This page uses content from the Henry Farrell biography page on the English version of Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This list of authors can be seen in the page history. Rotten Tomatoes disclaims any and all warranties as to the accuracy or reliability of the content.
Henry Farrell (September 27, 1920 - March 29, 2006) is a novelist, short story and screenwriter. He is probably best-known as the author of the Hollywood horror novel What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
He was born Charles Myers and took the pseudonym Henry Farrell. His first novel was The Hostage, which was published in 1959. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1960) was made into a classic movie of the same title that was released in 1962 starring Bette Davis in the title role and Joan Crawford as Blanche Hudson.
With Lukas Heller, Farrell co-wrote the screenplay for Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), starring Davis and Olivia de Havilland. It was based on a story he wrote titled Whatever Happened to Cousin Charlotte?, and the script earned Heller and Farrell a 1965 Edgar Award, from the Mystery Writers of America, for Best Motion Picture Screenplay. He wrote the original screenplay for What's the Matter with Helen? (1971), which starred Debbie Reynolds and Shelley Winters.
His wife was actress Molly Dodd, who died in 1981. Dodd appeared in small roles in two movies written by Farrell, the TV production How Awful About Allan starring Anthony Perkins and Julie Harris and What's the Matter with Helen?
French director François Truffaut's 1972 movie Une belle fille comme moi was based on Farrell's 1967 novel Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me.
In 2002, Farrell tried his hand at writing the book for a stage play, the musical version of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? The world premiere of the show was on October 9 in Houston, Texas, with Millicent Martin in the title role and Leslie Denniston as Blanche.
Henry Farrell died aged 86 years.
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