Dustin Farnum Biography

Fast Facts

• Studied at the East Maine Conference Seminary, but left school to for a tumbling and wrestling vaudeville act with his brother
• Made his professional stage debut in 1987 with the Ethel Tucker repertoire company
• His Broadway credits include "Arizona," "The Littlest Rebel," "The Squaw Man" and "The Silent Call․"
• Though he played a wide variety of roles, he became a particularly big star in the western genre for such films as "The Squaw man․"
• Actor Dustin Hoffman was named after Dustin Farnum because his mother, not expecting a boy, saw the silent film actor's name on a magazine when the nurse asked her to pick a name
• Turned down an opportunity to invest in the production of the play "The Squaw Man," and when he was paid for his role in the film version partly in stock of the production company, he gave the stock to his valet, making the valet rich overnight