Joseph White Farnham (December 2, 1884 – June 2, 1931) was an American

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

, film writer, and

film editor Film editing is both a creative and a technical part of the post-production process of filmmaking. The term is derived from the traditional process of working with film stock, film which increasingly involves the use Digital cinema, of digital ...

of the silent movie era in the 1920s. He was also a founding member of the

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., with the stated goal of adva ...

Biography

Born in

New Haven New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is the third largest city in Co ...

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

in 1884, Farnham got his start in film through his business relationship with

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

impresarios Gustave and Daniel Frohman who owned The Frohman Amusement Corp. '' The Big Parade'' is probably the most famous of his works adapted to film. In the

1st Academy Awards The 1st Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) and hosted by AMPAS president Douglas Fairbanks, honored the best 1927 in film, films from 1 August 1927 to 1928 in film, 31 July 1928 a ...

of 1929, nominees could be considered for an Oscar for an award on the basis of multiple films within the year. Joseph won his Best Writing - Title Cards award for the films '' The Fair Co-Ed''; '' Laugh, Clown, Laugh''; and '' Telling the World''. This was the only year that an Oscar for title cards would be awarded. Joseph Farnham was the very first Academy Award winner to die. He died in 1931 of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

while living in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in

Glendale, California Glendale is a city located primarily in the Verdugo Mountains region, with a small portion in the San Fernando Valley, of Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is located about north of downtown Los Angeles. As of 2024, Glendale ha ...

Selected filmography

*'' Alias Jimmy Valentine'' (1920) * '' Bachelor Apartments'' (1921) *'' The Country Flapper'' (1922) *'' The Snitching Hour'' (1922) *''

Greed Greed (or avarice, ) is an insatiable desire for material gain (be it food, money, land, or animate/inanimate possessions) or social value, such as status or power. Nature of greed The initial motivation for (or purpose of) greed and a ...

'' (1924) *'' Reckless Romance'' (1924) *'' Soul Mates'' (1925) *'' The Big Parade'' (1925) *'' Stop Flirting'' (1925) *'' The Blackbird'' (1926) *'' Beverly of Graustark'' (1926) *'' The Road to Mandalay'' (1926) *'' The Show'' (1927) *'' The Red Mill'' (1927) *'' Slide, Kelly, Slide'' (1927) *'' Rookies'' (1927) *'' Becky'' (1927) *'' London After Midnight'' (1927) *'' The Unknown'' (1927) *'' The Trail of '98'' (1928) *'' Laugh, Clown, Laugh'' (1928) *''

The Cameraman ''The Cameraman'' is a 1928 American silent film, silent Romantic comedy, romantic comedy film directed by Edward Sedgwick and an uncredited Buster Keaton. The picture stars Keaton and Marceline Day. It was Keaton's first film under contract to ...

'' (1928) *'' The Duke Steps Out'' (1929) *'' Where East Is East'' (1929) *'' The Unholy Night'' (1929) *'' The Thirteenth Chair'' (1929) *'' The Big House'' (1930)

References

External links

* * 1884 births 1931 deaths Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences founders American male screenwriters Writers from New Haven, Connecticut Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) Screenwriters from Connecticut 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters {{US-screen-writer-1880s-stub