Matinee Classics - Mel Ferrer Biography & Filmography

Mel Ferrer ACTOR

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MEL FERRER BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

Mel Ferrer was born on August 25th, 1917 in Elberon, New Jersey with the birth name Melchor Gaston Ferrer, born to Mary Matilda Irene O'Donohue and Dr. José María Ferrer. He had three siblings and as a youngster he attended the Bovée School in New York prep school and then went on to study at Princeton University.

He first began his involvement in the entertainment industry at the age of fifteen performing in summer stock. He chose to leave college early and found work as an editor for a Vermont newspaper and also became an author writing a children's book titled, "Tito's Hats".

In 1938, he began working as a chorus dancer on Broadway in a number of musicals before he was given a chance to work as an actor on Broadway. Soon he was also working as a radio disc jockey in Texas and Arkansas.

Ferrer continued his career in entertainment by finding work with NBC as a producer as well as a director for a number of shows and then was hired as a director for Columbia Pictures working on such features as, "The Girl of the Limberlost" (1945).

He continued to add a number of Broadway credits to his resume appearing in a production of, "Strange Fruit". Now, with quite a bit of experience on his resume he acted in his first feature film in 1949 on, "Lost Boundaries".

Ferrer became most well known for his role in, "Scaramouche" (1952) starring Stewart Granger and Janet Leigh, "Rancho Notorious" (1952) starring Marlene Dietrich and Arthur Kennedy, "War and Peace" (1956) starring Audrey Hepburn, Anita Ekburg and Henry Fonda and "Lili" (1953), and directed two other highly successful films, "The Secret Fury" (1950) and "Green Mansions" (1959).

In total, he directed more than ten feature films and acted in over eighty films. His most well known television role was on the series, "Falcon Crest" and his guest appearance on, "Columbo".

Although his professional career was quite successful, his personal life had a couple more ups and downs. He married a total of five times. His first wife was Frances Gunby Pilchard whom he wed in 1937 and after having one child the marriage came to an end in 1939. His second wife was Barbara C. Tripp whom he married in 1940 and also had two children before this marriage also came to an end. He then remarried Frances in 1944 and together they had two more children, but this marriage round two, was still unsuccessful. His fourth time to marry was to actress, Audrey Hepburn in 1954 and they had one child together before divorcing in 1968. He then wed his fifth and final wife, Elizabeth Soukhotine in 1971 and they stayed together until he passed away at the age of ninety, on June 2nd, 2008 in Santa Barbara, California after suffering from heart failure.