Monday, January 3, 2011

Anne Francis (9/16/1930 – 1/2/2011)

The American Mrs Peel!
Ironically, I had just watched Forbidden Planet on TCM last night (for the umpteeth time), and was discussing who, of the main cast, was still alive! (Leslie Nielsen [Commander J.J. Adams] had passed away in November.)
Plus, one of my projects for this year was expanding the Fantastic Femmes entries to include more past performers including Anne, Raquel Welch, Diana Rigg, etc.
Then this morning, I read about Anne's passing due to complications from cancer...
Her roles as Altaira "Alta" Morbius and Honey West alone would assure her a place as a Fantastic Femme.
The obligatory Forbidden Planet pic
She was also one of the few non-regulars to play the same character in several episodes of Man from U.N.C.L.E.!
Plus, she guest-starred on numerous genre shows from Burke's Law (where Honey West debuted) to Wonder Woman!
Besides being ravishingly-beautiful she had a great acting range, doing everything from comedies to westerns to film noir! We've included several of the harder-to-find ones below...
Her favorite performance was in the psychological thriller Girl of the Night, one of the few films she got top billing. (It's unavailable on Amazon, but you can get it directly from Warner Archives!)

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Thanx for posting!