Frances Farmer – Actress Who Became A Victim Of Lobotomy

Frances Farmer was a special woman. She was perhaps a little too brave a woman for the 1940s, when the actress just had to settle for being beautiful and obedient. Frances dared to hold his side stubbornly, but as a result he was called hysterical. Frances dared to express his opinion and demand more interesting roles for himself, but as a result he was called naive.

When he wanted to escape from that world, it was already far too late. It coincided with the time when he began to be called insane.

Today, probably few still recognize the name Frances Farmer. She is yet another woman who has been forgotten over time. Between the dusty magazines of history, there are stories from the past. Some of these stories also include silent cries for help, which we still have to listen to today.

The name of this actress, Frances Farmer, is well known in psychiatry. This is for a few different reasons. One of the main reasons is that the psychological treatments that this woman was treated for for years reflect a dark and terrible era in psychiatry. It was a time when, for some strange reason, women were more likely than men to be victims of such operations.

Frances Farmer – a woman who was raised to express her opinion and be famous

There are a lot of recordings of Frances Farmer’s life. Her sister published a book called “Look Back in Love”. In it, she tells of all the terrible ordeals that a young actress had to go through during her years in various psychiatric wards.

In “Will There Really Be a Morning?” sheds light on Frances Farmer’s personality and tells a little more about his family and whether he really suffers from paranoid schizophrenia as was commonly claimed.

Be that as it may, in complex cases like this, there is something we cannot ignore. The timing of his upbringing and events are very relevant.

As we mentioned above, Frances Farmer was perhaps too daring to be a woman of her own era. Frances was like that because his mother advised him early on to think with his own brain. His mother taught Frances to express his opinion and question all things.

Even by the time Frances Farmer reached his teens, he managed to get into columns in Seattle’s local newspapers. This was because she gave eye-catching speeches about women’s religious perceptions based on Friedrich Nietzsche’s critical writings.

Later,  Frances ’mother informed her of theater classes with a very specific goal in mind. It had to do with fulfilling his own desire, which he himself had never succeeded in realizing in his own youth. Frances’ mother had wanted to become famous in the film world.

Frances Farmer became famous at the university by continuing to write critical articles about the society of its time, which were still important to him.

Do not argue, and do not speak against, but be content to obey kindly

By 1935, Frances Farmer had already appeared in some films. He had also achieved his main goal and obtained a university degree in journalism.

Before Frances began to focus on the work of a journalist, his mother bent Frances in the other direction. He told Frances to break his profession and focus on his film career. Frances agreed to this proposal and her agent managed to arrange for her the opportunity to participate in a test drive of the American company Paramount Pictures, which became famous for its film production and distribution.

The film actor’s test was even easier for him. All she had to do was wear a beautiful dress, sit still and look at the camera. Frances Farmer was a classic beauty who sometimes appeared brazenly and daringly seductive. It already had more than was even required in the film industry.

Francis Farmer was offered a 7-year contract. All he had to do was obey, learn the scripts for the movies, and go to parties held by the leaders at regular intervals. He also had to keep quiet about everything that happened in these gatherings then.

Frances Farmer rebels against this world. He hated the roles that were given to him because they were supposed to portray a naive woman. He also hated the press. Above all, he hated the fact that he had to follow the pre-written script in his own private life as well. That everything had to be wrapped in glamor and the truth had to be hidden behind elegant lies.

However, Frances had to give up, as his mother and agents persuaded him to do so. He even went so far as to marry another actor to raise his ranking as a rising star.

Longing for freedom and involuntary treatment

Frances Farmer’s film career went downhill at an early stage. This was because he refused to perform in certain shots. Frances rejected the manuscripts and did not abide by the contracts he had signed with his agents.

He drove around at night to escape reality, including himself. Frances only put more weight on the impossible escape situations, which often ended badly for him. Frances Farmer was already an old acquaintance of the Santa Monica police, as he had received several fines for driving recklessly or under the influence of alcohol.

Frances Farmer’s life became even more complicated after he punched one of the leaders of the Hollywood film world. After that, Frances once again tried to escape, although he did not get very far, as the police followed him closely.

Frances, screaming, kicking and other desperate means, tried to reach out of the gray grip of the authorities, after which a permanent solution was reached for him. Frances Farmer was prescribed psychiatric involuntary treatment to tame his rebellious mind – his personality. 

Doctors gave him a diagnosis of “paranoid schizophrenia”. Frances Farmer was treated with traditional electroshock therapy as well as insulin shock therapy, named after its developer, Austrian physician Manfred Sakel.

After spending a few months in a psychiatric facility, Frances was released. She then decided to completely get rid of her actress career to break free from the humiliating treatment and degrading world of the woman.

However, Mother  Lillian Farmer felt that her daughter had not fully recovered. He felt that Frances was still not “on the right track”. With the help of Hollywood film world leaders, they managed to declare him a “mentally incompetent” person. Under this, they were able to return him to a closed ward.

Five years in a black hole

Frances Farmer was admitted to hospital in Steilacoom, Washington. She tells of the five years she spent there in a book her sister later published.

She was done with even more nasty things than just creepy psychiatric treatments. He was exploited and raped over and over again. After all, Francis Farmer underwent an untested neurological operation – a lobotomy – based on the subsequent testimony of one of the nurses at the time. What was the purpose of this treatment? Soothes his personality, tames his “bad sides”, his “hysterical nature”…

After spending five years in a closed ward of the hospital, exploited and traumatized, Frances Farmer never recovered.

Frances Farmer appeared from time to time in an interview, in a play, or in a TV series. On television, his mere presence aroused curiosity and raised the audience to the ceiling.

The only problem was that he was no longer himself. Frances Farmer had lost the edges of his character. His true charm, which made him a real Frances Farmer, had been removed by neurological surgery.