10 Facts About Alma Francis

Alma Lenore Francis was an American dancer, singer, and stage actress.

Alma Francis had an international career as a theatrical actress and operatic soprano in numerous stage productions, as well as a short-lived career in Hollywood, appearing in three feature films during the silent era.

Alma Francis spent her later life married to Kenneth Fields, a US forest ranger, and living on a berry farm west of Sandy, Oregon, where she taught singing in her private home studio, and was an advocate of the arts in the Portland metropolitan area.

Alma Francis was educated at St Helens Hall in Portland, and later studied piano in San Francisco under Emlyn Lewys, and operatic voice with Abbie Carrington.

Alma Francis began her career in theater, appearing on Broadway in the chorus line of a Lulu Glaser production.

Alma Francis had her first substantial role as Serpolette Pochet in the original 1911 production of The Pink Lady.

Alma Francis subsequently performed the supporting role of Angele in a Washington, DC, production of The Pink Lady in December 1911.

Alma Francis again made headlines in December 1919 for being one of the first stage actresses in the United States to gain the right to vote.

Alma Francis toured the opera circuit in Italy in the late-1920s through the early-1930s, appearing as the lead soprano in productions of La boheme, Faust, Madama Butterfly, and Pagliacci.

Alma Francis served as the president of the Sandy Music Club for Oregon Federation of Music Clubs.