''Shadowland: Search for Frances Farmer'' is a 1978

biographical novel The biographical novel is a genre of novel which provides a fictional account of a contemporary or historical person's life. Like other forms of biographical fiction, details are often trimmed or reimagined to meet the artistic needs of the fictio ...

by William Arnold, ostensibly about the life of actress

Frances Farmer Frances Elena Farmer (September 19, 1913August 1, 1970) was an American actress. She appeared in over a dozen feature films over the course of her career, though she garnered notoriety for sensationalized accounts of her life, especially her inv ...

. The book is a fictionalized account which was further distorted when adapted as the film ''

Frances Frances is an English given name or last name of Latin origin. In Latin the meaning of the name Frances is 'from France' or 'the French.' The male version of the name in English is Francis (given name), Francis. The original Franciscus, meaning "F ...

'' in 1982. Arnold sued for copyright infringement, claiming the film's screenplay writers appropriated several of his "fictionalized" elements, but eventually lost.

References

External links

"Shedding Light on Shadowland"
- In-depth essay detailing the many fictionalized elements in the film ''

'' and its source material. 1978 American novels Biographical novels Novels about actors American novels adapted into films McGraw-Hill books {{1970s-bio-novel-stub