Arlene Francis
Arlene Francis (* 20th October 1907 as Arline Francis Kazanjian in Boston , Massachusetts , † 31 May 2001 in San Francisco , California ) was an American actress and presenter.
Life
Her father was an Armenian immigrant. In the late 1920s, she took acting classes and went to Hollywood . She made her film debut in 1932 on the side of Bela Lugosi in Murder on Rue Morgue as a prostitute killed by Lugosi's character. With no breakthrough in Hollywood, Francis concentrated on a career in the theater. She starred in numerous shows on Broadway and was an intermittent member of Orson Welles ' Mercury Theater . In 1938 she starred in Danton's Death by Georg Büchner under the direction of Welles . That same year, Francis starred in Welles' directorial debut, Too Much Johnson . A 40-minute fragment of the long-lost film was discovered in August 2013.
Francis began working for the radio in the 1940s; she appeared on numerous programs. But she gained popularity in America through her participation in the popular television show What's My Line ?, the original version of What Am I? From 1950 to the mid-1970s she was part of the permanent advice team, in which Bennett Cerf and Dorothy Kilgallen sat next to her at times . In Germany, Francis is perhaps more remembered for her supporting roles in some film productions of the 1960s, for example in Billy Wilder's One, Two, Three as the wife of James Cagney and in the Doris Day comedy What This Woman Does . Francis made her last film appearance in Wilder's Fedora in 1978.
Arlene Francis was married to actor Martin Gabel from 1946 until his death in 1986, and the marriage resulted in a son. She last suffered from Alzheimer's disease for years and died in 2001 at the age of 93.
Filmography (selection)
- 1932: Murders in the Rue Morgue (Murders in the Rue Morgue)
- 1938: Too Much Johnson
- 1943: Stage Door Canteen
- 1948: All My Sons
- 1950–1974: What's My Line (TV show, as a regular participant)
- 1957–1958: The Arlene Francis Show (TV series)
- 1961: One, Two, Three (One, Two, Three)
- 1963: The Thrill of It All (The Thrill of It All)
- 1972: Harvey (TV movie)
- 1977: Fedora
Web links
- Arlene Francis in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Arlene Francis in the Internet Broadway Database (English)
- Arlene Francis in the Internet Off-Broadway Database
- Arlene Francis in the German dubbing file
Individual evidence
- ↑ see screenshots of Francis and the other actors: mercury-theater-project
- ↑ Entry at filmreference.com
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Francis, Arlene |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Kazanjian, Arline Francis (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | US-american actress |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 20, 1907 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Boston , Massachusetts , United States |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 31, 2001 |
| Place of death | San Francisco , California , United States |