Alma Francis

Alma Lenore Frances{{efn|Francis's surname is sometimes misspelled "Frances."{{sfn|Jacobs|Braum|1976|p=79}}}} was born October 15, 1890, in Portland, Oregon, to William and Alma Ray Francis (née Wilson).{{cite news|work=The Oregonian|location=Portland, Oregon|page=1|title=Obituary: Alma Francis Fields|date=August 23, 1968}} Both her maternal and paternal ancestors were Scottish pioneers, and her father was a mining engineer originally from Chicago who founded the St. Johns Lumber Company in Portland.{{cite news|work=The Oregonian|location=Portland, Oregon|title=Obituary for William C. Francis|page=3|date=July 9, 1946}} She was educated at St. Helens Hall in Portland, and later studied piano in San Francisco under Emlyn Lewys, and operatic voice with Abbie Carrington.

Francis began her career in theater, appearing on Broadway in the chorus line of a Lulu Glaser production. She had her first substantial role as Serpolette Pochet in the original 1911 production of The Pink Lady. She subsequently performed the supporting role of Angele in a Washington, D.C., production of The Pink Lady in December 1911.{{cite news|newspaper=The Washington Post|location=Washington, D.C.|title=In "The Pink Lady"|page=12|date=December 5, 1911|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24969784/the_washington_post/|via=Newspapers.com}} She also appeared in Glen MacDonough's production of Eva in 1912 (produced by A.L. Erlanger{{cite news|work=The Baltimore Sun|location=Baltimore, Maryland|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24970501/the_baltimore_sun/|title=Alma Francis In Training|page=3|date=December 23, 1912|via=Newspapers.com}}), and in 1913's musical comedy The Little Cafe. A review of Francis's performance in The Little Cafe published in the Brooklyn Eagle was critical of her performance, noting "the kindest thing to say is that she must have been suffering from a severe case of stage fright."{{cite news|date=November 11, 1913|work=Brooklyn Eagle|location=Brooklyn, New York|page=12|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24968842/the_brooklyn_daily_eagle/|title="The Little Cafe" Is Well Produced|via=Newspapers.com}} In 1917, Francis inherited a substantial fortune from a distant relative in California, and used the money to invest in a fruit ranch in Santa Ana.

In April 1919, it was reported in the Los Angeles Times that Francis had married actor Robert Gordon in March that year in Los Angeles.{{cite news|work=Los Angeles Times|author=Kingsley, Grace|title=Two Stars Wed|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24968741/the_los_angeles_times/|date=April 11, 1919|page=4|via=Newspapers.com}} 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.{{cite news|work=Indianapolis Star|location=Indianapolis, Indiana|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24968963/the_indianapolis_star/|title=This Actress May Vote|date=December 6, 1914|page=14|via=Newspapers.com}}{{cite news|date=December 27, 1914|title=Actress May Vote In California|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24970328/the_pittsburgh_press/|work=Pittsburgh Press|location=Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania|page=30|via=Newspapers.com}} She also performed as a dancer at the Waldorf–Astoria for the Metropolitan Opera Club in the spring of 1920.{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|title=Alma Francis to Dance|date=April 1920|page=22|url=https://archive.org/details/variety58-1920-04/page/n229}}

File:Alma Francis circa 1920.jpg

After appearing onstage for numerous years, Francis had a brief career in Hollywood, appearing in several films during the silent era for Fox Film Corporation. Among them were the horror film The Wolf Man (1924), in which she starred opposite John Gilbert and Norma Shearer,{{sfn|Mercer|1975|p=45}} and Love Letters (also 1924), co-starring with Shirley Mason. In June 1922, Francis appeared on radio in San Francisco, performing songs from the musical So Long Letty.{{cite news|work=The San Francisco Examiner|location=San Francisco, California|author=Tuttle, Oliver T.|title='Examiner' Will Present Musical Play|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24968598/the_san_francisco_examiner/|via=Newspapers.com}}

After her role in Love Letters, Fox loaned Francis out to appear in a stage production of The Mission Play in Alhambra, California,{{cite news|work=Los Angeles Times|title=New Actress Joins Cast of Mission Play|date=March 19, 1927|page=25|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24969641/the_los_angeles_times/|via=Newspapers.com}} which she starred in for three years under directors John S. McGroarty and Tyrone Power Sr.

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

After returning to the United States in 1934, Francis married Nelson Kenneth Fields, a United States Forest Service ranger, and resided with him on a berry farm west of Sandy, Oregon. She spent her later life teaching singing in Portland and in her private home studio, known by some locals as "The Little Milan." She was an advocate of the arts in the Portland area, and was a member of various local musical organizations, including the Oregon Music Teachers Association, Progressive Music Teachers, and the Mozart Club. She served as the president of the Sandy Music Club for Oregon Federation of Music Clubs.{{cite news|work=The Sandy Post|location=Sandy, Oregon|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24970419/sandy_post/|title=Alma Francis Fields Elected President Of Sandy Music Club|date=January 1, 1953|page=2|via=Newspapers.com}}

Francis died on August 21, 1968, aged 77. Her funeral service was held on August 24, 1968, at Bateman Funeral Parlor in Gresham. She is interred at Lone Fir Cemetery.

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• {{cite book|last1=Jacobs|first1=Jack|last2=Braum|first2=Myron|year=1976|title=The Films of Norma Shearer|publisher=A. S. Barnes|location=New York|isbn= 978-0-498-01552-6}}
• {{cite book|last=Mercer|first=Jane|year=1975|title=Great Lovers of the Movies|publisher=Crescent Books|location=New York|isbn=978-0-517-13126-8|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/greatloversofmov0000merc}}
• {{cite book|last=Wray|first=Fay|author-link=Fay Wray|title=On the Other Hand: A Life Story|publisher=St. Martins' Press|location=New York|year=1989|isbn=978-0-312-02265-5}}

{{Commons category|Alma Francis}}

• {{IBDB name|41105}}
• {{IMDb name|0290072}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Francis, Alma}}

Category:1890 births

Category:1968 deaths

Category:Actresses from Portland, Oregon

Category:American expatriates in Italy

Category:American people of Scottish descent

Category:American music educators

Category:American women music educators

Category:American musical theatre actresses

Category:American operatic sopranos

Category:American vocal coaches

Category:American women in business

Category:Dancers from Oregon

Category:Musicians from Portland, Oregon

Category:People from Sandy, Oregon

Category:Singers from Oregon

Category:American vaudeville performers

Category:20th-century American singers

Category:20th-century American women singers

Category:20th-century American dancers

Category:Educators from Oregon

Category:Classical musicians from Oregon

Category:Burials at Lone Fir Cemetery

Category:Oregon Episcopal School alumni