Anne Francis was born on 16 September 1930 in western New York. She died 80 years later of cancer in a retirement home in Southern California.

It’s hard not to hear the name Anne Francis and not think of Forbidden Planet. For one thing, the song “Science Fiction/Double Feature” explicitly mentions her. But it isn’t much of a role. She was the love interest for Leslie Nielsen. On the other hand, for the time, her character has an edge. And Francis is excellent in the role.

Despite some leading roles, she never really became a star. She had a fairly typical career for a character actor. This included roles in film and television. She was a very capable actor with a great screen presence. She performed on pretty much every TV show you could name from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s: My Three Sons, Gunsmoke, Columbo, Cannon, Ironside, Kung Fu, Barnaby Jones, Wonder Woman, Hawaii Five-O, Quincy, ME, Dallas, Fantasy Island, CHiPs, Simon & Simon, The Love Boat, Matlock, The Golden Girls, Murder, She Wrote, Home Improvement, The Drew Carey Show, and so many more.

Anne Francis was truly a star once. She played the title character in the short-run TV series Honey West. It wasn’t short-lived for bad reasons. John C Fredriksen, author of Honey West, gave an interview with The Rap Sheet where he said there were two reasons the show was canceled:

The first was programming. The biggest hit on Friday nights turned out to be none other than Gomer Pyle, USMC — it literally clobbered all the competition. The second was money: ABC decided that they could dress Diana Rigg up in black leather and have her beat up guys for less money than they were shelling out for Honey West.

ABC apparently replaced the show with The Avengers from the UK.

The show is fun. Francis plays Honey West, a private detective who is a sexy badass. Shows like this always make me smile because for years I’ve been hearing manosphere/incel types complain every time there’s a film with a powerful woman. They really do think this is all new. But shows like this have existed for a very long time. And the same kind of reactionaries back then said the same things.

Archive provides the entire series (including the character’s introduction in an episode of Burke’s Law). Here is the first episode of the show:

Other 16 September Anniversaries

Filmmakers

• Arthur Lucan (1885-1954): The original Old Mother Riley in films like Mother Riley Meets the Vampire.
• Paul Henning (1911-2005): Creator of The Beverly Hillbillies and (with his wife, Ruth) Petticoat Junction.
• Guy Hamilton (1922-2016): Director of four of the more memorable James Bond films, Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever, Live and Let Die, and The Man with the Golden Gun.
• Lauren Bacall (1924-2014): Golden Age Hollywood legend in films like The Big Sleep and Key Largo.
• Peter Falk (1927-2011): TV’s Columbo but also an actor in a lot of quirky films like Tune in Tomorrow.
• Jules Bass (1935-2022): The more musical of Rankin/Bass.
• Ed Begley Jr (1949-): Actor known for his work with Christopher Guest and also the skit Son of the Invisible Man.
• Mickey Rourke (1952-): Object lesson in bad career moves, he made some great films before he destroyed his face. In particular, Angel Heart.
• Jennifer Tilly (1958-): Actor known for Bound, Bride of Chucky, and much more.

Films

• The Most Dangerous Game (1932): The classic version of the classic story.
• Moonshine Mountain (1964): Herschell Gordon Lewis film about a country star who gets mixed up in a moonshine war.
• Deathstalker (1983): Warrior must go on a quest in a sword-and-sorcery world.
• Strange Invaders (1983): Space aliens take over a small town.
• Timecop (1994): A politician is using time travel to get power. Best not to think too deeply about this one!
• Cry Wolf (2005): High school liars aren’t believed when they report a murderer.
• Venom (2005): A man possessed by demons hunts teenagers.
• Asylum (2007): A woman with amnesia searches for her horrific past.
• The Legend of Bloody Mary (2008): A young man’s sister disappears after playing “Bloody Mary.”
• Monster Movie (2008): The last film of the Polonia brothers before John’s tragic death.
• 3 From Hell (2019): Psychopath road movie from Rob Zombie.
• Pearl (2022): Prequel of X — but more disturbing.

Anne Francis photo via Wikimedia. It is in the public domain.