Don Francks

Don Francks

Donald Harvey "Don" Francks (born February 28, 1932 in Vancouver , British Columbia , † April 3, 2016 in Toronto , Ontario ) was a Canadian actor , jazz musician and singer .

Live and act

Don Francks was adopted and grew up in Burnaby , a city east of Vancouver. He has been on stage as an entertainer since his youth . He first appeared at the age of eleven in the piece The Willow Pattern Plate . He was a theater, television and cinema actor. He was a jazz singer and jazz musician and played the trombone and flute. He sang on the radio at a young age and was nicknamed Don Francksinatra . On stage, he impersonated leading roles in the musicals Oklahoma (1954) and Anything Goes (1955). He sang the lead role in the Broadway musical Kelly (1965), which was discontinued as a disaster the night it started. He has appeared in Broadway and off-Broadway productions such as The Flip Side (1968), On A Clear Day and Leonard Bernstein 's Theater Songs (1965). In 1968, Don Francks starred as Woody Mahoney in the two-time Oscar- nominated classic cinema musical The Golden Rainbow . He played Fred Astaire's son-in-law and Petula Clark's groom, directed by Francis Ford Coppola . On November 6, 2005, Francks joined Petula Clark at the Hummingbird Center in Toronto and they sang the song Old Devil Moon as they once did .

Don Francks had two children, a daughter and a son from a first marriage. To the excitement in Hollywood to escape, Don Francks moved with his longtime second wife Lili Francks in the Red Pheasant Indian Reserve , an Indian reservation in North Battleford, Saskatchewan . He was honored with the Indian name Iron Buffalo . His wife is an actress and dancer. It belongs to the Cree tribe and has the Indian name Red Eagle . She has Native American and Afro-Canadian ancestry. They had two children. The older daughter Cree Summer (* 1969) is a voice actress, actress and singer. She recorded the music CD Street Faërie with Lenny Kravitz . In 1974 Don Francks moved to Toronto with his family . The younger son Rainbow Sun (* 1979) is also an actor (including in the TV series Stargate Atlantis ) and musician. Don Francks sang and played drums with his jazz quartet Don Francks & Friends in various jazz clubs in Toronto, such as the Colonial Tavern or George's Spaghetti House . Don Francks wrote songs and poems, drove motorcycles and collected vintage cars. He stood up as an activist for world peace , supported the liberation of Tibet and was committed to Greenpeace , on whose ship Rainbow Warrior he sailed.

From 1997 to 2001 Don Francks played in the dramatic agent series Nikita . He originally auditioned for the role of operations , but was given the role of weapons expert Walter , for which his looks were perfect. His German dubbing voice in the first three seasons was Klaus Kindler .

From August to December 2006, he hosted the music show 'Round Midnight' on Canadian radio station AM740 Prime Time Radio , which was heard live online and played mainly jazz and blues by older composers.

Don Francks mostly wore a bandana .

Awards

• In 1980 and 1981, he won ACTRA Awards for Best Dramatic Actor for Drying Up The Streets and The Phoenix Team .

Filmography (selection)

