Search a film or person :
FacebookConnectionRegistration
Noel Francis is a Actor American born on 31 august 1906

Noel Francis

Noel Francis
If you like this person, let us know!
Birth name Noel Frances Sweeney
Nationality USA
Birth 31 august 1906
Death 30 october 1959 (at 53 years)

Noel Francis (August 31, 1906 – October 30, 1959) was an American actress of the stage and screen during the 1920s and 1930s. Born in Texas, she began her acting career on the Broadway stage in the mid 1920s, before moving to Hollywood at the beginning of the sound film era. Originally cast in films for her song and dance abilities, when musicals began to fall out of favor, she became better known for her tough girl characters. However, by the mid-1930s, she was being typecast into smaller roles, and made an attempt at a comeback on Broadway. When that failed, she returned briefly to Hollywood to make several B films, before retiring in 1937.

Biography

Noel Francis débute au théâtre à Broadway (New York) en 1925, comme Ziegfeld Girl, dans la revue Ziegfeld Follies of 1925 (avec Louise Brooks). Suivent une seconde revue, deux comédies musicales (dont Rio Rita sur une musique d'Harry Tierney en 1927-1928, avec Bert Wheeler et Robert Woolsey) et, pour sa dernière prestation à Broadway, une pièce en 1935.

Au cinéma, elle contribue à quarante-huit films américains, le premier étant un court métrage sorti en 1929. Citons ensuite Up the River de John Ford (1930, avec Spencer Tracy et Claire Luce), Je suis un évadé de Mervyn LeRoy (1932, avec Paul Muni et Glenda Farrell), Une nuit seulement de John M. Stahl (1933, avec Margaret Sullavan et John Boles), ou encore The White Parade d'Irving Cummings (1934, avec Loretta Young et John Boles).

Ses trois derniers films (après lesquels elle se retire définitivement) sont des westerns ayant pour vedette Buck Jones, sortis en 1935 et 1937, dont Stone of Silver Creek de Nick Grinde (1935).

Noel Francis meurt prématurément à 53 ans, en 1959.

Best films

Usually with

Orry-Kelly
Orry-Kelly
(5 films)
Guy Kibbee
Guy Kibbee
(4 films)
Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Noel Francis (29 films)

