An explosion on the set of the film that made him a star, Old Ironsides (1926), left a technician dead, several bystanders injured and
blew out Farrell's eardrums, leaving him partially deaf for the rest of
his life, something he was fairly careful not to let on.
"Janet Gaynor and I were always receiving wedding-anniversary presents in the mail, care of the studio. The fans didn't even know what date our anniversary fell on, which is logical, since we were never married".
