John Farrow

John Farrow CBE was an Australian, later American, film director, producer and screenwriter. In 1957 he won the Academy Award for Best Writing / Best Screenplay for Around the World in Eighty Days and in 1942 he was nominated as Best Director for Wake Island.

Born John Villiers Farrow in Sydney, Australia, John Farrow began writing while working as a sailor in the 1920s. He moved to Hollywood to work in films as a marine technical advisor and stayed on as a screenwriter. He wrote for films between 1927 and 1959, and also directed between 1934 and 1959. Farrow was also a writer of short stories and plays, as well as non-fiction. He was married to actress Maureen O’Sullivan from 12 September 1936 until his death. He fathered four daughters: actresses Mia, Prudence, Stephanie, Tisa; three sons: Michael Namien, Patrick Joseph, John Charles. Maureen O’Sullivan was his second wife, after he converted to Catholicism and she received a papal dispensation to marry a divorcee.

He became an American citizen in 1947. In 1953 he was appointed an Honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire. He was also appointed him a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre by Pope Pius XI.