25 Facts About Anne Francis

Anne Francis was an American actress known for her ground-breaking roles in the science fiction film Forbidden Planet and the television action-drama series Honey West.

Nine years later, Francis challenged female stereotypes in Honey West, in which she played a perky blonde private investigator who was as quick with body slams as with witty one-liners.

Anne Francis earned a Golden Globe Award and Emmy Award nomination for her performance.

Anne Francis was known largely for her physical assets, including a trademark mole near her lower lip.

Anne Francis was born in Ossining, New York, on September 16,1930.

Anne Francis entered show business as a child, working as a model at 5 years old to assist her family during the Great Depression.

Anne Francis made her Broadway debut at the age of 11.

Anne Francis made her first film appearances in This Time for Keeps and Summer Holiday.

Anne Francis played supporting roles in the films So Young, So Bad, Lydia Bailey, The Rocket Man, Susan Slept Here, and Bad Day at Black Rock ; her first leading role was in Blackboard Jungle.

Anne Francis appeared in two episodes of the Western series The Virginian, two episodes of Columbo and the episode "Incident of the Shambling Man" on the CBS Western Rawhide.

Anne Francis was cast in an episode of Gene Kelly's drama series, Going My Way, based on the 1944 film of the same name.

Anne Francis appeared in season four, episode 10 of Mission: Impossible, titled "The Double Circle".

Anne Francis made a guest appearance in a 1967 episode of The Fugitive and in The Invaders the same year.

Anne Francis guest-starred in a 1973 episode of Barnaby Jones, "Murder in the Doll's House".

At the start of the final season of My Three Sons in 1971, Anne Francis played bowling-alley waitress Terri Dowling, who married character Laird Fergus McBain Douglas of Sithian Bridge, Scotland, and returned to his homeland as a member of the nobility.

In 1974, Anne Francis appeared as Ida, the madame of a bawdy house on the series Kung Fu in the episode "Night of the Owls, Day of the Doves".

Anne Francis later played Mama Jo in the first few episodes of the 1984 TV-detective series Riptide.

Anne Francis appeared on episodes of Matlock and The Golden Girls.

In 1996, Anne Francis appeared in the Wings episode "The Lady Vanishes", as Vera, a 1940s gun moll.

Anne Francis guest-starred in 1998 on The Drew Carey Show as the mother of Drew's girlfriend Nicki in the episodes "Nicki's Parents" and "Nicki's Wedding".

Anne Francis was married to United States Air Force pilot Bamlet Lawrence Price Jr.

Anne Francis later adopted Margaret "Maggie" West in 1970, one of the first adoptions granted to an unmarried person in California.

Anne Francis studied flying toward the end of the 1960s, eventually earning her pilot's license.

In 1982, Anne Francis published an autobiography, Voices from Home: An Inner Journey.

Anne Francis died from complications due to pancreatic cancer on January 2,2011, at a retirement home in Santa Barbara, California.