TV: BIOGRAPHY OF FRANCES FARMER (Published 1983) (2024)

Suddenly, it seems, it's Frances Farmer time. The late actress, whose life disintegrated into a pathetic public spectacle, is now the subject of two film biographies. Already released in theaters across the country, ''Frances'' stars Jessica Lange, whose performance has been nominated for an Academy Award as best actress. Now, tonight on CBS-TV, there is the television movie ''Will There Really Be a Morning?'', with Susan Blakely playing the severely troubled woman.

Obviously, the Frances Farmer story provides an actress with ample opportunities for demonstrating her acting range. At the same time, though, the story is so unrelentingly ghastly, so horrifyingly grim, that one cannot help wondering if there is much point in its being told at all.

The television version, with a script by Dalene Young, is based on Miss Farmer's autobiography, completed shortly before she died in 1970 at the age of 56. ''Will There Really Be a Morning?'' was a title taken from a poem by Emily Dickinson. One of the premises, never completely proved, of this production is that Miss Farmer was an exceptionally sensitive woman whose talent was too precious to be squandered on mere Hollywood movies. Because her writing abilities were smothered, primarily by an ambitious publicity-mad mother, she became very difficult to control and work with.

In fact, ''Will There Really Be a Morning?'' sticks far closer to the facts of Miss Farmer's life than the film ''Frances,'' which is something of a scripting mess. A fictious character, played by Sam Shepard, was invented in the film to pluck Miss Lange out of all sorts of terrible situations. The relationship between Frances and her mother was brought into focus only half way through the film even though Miss Farmer's autobiography stressed that ''from childhood on our relationship was strained and torn by strife - every encounter between us ended in screaming hysteria and slamming doors.'' And the film leaves Frances lobotomized and vegetablelike, which was not the case. She went on creating havoc for herself and others for a good many years after that.

With the accomplished veteran Fielder Cook as director, the television production tackles the character of the mother from the very opening scene in which we see Mama boisterously singing to a World War I bond rally while her shy little girl stands by watching her in awe and not a little fear. As the years go by, Mama remains the figure in control, giving her defeated husband visiting rights only on weekends and keeping a tight rein on her daughter's career. She is played with fearsome strength by Lee Grant.

Meanwhile, although delicate and somewhat otherworldly, Frances is drawn into acting at the University of Seattle. She also gets involved in leftist political causes and wins a free trip to Moscow, where she is able to watch the famed Moscow Art Theater. On her return trip, she stops off in New York, making contacts that will eventually result in her getting a leading role in the stage production of Clifford Odets's ''Golden Boy.'' The character of Odets is played by John Heard, a WASP-ish sort who doesn't bear the slightest physical resemblance to the playwright. Odets is portrayed as the most obnoxious character in the entire story - pompous, petulant, deceiving, vicious, even sad*stic.