Anne Francis

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

• Anne Francis official site
• Anne Francis at the Internet Broadway Database
• Anne Francis at the Internet Movie Database