• 1959: RCMP (TV series)
• 1963: Indian River ( The Forest Rangers , TV series, episode The Game Reserve )
• 1966: Verrückter Wilder Westen ( The Wild Wild West , episode The Night of the Grand Emir )
• 1966: Solo for ONCEL ( The Man from UNCLE , TV series, episode Das Gangsternest )
• 1966: Jericho (TV series)
• 1968: The Golden Rainbow (Finian's Rainbow)
• 1968, 1969: Cobra, Take Over ( Mission: Impossible , TV series, 2 episodes)
• 1969: Mannix (TV series, episode 3x08 The penalty mandate )
• 1969: The people from Shiloh Ranch ( The Virginian , TV series, episode 7x20 Dream of your own country )
• 1971: McCabe & Mrs. Miller
• 1978: Drying Up the Streets
• 1979: 10,000 hp - full throttle at the limit (Fast Company)
• 1980: The Phoenix Team (TV series)
• 1981: Bloody Valentine (My Bloody Valentine)
• 1981: Heavy Metal (dubbing voice: Grimaldi / Co-Pilot / Barbarian )
• 1983/1984: Inspector Gadget (TV series, dubbing voice)
• 1985: Friends in Space ( Droids , TV series, dubbing voice)
• 1985: Death Poker (Terminal Choice)
• 1985–1986: The Ewoks ( Ewoks , TV series, dubbing voices: Umwak, Dulok Shaman )
• 1987: Alfred Hitchcock Presents (TV series, episode The Mole )
• 1987: Chicago Blues (The Big Town)
• 1988: How do you steal a Renoir? (Hot paint)
• 1990: Tai Babilonia - Life on Thin Ice (On Thin Ice: The Tai Babilonia Story)
• 1991: Dinner for Six - Woodstock meets Wallstreet (Married to It)
• 1992: Black Death (Quiet Killer)
• 1994: Blue Bird - Story of a White Indian Boy ( Bluehawk , TV series, 5 episodes)
• 1994: Kung Fu - In the Sign of the Dragon ( Kung Fu - The Legend Continues , TV series, episode 2x21 Caine and the Sign of the Tiger )
• 1994: Madonna : Innocence Lost
• 1994: Side Effects ( Side Effects , TV series, episode The Great Chendini )
• 1995: The girl from town ( Road to Avonlea , TV series, episode 6x01 The Return of Gus Pike )
• 1995: Death by marriage (A Vow to Kill)
• 1995: Networked - Johnny Mnemonic (Johnny Mnemonic)
• 1995: Legacy of Evil (Possession of Michael D.)
• 1995: Under the Weight of Evidence (Degree of Guilt)
• 1996: Goosebumps - The Hour of the Spirits ( Goosebumps , TV series, episode 1x01 The Werewolf from the Fever Swamps , 2 parts)
• 1996: The Conspiracy of Fear
• 1996: A dog named Heck - On four paws to Australia (Heck's Way Home)
• 1996: The Deliverance of Elaine
• 1996: Betrayed and Sold (Captive Heart: The James Mink Story)
• 1996: Kiss of Death (First Degree)
• 1996: Menacing Passion (Hostile Advances: The Kerry Ellison Story)
• 1996: Harriet, the little detective (Harriet the Spy)
• 1996: Bogus
• 1997–2001: Nikita ( La Femme Nikita , TV series)
• 1997: Dark Prayer ( A Prayer in the Dark , TV movie)
• 1998: Eerie, Indiana - The Other Dimension ( Eerie, Indiana: The Other Dimension , TV series, episode 1x11 The Sleepless Sandman )
• 1998: Mr. Music ( Mr. Music , TV movie)
• 1998: Knight of the Apocalypse or Der Ritter der Apocalypse (The Minion)
• 1998: Jay and the Monkey Gang (Summer of the Monkeys)
• 1999: Relic Hunter - The Treasure Hunter ( Relic Hunter , TV series, episode 1x04 In the sign of the bear )
• 1999: The Curse of the Wild Turkey (Dinner at Fred's)
• 2000: PSI Factor - It happens every day ( PSI Factor - Chronicles of the Paranormal , TV series, episode 4x19 cannibals )
• 2001: Mission Earth - They Are Among Us ( Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict , TV series, episode 4x16 Die Zeitfalle )
• 2002: Tracker (TV series, episode 1x11 The Hatchet )
• 2003: The Last Chapter II: The War Continues (TV miniseries)
• 2005: Lie with Me - Liebe mich (Lie with Me)
• 2006: I'm Not There

Furthermore, Don Francks has often worked as a voice actor in other films and series .

Music recordings

• At The Purple Onion. 2004, Art of Life Records, Don Franks with Lenny Breau and Eon Henstridge.

This jazz CD was recorded live in August 1962 at the Purple Onion coffee house in Toronto, Canada.

• No One In This World Is Like Don Francks. LP , 1963, Kapp Records . Don Francks, Lenny Breau and Eon Henstridge briefly formed the Trio Three .
• Lost ... and Alone. LP, 1964, Kapp Records.

literature

• Christopher Heyn : Inside Section One: Creating and Producing TV's La Femme Nikita. Persistence of Vision Press, Los Angeles September 2006, English, ISBN 0-9787625-0-9 . Pages 100-105 are about his role and Don Francks, who was interviewed.

Web links

• Don Francks at the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Don Francks at the Internet Broadway Database (English)
• Don Francks in the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Don Franck at Discogs (English)
• Don Francks ( English, French ) In: The Canadian Encyclopedia .
• Official website (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ RIP: Don Francks. In: fyimusicnews.ca. April 4, 2016, accessed April 4, 2016 .