Farley Granger
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Farley Earle Granger Jr. (July 1, 1925 – March 27, 2011) was an American actor. Granger was first noticed in a small stage production in Hollywood by a Goldwyn casting director, and given a significant role in The North Star (1943), a controversial film praising the Soviet Union at the height of World War II, but later condemned for its political position. Another war film, The Purple Heart (1944), followed, before Granger's naval service in Honolulu, in a unit that arranged troop entertainment in the Pacific. Here he made useful contacts, including Bob Hope, Betty Grable and Rita Hayworth. It was also where he began exploring his bisexuality, which he said he never felt any need to conceal. His role in Hitchcock's Rope, a fictionalized account of the Leopold and Loeb murder case of 1924, earned him much critical praise though the film got mixed reviews. Hitchcock cast him again in Strangers on a Train, as a tennis star drawn into a reciprocal murder plot by a wealthy psychopath; he described this as his happiest film-making experience. Granger continued to appear on stage, film and television well into his 70s. His work ranged from classical drama on Broadway to several Italian-language films and major documentaries about Hollywood. For his contribution to television, Granger has a star located at 1551 Vine Street on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.