A real opera diva as well as a film star, Geraldine Farrar brought a freshness and enthusiasm to both media. She was also not afraid to get down and dirty for her art--witness the drubbing poor Jeanie Macpherson receives in Carmen. She started at the top in films, working on several with Cecil B. De Mille. She is a fine Carmen, and her Joan of Arc, though obviously not a teenager, is convincingly strong and committed, with a harrowing death scene. She moved over to Goldwyn Studios in 1919 (with her new production company, called, appropriately, Diva Pictures). We are fortunate that more than half of Farrar's fifteen films survive. When informed that her films were no longer making money, she obligingly tore up her contract and returned to the opera stage.

©2001, by Greta de Groat. All Rights Reserved

Last revised November 27, 2008