As a teen, Francis voiced a number for radio soap operas and won a one-year contract with MGM. She made her Broadway debut at age 11 in Lady in the Dark, playing a young Gertrude Lawrence. 16, 1930, in Ossining, N.Y., she began working as a child model for John Powers at age 5 during the Depression to help her family make ends meet. On stage she performed in such fare as Cactus Flower, Steel Magnolias and Love Letters, among others.īorn Ann Marvak on Sept. In 2004, she appeared in an episode of Without a Trace.
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She also recurred as Arliss Cooper on the hit TV series Dallas during the 1981-82 season.įrancis more recently appeared on such programs as The Drew Carey Show and the last segment of the “new” Fantasy Island. She also was a mainstay on TV during the ’70s, appearing in many TV movies, as well as playing Mama Jo on the 1984-86 detective series Riptide. She also guest-starred on such weekly programs as The David Niven Show, Adventures in Paradise and Rawhide. She was an active player in the days of live TV during the ’50s include Kraft Theatre, The Ford Television Theatre, Lux Video Theatre, Studio One in Hollywood, Climax! and others. Francis starred in many movies of the week and guest-starred on a multitude of sitcoms, beginning with live TV in 1949, when she hosted the NBC show Versatile Varieties. She performed in Funny Girl (1968), but her co-starring role was cut to a cameo she subsequently sued Columbia.įrancis also starred opposite some of the leading comics of the era including Jerry Lewis in Hook, Line and Sinker (1969) and Don Knotts in The Love God? (1969).ĭuring a career that spanned more than five decades, her guest-star credits were voluminous. Other noteworthy film credits include Susan Slept Here (1954), The Satan Bug (1965), and The Crowded Sky (1960). Essentially, a futuristic version of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, her performance lived on in the lyrics of “Science Fiction/Double Feature,” the opening song in The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
The latter role as Altaira, Walter Pidgeon’s teenage daughter who sashayed around in miniskirts and mini-dresses a decade before they became popular, won the ardent attention of baby-boomer, sci-fi buffs. On the big screen, Francis starred opposite a number of Hollywood’s leading men: Spencer Tracy in Bad Day at Black Rock” (1955), Glenn Ford in Blackboard Jungle (1955) and Leslie Nielsen Forbidden Planet with (1956).
Ben Feigin, Emmy-Winning 'Schitt's Creek' Producer, Dies at 47Ī striking blonde with a signature mole near her lips, she began as a child model and then made her way through ranks of children’s radio to stage, film and TV.
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