Franchot Tone

Franchot Tone was born at Niagara Falls, on 18th September, 1905. After an education at Cornell University, Tone joined the Group Theatre, a company formed in New York by Harold Clurman and Lee Strasberg. He appeared in Big Night and Success Story, and Strasberg rated him the best actor in the company.

In November 1932, Tone moved to Hollywood. He appeared in over fifty movies during the next fifteen years. By the late 1930s he was one of Hollywood's leading actors and appeared in some notable successes, including the Academy Award winning Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) and the highly acclaimed, Five Graves to Cairo (1943).

Like most former members of the Group Theatre, Tone had difficulty making films in Hollywood during the 1950s. He returned to the cinema with Advise and Consent in 1962 and followed it with In Harm's Way (1965) and Mickey One (1965).

Franchot Tone died on 18th September, 1968.