''Shadowland: Search for Frances Farmer'' is a 1978

biographical novel The biographical novel is a genre of novel which provides a fictional account of a contemporary or historical person's life. Like other forms of biographical fiction, details are often trimmed or reimagined to meet the artistic needs of the fiction ...

by William Arnold, ostensibly about the life of actress

Frances Farmer Frances Elena Farmer (September 19, 1913August 1, 1970) was an American actress and television hostess. She appeared in over a dozen feature films over the course of her career, though she garnered notoriety for sensationalized accounts of her l ...

. The book is a fictionalized account which was further distorted when adapted as the film ''

Frances Frances is a French and English given name of Latin origin. In Latin the meaning of the name Frances is 'from France' or 'free one.' The male version of the name in English is Francis. The original Franciscus, meaning "Frenchman", comes from the ...

'' in 1982. Arnold sued for copyright infringement, claiming the film's screenplay writers appropriated several of his "fictionalized" elements, but eventually lost.

External links

"Shedding Light on Shadowland"
- In-depth essay detailing the many fictionalized elements in the film ''

'' and its source material. 1978 American novels Biographical novels Novels about actors American novels adapted into films McGraw-Hill books {{1970s-bio-novel-stub