at the Nashville Film Festival in Nashville, Tennessee in April 2011.^[17]

Discography[link]

With The Reatards[link]

Albums[link]

• Teenage Hate LP/CD (1998; Goner)
• Grown Up, Fucked Up LP/CD (1999; Empty)
• Live LP (2004; Goner)
• Bedroom Disasters LP/CD (2004; Empty)
• Not Fucked Enough LP/CD/CD-R (2005; Empty/Shattered)

45s/EPs[link]

• Get Real Stupid 7" (1998; Goner)
• Get Out Of Our Way 7" (1999; Blahll!)
• Your So Lewd 7" (1999; Empty)
• Untitled 7" (2002; SSLD)
• Monster Child 7" (2004; Zaxxon)
• Plastic Surgery 7" (2005; Shattered)
• Totally Shattered Euro Tour 7" (2005; Split with Angry Angles and Tokyo Electron; Kenrock)
• I Lie Too 7" (2006; Zaxxon Virile Action)

With The Lost Sounds[link]

Albums[link]

• Memphis Is Dead LP/CD (2001; Big Neck!)
• Black-Wave 2xLP/CD (2001; Empty)
• Rats Brains & Microchips LP/CD (2002; Empty)
• Lost Sounds LP/CD (2004; In the Red)

45s/EPs[link]

• Plastic Skin 7" (2000; Solid Sex Lovie Doll)
• 1 + 1 = Nothing 7" (2001; Empty)
• Split 7" with The Vanishing (2003; Cochon)
• Ice Age 7" (2004; Holy Cobra Society)
• Future Touch 12"EP/CDEP (2004; In the Red)
• Motorcycle Leather Boy 7" (2007; Tic Tac Totally)

Compilations[link]

• Outtakes & Demos Vol. 1 CD-R (2001; Contaminated)
• Outtakes & Demos Vol. 1 LP (2002; Hate)
• Recent Transmissions: Demos & Outtakes Vol. 2 CD (2002; Contaminated)
• Demos II CD (2003; On/On Switch)
• Demos & Outtakes Vol. 2 3x7" (2004; Rockin' Bones)

With Bad Times[link]

• Bad Times LP (2001; Goner/Therapeutic)
• Bad Times (Re-Release) CD (2002; Sympathy For The Record Industry)

With The Final Solutions[link]

Albums[link]

• Disco Eraser LP/CD (2003; Misprint)
• Songs by Solutions LP/CD (2007; Goner)

45s/EPs[link]

• Eat Shit 7" (2002; Therapeutic)
• Eye Don't Like You 7" (2005; Shit Sandwich)
• My Love Is Disappointing 7" (2005; Shattered)
• Return To The Motherland 7" (2006; Frick & Frack)
• FS/DF 7" (2007; Jethrow)

With Nervous Patterns[link]

Albums[link]

• Nervous Patterns CD-R/CD/LP (2003/2004; Contaminated/Cochon)

45s/EPs[link]

• You Can't Change 7" (2005; Zaxxon)

With Angry Angles[link]

• Things Are Moving 7" (2005; Shattered)
• Crowds 7" (2005; P. Trash)
• Totally Shattered Euro Tour 7" (2005; Split with Angry Angles and Tokyo Electron; Kenrock)
• Split 7" (2006; Split with Digital Leather; Shattered)
• Apparent-Transparent 7" (2006; Plastic Idol)

As Terror Visions[link]

• World of Shit - Expanded edition LP (2011; FDH Records)
• World of Shit LP/CD (2007; FDH Records)
• Endless Tunnel EP
• Blood in America 7" (Disordered)

With Destruction Unit[link]

• Self-Destruction of a Man LP/CD (2004; Empty)
• Death to the Old Flesh LP/CD (2006; Empty)

As Jay Reatard[link]

Albums[link]

• Blood Visions LP/CD (2006; In the Red)
• Watch Me Fall LP/CD (2009; Matador)

45s/EPs[link]

• Hammer I Miss You 7" (2006; Goner)
• Night of Broken Glass 12" (2007; In the Red)
• Split with the Boston Chinks 7" (2007; P. Trash)
• In the Dark 7"/6" (2007; Squoodge)
• I Know a Place 7" (2007; Goner)
• Blood Demo 7" (2008; Stained Circles)
• See/Saw 7" (2008; Matador)
• Painted Shut 7" (2008; Matador)
• Always Wanting More 7" (2008; Matador)
• Fluorescent Grey 7" (2008; Matador)
• Trapped Here 7" (2008; Matador)
• No Time 7" (2008; Matador)
• Hang Them All 7" (2009; Split with Sonic Youth; Matador)
• Telephone Network Voltage 7" (2009; Split with Thee Oh Sees; Shattered)
• It Ain't Gonna Save Me 7" (2009; Matador)
• You Get No Love 7" (2011; Shattered)

Compilations[link]

• Singles 06-07 LP/CD/DVD (2008; In the Red)
• Matador Singles '08 LP/CD (2008; Matador)
• Greatest Messes [Digital Release] (2009; Shattered)

Compilation appearances[link]

• We Heart The Blowtops – Tribute 7" [Track: Venom Victims Wine] (2006; Big Neck)

References[link]

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (August 2010)

• Jay Retard Official Site
• Matador Records
• In the Red Records
• Tupica, Rich. August 2009 Turn it Down Jay Retard Interview"turnit-down.blogspot.com". August 9, 2009. Accessed January 26, 2010.
• Tupica, Rich. October 2008 Turn it Down Jay Retard Interview "turnit-down.blogspot.com". October 15, 2007. Accessed October 21, 2008.
• Tupica, Rich. October 2007 Turn it Down Jay Retard Interview "turnit-down.blogspot.com". October 15, 2007. Accessed October 20, 2007.
• Christmass, Shane Jesse. An Interview with Eric Oblivian "www.furious.com," August 2000. Accessed May 18, 2007.
• Kroneiss, Rich. Grown Up, Fucked Up: An interview with Jay Reatard "www.terminal-boredom.com". Accessed June 23, 2007.
• Pythagoras. Angry Angles Bleed Positive Negativity "www.victimoftime.com". June 21, 2006. Accessed June 28, 2007.
• Live Photos of Jay performing with TV Smith of the Adverts
• Review of 'Watch Me Fall' at Culturedeluxe
• Ankeny, Jason. The Retards "www.allmusic.com". Accessed June 23, 2007.

Joel Albert McCrea (November 5, 1905 – October 20, 1990) was an American actor whose career spanned 50 years and appearances in over 90 films.

Early life[link]

McCrea was born in South Pasadena, California, the son of Thomas McCrea, who was an executive with the L.A. Gas & Electric Company.^[1] As a boy, he had a paper route, and delivered the Los Angeles Times to Cecil B. DeMille and other people in the film industry. He also had the opportunity to watch D. W. Griffith filming Intolerance, and was an extra in a serial starring Ruth Roland.^[1][2]

McCrea graduated from Hollywood High School and then Pomona College (class of 1928^[3]), where he had acted on stage and took courses in drama and public speaking, and appeared regularly at the Pasadena Playhouse,^[1][2] Even as a high school student, he was working as a stunt double^[2] and held horses for cowboy stars William S. Hart and Tom Mix.^[1] He worked as an extra, stunt man and bit player from 1927 to 1928, when he signed a contract with MGM, where he was cast in a major role in The Jazz Age (1929), and got his first leading role that same year, in The Silver Horde.^[1] He moved to RKO in 1930, where he established himself as a handsome leading man who was considered versatile enough to star in both dramas and comedies.

Career[link]

in Alfred Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent (1940)