SOUTHLAND : Charles Farrell, Janet Gaynor’s Co-Star, Dies in Palm Springs

Actor Charles Farrell, who played opposite Janet Gaynor when she won the first Academy Award as best actress and who later starred in the TV sitcom “My Little Margie,” died during the weekend. He was 89.

Farrell, a former mayor of Palm Springs and founder of the Palm Springs Racquet Club, died Sunday at his home. He was buried here Wednesday beside his wife, actress Virginia Valli. Farrell had asked that no formal announcement be made of his death.

Farrell and Gaynor starred in a series of romantic pictures, including the 1927 silent classics “Seventh Heaven” and “Sunrise,” for which she won the first Oscar as best actress.

At the height of their seven years of popularity, Gaynor and Farrell were known as “America’s favorite lovebirds.”

His other films included “Sandy,” “Street Angel,” “Tess of the Storm Country,” “Moonlight Sonata” and “Just Around the Corner.”

In addition to “My Little Margie,” in which Farrell starred as Gale Storm’s father in a series that ran from 1952 to ‘55, he also starred in “The Charles Farrell Show.”