Trivia

An explosion on the set of the film that made him a star, Old Ironsides (1926), left a technician dead, several bystanders injured and blew out Farrell's eardrums, leaving him partially deaf for the rest of his life, something he was fairly careful not to let on.

One of the first male American stars to appear in a nude scene in a major motion picture, in Frank Borzage's partially lost masterpiece The River (1928).

Television allowed him to stage a successful comeback, which culminated in The Charles Farrell Show (1956) (1956-60). After the show's cancellation, he retired to the desert city of Palm Springs, CA.

He served in the US Navy during World War II.

Owner and proprietor of Charlie Farrell's Racquet Club in Palm Springs, CA.

One the early founders of Palm Springs, California, Farrell served as its mayor from 1947-55. When his film career began to decline in the 1940s, he became a land developer there.

He and Janet Gaynor were in twelve films together: 7th Heaven (1927), Street Angel (1928), Lucky Star (1929), Happy Days (1929), Sunny Side Up (1929), High Society Blues (1930), The Man Who Came Back (1931), Merely Mary Ann (1931), Delicious (1931), The First Year (1932), Tess of the Storm Country (1932), and Change of Heart (1934).

In 1934, he opened the popular Palm Springs Racquet Club in the city with his business partner, fellow actor Ralph Bellamy.

Farrell was romantically involved with Janet Gaynor, with whom he starred in twelve films, from 1926 until her first marriage in 1929. Shaken by the death of his close friend, actor Fred Thomson, Farrell proposed marriage to Gaynor around 1928, but the couple was never married. Years later, Gaynor explained her breakup with Farrell: "I think we loved each other more than we were 'in love.'.

Farrell married former actress Virginia Valli on February 14, 1931; the couple was married until Valli's death from a stroke on September 24, 1968.

He was active in business and civic affairs in Palm Springs, California, serving for a time as mayor.

During the early 1950s, a decade after his career in motion pictures had ended, Farrell regained popularity as a co-star on the television series My Little Margie, which aired on CBS and NBC between 1952 and 1955. He played the role of the widower Vern Albright, the father of a young woman, Margie Albright, with a knack for getting into trouble, portrayed by Gale Storm.

Farrell did extra work for films ranging from The Hunchback of Notre Dame with Lon Chaney, Sr., Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments, and The Cheat with Pola Negri.

He starred on TV in the 1950s sitcoms My Little Margie and played himself in The Charles Farrell Show.

Farrell is probably best recalled for his onscreen romances with actress Janet Gaynor in more than a dozen films, including 7th Heaven, Street Angel, and Lucky Star.

Not to be confused with the Irish-born character actor in UK films. Coincidentally, both were born in 1900, though on opposite sides of the Atlantic.

In 1992, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars was dedicated to him.

For his contributions to both motion pictures and television, Charles Farrell was awarded two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960, located at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard for motion pictures and 1617 Vine Street for television.

Upon his death his remains were interred at Welwood Murray Cemetery in Palm Springs, CA. His location plot was Section 10-3, Lot F.