Display filmography as list

Actress

Imitation of Life, 1h51
Directed by John M. Stahl
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Melodrama, Romance
Actors Claudette Colbert, Warren William, Rochelle Hudson, Ned Sparks, Louise Beavers, Fredi Washington
Roles Mrs. Eden (uncredited)
Rating74% 3.744533.744533.744533.744533.74453
White widow Bea Pullman (Claudette Colbert) and her daughter Jessie (Juanita Quigley as a toddler, Marilyn Knowlden as an eight-year-old) take in black housekeeper Delilah Johnson (Louise Beavers) and her daughter Peola (Sebie Hendricks), whose fair complexion reveals her mixed-race ancestry. Bea exchanges room and board for work, although struggling to make ends meet. Delilah and Peola quickly become like family to Jessie and Bea. They particularly enjoy Delilah's pancakes, made from a special family recipe. Five years later, Jessie and Peola prove to be challenging children to raise: Jessie is demanding, not particularly studious, relying instead on her charm. She is the first person to call Peola "black" in a hurtful way, making it clear that their childhood idyll is doomed. Peola does not tell her classmates at school that she is "colored" and is humiliated when her mother shows up one day, revealing her secret.
The Loudspeaker, 1h7
Directed by Joseph Santley
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Comedy, Comedy-drama
Actors Ray Walker, Julie Bishop, Charley Grapewin, Noel Francis, Spencer Charters, Larry Wheat
Roles Dolly
Rating53% 2.676562.676562.676562.676562.67656
Wisecracking Joe Miller (Ray Walker) makes it to the big time in radio.
Strictly Dynamite, 1h11
Directed by Elliott Nugent
Origin USA
Genres Comedy, Musical
Actors Jimmy Durante, Lupe Vélez, Norman Foster, William Gargan, Marian Nixon, Eugene Pallette
Roles Lady Waiting in Georgie's Lobby (uncredited)
Rating57% 2.86122.86122.86122.86122.8612
Norman Foster plays a poet whose life changes when he begins writing comedy for Durante and develops an infatuation for Durante's volatile partner.
Good Dame
Good Dame (1934)
, 1h12
Directed by Marion Gering
Origin USA
Genres Drama
Actors Sylvia Sidney, Fredric March, Jack La Rue, Noel Francis, Russell Hopton, Kathleen Burke
Roles Puff Warner
Rating59% 2.956632.956632.956632.956632.95663
Frisco Jenny, 1h13
Directed by William A. Wellman
Origin USA
Genres Drama
Themes Films about sexuality, Erotic films, Films about prostitution, Disaster films, Films about earthquakes
Actors Ruth Chatterton, Louis Calhern, Helen Jerome Eddy, Donald Cook, William A. Wellman, Hallam Cooley
Roles Rosie
Rating67% 3.3928853.3928853.3928853.3928853.392885
In 1906 San Francisco, Frisco Jenny Sandoval (Ruth Chatterton), a denizen of the notorious Tenderloin district, wants to marry piano player Dan McAllister (James Murray), but her saloonkeeper father Jim (Robert Emmett O'Connor) is adamantly opposed to it. An earthquake kills both men and devastates the city. In the aftermath, Jenny gives birth to a son, whom she names Dan.
Bureau of Missing Persons, 1h13
Directed by Roy Del Ruth
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Comedy, Comedy-drama, Comedy thriller, Crime
Actors Pat O'Brien, Lewis Stone, Glenda Farrell, Allen Jenkins, Bette Davis, Ruth Donnelly
Roles Alice Crane
Rating64% 3.2443753.2443753.2443753.2443753.244375
Amid vignettes involving a philandering husband who fakes amnesia, a child prodigy who yearns to live a normal life, an aging bachelor whose housekeeper has disappeared, and an old lady whose daughter has run away, the primary plot line focuses on brash detective Butch Saunders, who is assigned to find missing Chicago banker Therme Roberts. Butch finds himself attracted to the man's wife Norma, despite the fact they're both married, so when his superior, Captain Webb, tells him she really is Norma Phillips and the man she claims is missing is not her husband but the person she has been accused of murdering, he doesn't believe her. Norma fakes her suicide by drowning and disappears, but can't resist returning when Butch stages her funeral in the hope she'll surface. Not only she but the missing Roberts, as well, turn up at the services. Norma tells Butch she once was Roberts' secretary, and he killed his mentally disturbed twin brother and assumed his identity in order to avoid embezzlement charges. Roberts denies her accusations, but Webb tricks him into admitting his guilt. Norma is cleared and, when Butch learns his wife Belle never divorced her first husband, the two are free to wed.
Blood Money, 1h5
Directed by Rowland Brown
Origin USA
Genres Crime
Themes Children's films
Actors Judith Anderson, Chick Chandler, George Bancroft, Lucille Ball, Frances Dee, Etienne Girardot
Roles Red's Girlfriend (uncredited)
Rating66% 3.340943.340943.340943.340943.34094
L'histoire est celle d'un esclave tortueux libéré sous caution (joué par George Bancroft), de son amante de longue date (Judith Anderson) et d'un femme mondaine à la recherche de sensations fortes qui attire son attention (Frances Dee).
Havana Widows, 1h2
Directed by Ray Enright
Origin USA
Genres Comedy
Actors Joan Blondell, Glenda Farrell, Guy Kibbee, Allen Jenkins, Lyle Talbot, Frank McHugh
Roles Gladys Gable (uncredited)
Rating62% 3.146613.146613.146613.146613.14661
Sadie and Mae are two friends who are in Havana to seduce wealthy older men. Their target is Deacon Jones, a self-appointed moralist who can't drink without getting drunk. Mae ruins their plan when she falls in love with Deacon's son Bob.
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, 1h33
Directed by Mervyn LeRoy
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Crime
Themes Prison films, Évasion
Actors Paul Muni, Glenda Farrell, Helen Vinson, Preston Foster, Noel Francis, Allen Jenkins
Roles Linda
Rating81% 4.0959654.0959654.0959654.0959654.095965
Sergeant James Allen (Paul Muni) returns to civilian life after World War I but his war experience makes him restless. His family feels he should be grateful for a tedious job as an office clerk, and when he announces that he wants to become an engineer, they react with outrage. He leaves home to find work on any sort of project, but unskilled labor is plentiful and it's hard for him to find a job. Wandering and sinking into poverty, he accidentally becomes caught up in a robbery and is sentenced to ten years on a brutal Southern chain gang.