THE FARNUM BROTHERS OF BUCKSPORT by Ralph Pettie, Peninsula Press, Blue Hill, 2000, 64 pages, $10.95.

Lillian Hoffman named both of her sons after her favorite movie stars, Ronald Coleman and Dustin Farnum. The success of Academy Award-winning actor Dustin Hoffman has eclipsed that of his namesake in most of the world, except for one small town along the Penobscot River.

Some folks in Bucksport remember a time when Dustin Farnum and his brother William were bigger stars than Coleman or Hoffman. Most people, however, have never heard of the Farnum brothers, who made their theatrical debuts in plays staged in their grandfather’s barn more than 100 years ago.

Ralph Pettie, 68, of Blue Hill also grew up in Bucksport and heard the stories about two local brothers who became famous actors. Information on the men was sketchy, but Pettie gathered enough from newspapers and magazines to publish a slim volume, simply titled “The Farnum Brothers of Bucksport.”

“I’d heard about them as a child,” said Pettie,, “but no one could tell me anything about them. I thought there’s got to be more to this story. I started researching in October 1999 and was stunned to find out just how productive they were and what big, big names they were.”

Dustin, born in 1874, and William, born in 1876, were two of the five children of G.D. and Adele Farnum. The couple moved to the farm owned by Adele’s parents in an effort to offer them a normal childhood and to steer them away from the family business. G.D. Farnum was an actor-director of a touring theater company that traveled throughout New England and the Maritimes, Pettie writes.

The three sons and two daughters of the Farnums attended a strict Methodist school in Bucksport. According to Pettie, G.D. Farnum lamented to the Bangor Commercial in 1900, “I sent them to Bucksport Seminary, where they make ministers, and every one of them came out actors.”

Both Dustin and William Farnum went to New York, where they quickly built careers on the Broadway stage. They appeared together in a 1911 production of “The Littlest Rebel,” but William was best-known for his portrayal of Ben Hur and Dustin for the lead role in the film “The Virginian.”

Pettie documents the brothers’ rise to stardom, but the details of their story are sketchy. While photos were relatively easy to find, the author says, there are no books devoted exclusively to the Farnums, Pettie found references to the two actors and filmographies, but little about their personal lives. “I had run across a reference to an interview with William that appeared in a January 1928 Photoplay magazine,” recalled Pettie. “So on a gray, winter Sunday afternoon in 1999, I drove over to the Chicken Barn in Orland, and they had the magazine.”

William Farnum was injured in 1924 during the filming of “The Man Who Fights Alone,” the article reported. His injuries were believed to be minor at first, but a few weeks later, the actor slipped into a coma that lasted 11 weeks. His brother Dustin sat at his side for six of those weeks.

Pettie was never able to find out the exact nature of the actor’s injuries nor what the diagnosis had been. All the author was able to confirm was the length of his hospital stay and the fact that his recovery lasted six years.

“I wasn’t able to interview any family members,” laments Pettie. “Dustin must have a daughter somewhere who must be in her 70s. I hope the book will open up a can of worms and generate some sort of contact with Dustin’s daughter or grandchildren.”

Pettie returned to Maine in 1993 after teaching English in Greenwich, Conn., for more than 30 years. “The Farnum Brothers of Bucksport” is the only book he’s ever written.

The book may be slender and it may be missing some key information about the Farnum brothers’ lives, but it is delightful and exciting to read about the fine thespians and successful movies stars who got their start performing in their grandfather’s barn in Bucksport more than 100 years ago.

“The Farnum Brothers of Bucksport” is available at Mr. Paperback in Ellsworth, North Lights Bookstore in Blue Hill and Northeast Historic Film and Bookstacks in Bucksport.