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| Rob Huffman wrote me with some thoughts on actor Timothy Farrell. |
"You must think me a crackpot at this point," Rob Huffman recently said to me in an email. No, Rob, I can honestly say I don't think you're a crackpot. I know you're a crackpot. That's who writes me, ladies and gentlemen—the obsessives, the die-hards, the never-give-uppers. I mean, who else is still reading this Ed Wood series after nine years? Sane, healthy, well-adjusted people?
Anyway, a few days back, I posted a little article about Timothy Farrell's performance in Ed Wood's Glen or Glenda (1953). In response to this (I think?), Rob sent me an email about Tim's still-living son, an ex-cop turned private investigator. Rob was apparently going to contact this shadowy son but thought better of it after hearing him on a podcast devoted to private investigators. (Such things exist? I thought PIs kept a low profile.) According to Rob, however, the younger Farrell knew very little of Timothy's film work.
Even though Timothy Farrell (real name: Timothy Sperl) played key roles in both Glenda and Jail Bait, plus the Wood-scripted The Violent Years (1956), I have not invested any time investigating the man's life whatsoever. I've been solely interested in Tim as an actor. Or at least I was until I read his alarming IMDb biography:
Worked as a bailiff in the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department while also working in the movies. One of his movies, Paris After Midnight (1951), was actually busted in a vice raid in the mid-'50s, which caused him professional embarrassment. He went on to work 20 years as an L.A. deputy marshall and eventually was appointed County Marshall in 1971. He was convicted of felony charges after his appointment, however, for "illegal use of deputy marshalls in political activities," and was given a six month sentence, but received probation due to poor health. He was fired in 1975.
Look, folks, I can't vouch for any of this. But you've gotta admit, it's interesting, right? And I'm well aware that those obsessives, die-hards, and never-give-uppers I mentioned at the beginning of this article already knew this stuff and probably want to send me a bunch more Timothy Farrell trivia. Which they're free to do, naturally. I can't promise I'll acknowledge all of it. Sorry.