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Anne Francis

 
Actor: Anne Francis
 
  • Born: Sep 16, 1930 in Ossining, New York
  • Occupation: Actor, Writer
  • Active: '50s-'90s
  • Major Genres: Drama, Mystery
  • Career Highlights: Blackboard Jungle, Funny Girl, Forbidden Planet
  • First Major Screen Credit: So Young, So Bad (1950)

Biography

A professional magazine model at age four, American actress Anne Francis made some 3000 appearances on network radio before she was ten. She was under film contracts to both MGM and 20th Century-Fox as a teenager; in the days of publicity-agent pigeonholing, the actress was dubbed variously as "The Fragile Blonde with the Mona Lisa Smile" and "The Palomino Blonde," labels that she intensely despised. Usually cast in sullen bad-girl or troublemaker roles, Francis suffered from a volcanic private life; throughout these years her one source of comfort was her pet dog Smidgeon, whom she'd named after Walter Pidgeon, her co-star in the science-fiction film classic Forbidden Planet (1956). In 1965, Francis found herself with a more contentious pet, an ocelot named Bruce Biteabit, when she starred in the TV adventure series Honey West, in which she played a glamorous private detective. The series was meant to cash in on the gimmicky James Bond movies of the time (Honey West was a judo expert, had exploding earrings, and a microphone hidden in a martini olive), and like many such imitations, the program was on and off in a single year. Francis' film and TV career continued unabated after that, though a potentially good role in the 1968 movie musical Funny Girl was mostly consigned to the cutting-room floor in order to intensify the spotlight on the film's star, Barbra Streisand. Active in guest star spots into the early '90s, Anne Francis--billing herself in recent years as Anne-Lloyd Francis--enjoyed a brief co-starring turn as Mama Jo on the 1984 action series Riptide. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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Wikipedia: Anne Francis
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Anne Francis

Francis along with Leslie Nielsen in the trailer of Forbidden Planet
Born September 16, 1930
Ossining, New York State
Other name(s) Anne Lloyd Francis
Ann Francis
Mrs. Robert Abeloff
Occupation Actress & Model
Years active 1947 – present
Spouse(s) Dr. Robert Abeloff (1960 - 1964) (divorced)
Bamlet Lawrence Price Jr. (1952 - 1955) (divorced)
Official website

Anne Francis (born September 16, 1930, in Ossining, New York) is an American actress, famous for her role in the science fiction film classic Forbidden Planet (1956), and as the female private detective in the television series Honey West (1965-1966).

For her role in Honey West, Francis won the Golden Globe award as best actress in a TV series, and she was nominated for an Emmy award for the same role. Francis also holds the distinction of starring in the first TV series with a woman detective character's name in the title.

Francis entered show business at a young age, working as a model at age five to help her family make ends meet during the Great Depression, and making her Broadway debut at age 11. Over her career, Ms. Francis appeared in scores of TV shows and several movies, including several appearances on The Twilight Zone, including the title character in "Jess-Belle", and as Marsha White in the episode titled "The After Hours". In this one, Marsha White is gradually revealed as a department store mannequin who has enjoyed a brief vacation among living people. Francis was a frequent guest star in 1960s, 70s, and 80s TV movies and programs, and she returned to TV crime dramas to portray "Mama Jo" in the 1984-86 TV-detective series Riptide.[1] [2] She also appeared in four episodes of the "Dallas" TV series.

In 1956, Ms. Francis appeared as "Altaira" in the significant S.F. film Forbidden Planet, (based upon Shakespeare's play The Tempest), released by Metro Goldwyn Mayer, co-starring Walter Pidgeon and Leslie Nielsen. Her character "Altaira" was based on the character "Miranda" in Shakespeare's play. Playing the naive daughter of Pidgeon's brilliant but conflicted Dr. Morbius (the "Prospero" character from "The Tempest"), she added an element of sexuality to this film, especially since she was the only female character, and a young and lovely one at that. Her character's second love interest was the rather serious starship captain played by Mr. Nielsen. Another key film in which Francis appeared was the 1955 movie, the Blackboard Jungle with Glenn Ford, which is often credited with introducing rock and roll music to the mass audience.

In 1964, Francis guest starred in two episodes, "Hideout" and "Rachel's Mother", of CBS's short-lived drama The Reporter starring Harry Guardino as hard-hitting journalist Danny Taylor of the fictitious New York Globe.

In 1965, Francis turned to series television and was cast as the "Private Eyeful", Honey West, a sexy private detective with a pet ocelot. The character was initially introduced on the popular American Broadcasting Company TV series Burke's Law starring Gene Barry. John Ericson was her co-star. In 1971, at the start of the final season of My Three Sons, Francis played "Lady Terri Douglas", the new bride of Steve's Scottish (and look-alike) cousin, "Fergus". During the 1980-81 television season, Francis had a recurring role as "Arliss Cooper", the mother of Mitch and Afton Cooper on CBS-TV's Dallas, as is listed on www.ImdB.com.

Ms. Francis's most recent television appearance came on a 2004 episode of the CBS series Without a Trace.

Ms. Francis was married to Bamlet Lawrence Price, Jr., from May 1952 to April 1955, and to Dr. Robert Abeloff, DDS, from 1960 to 1964. This couple had one daughter, Jane E. Abeloff, born on 21March 1962, in Los Angeles. Francis has never remarried since divorcing Abeloff.

As of January 2009, Ms. Francis has resided in Santa Barbara, California, for a long time.

Ms. Francis had a battle with lung cancer in 2007-2008. She seems to have had a successful recovery through chemotherapy - though this can never be determined until the patient has survived for at least five years. She has kept her followers informed of her progress on her official Web site.

Filmography

References

External links


 
 

 

Copyrights:

Actor. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Anne Francis" Read more