Don Francks

Don Harvey Francks was born on February 28, 1932, and was adopted shortly after his birth. His mother worked at a music store and his father was an electrician. As a child, he performed on Vancouver radio doing imitations of singers. After dropping out of high school at age 15, he worked in several jobs.

Francks's acting career began with CBC Television as a regular on Burns Chuckwagon from the Stampede Corral (1955–55) and Riding High (1955),"Les Wiseman - TV Topics - Bluesman's cartoon goes to series" by Liz Pogue, Times Colonist (6 Oct, 1996) Retrieved from {{ProQuest|345624682}} then in the drama The Fast Ones (1959). In 1957 he had a part in the US series The Adventures of Tugboat Annie (actually filmed in Toronto, Ontario), then back to Canada in 1958 for Cannonball and Long Shot (1959). In 1959–60 he starred in the CBC-TV series R.C.M.P., playing Constable Bill Mitchell.{{cite web|title=RCMP Constable Bill Mitchell|url=http://ctva.biz/Canada/RCMP.htm|access-date=23 May 2013}} In 1968 he co-starred with Fred Astaire and Petula Clark in the film version of Finian's Rainbow.

On February 16, 1965, he appeared on Broadway in the title role of the musical Kelly, as a daredevil planning to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge. The show was the first on Broadway in a generation to close on opening night after trying out in Philadelphia and Boston and playing five previews in New York. During the 1960s, he had roles on the US television programs Mission: Impossible, Jericho, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Wild Wild West, and Mannix. His most famous film part was in Francis Ford Coppola's adaptation of Finian's Rainbow. He acted on Broadway in Kelly and Off-Broadway in Leonard Bernstein's Theatre Songs in 1965."Don Francks", The Canadian Encyclopedia, English edition (2019) Retrieved from {{ProQuest|2316648447}}[https://ovrtur.com/production/2901798 "Leonard Bernstein's Theatre Songs: Original Off-Broadway Production (1965)"] at ovrtur.com

This Land (1970–86) was a CBC-TV documentary series on Canadian nature, wildlife, natural resources, and life in remote communities. Francks was the narrator."For Don Francks, humanity comes first" by Jim Bearden, The Globe and Mail (2 July, 1980) Retrieved from {{ProQuest|386906575}} He portrayed writer Grey Owl, returning fifty years after his death to be disturbed by the ecological deterioration (Episode "Land of Shadows", first aired 2 August 1983).{{cite news|title=This Land|publisher=CBC Radio|url=http://www.cbc.ca/75/2011/08/this-land.html|access-date=23 May 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111004111351/http://www.cbc.ca/75/2011/08/this-land.html|archive-date=October 4, 2011}}

From 1997 to 2001, he played "Walter" in La Femme Nikita (TV series)."It's a guilty pleasure!; Pouting blond bombshell Nikita gets a new life over at ONtv" by Bonnie Malleck, The Record (20 Jan, 2000) [Final Edition] Retrieved from {{ProQuest|275684012}} Early television credits include: Mission: Impossible, Wild Wild West, and several other episodic television appearances. In the 2015 six-part series Gangland Undercover on the History Channel,[https://playbackonline.ca/2015/01/12/history-canada-sets-launch-date-for-gangland-undercover/ "History Canada sets launch date for Gangland Undercover"] by Etan Vlessing at playbackonline.ca he played "Lizard". His film work includes The Big Town, My Bloody Valentine and Johnny Mnemonic.

Francks composed songs and played trombone, drums, and flute. He performed in jazz clubs such as George's Spaghetti House in Toronto and the Village Vanguard in New York City, where he recorded the album Jackie Gleason Says No One in This World Is Like Don Francks{{cite web|last=Bearden|first=Jim|author2=Linda Jean Butler|title=Don Francks Full Circle|website=Cinema Canada|date=August 1980|page=30|url=http://cinemacanada.athabascau.ca/index.php/cinema/article/viewFile/951/1022|access-date=May 23, 2013}} (Kapp, 1963). In New York City he recorded Lost...and Alone (Kapp, 1965).

In August 1962 his avant-garde jazz group Three debuted unrehearsed at the Purple Onion coffeehouse in Toronto, Canada. Francks, Lenny Breau on guitar, and Eon Henstridge on double bass were joined on stage by tap dancer Joey Hollingsworth. The evening was recorded live by Breau's manager, George B. Sukornyk, but wasn't released until 2004 under the name At the Purple Onion (Art of Life, 2004). The band performed regularly in Toronto and New York City and appeared in the National Film Board documentary Toronto Jazz, which included rehearsals and performances by Three and two other groups. .{{cite web |title=Toronto Jazz |url=https://www.nfb.ca/film/toronto_jazz/ |publisher=National Film Board of Canada |access-date=28 August 2018}} Francks and Breau briefly reprised Three in early 1968 in Toronto with bassist Dave Young in place of Eon Henstridge, who had died the year before.{{cite book|last=Forbes-Roberts |first=Ron |title=One Long Tune: The Life and Music of Lenny Breau|publisher=University of North Texas|isbn=9781574412307|page=124|date=2006}} In 1999, Francks appeared in the documentary The Genius of Lenny Breau.

In 1963, Franks released No One in This World Is Like Don Francks, his first solo album, recorded at the Village Vanguard in New York City. The title of the album derived from a remark made by Jackie Gleason"'No one in this world is like Don Francks': Popular performer was at home in Hollywood, on Broadway, in Toronto jazz clubs and on a native reserve in Saskatchewan" by Susan Ferrier MacKay, The Globe and Mail (15 April, 2016) Retrieved from {{ProQuest|1781072262}} when the trio performed on the April 23, 1963 The Jackie Gleason Show playing "Bye Bye Blackbird". Two years later, he recorded his second album, Lost... and Alone, with orchestral arrangements by Patrick Williams. He recorded his final album, 21st Century Francks, in 2002 at the Top o' the Senator in Toronto. The album was released in 2014.

Francks played Archie Goodwin with Mavor Moore as Nero Wolfe for a 1982 series on Canadian radio. He provided the voice of "Skunk" in Gene Simmons's animated television show, My Dad the Rock Star.

According to differing sources, either Francks{{cite web|url=https://www.inverse.com/article/23942-star-wars-holiday-special-boba-fett|title=38 Years Ago Today, Boba Fett Was Spotted for the First Time|first= Ryan |last=Britt|date=November 17, 2016|access-date=May 26, 2018|work=Inverse|archive-date= May 26, 2018| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180526214906/https://www.inverse.com/article/23942-star-wars-holiday-special-boba-fett|url-status=live}} or Gabriel Dell{{cite web |title=Cartoon Characters, Cast and Crew for The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)|url=https://www.bcdb.com/cartoon/28822-Star-Wars-Holiday-Special|archive-date=26 May 2018|archive-url= https://archive.today/20180526215201/https://www.bcdb.com/cartoon-characters/28822-Star-Wars-Holiday-Special|url-status=dead |publisher=The Big Cartoon DataBase|access-date=28 August 2018}} was the uncredited actor providing the voice of Boba Fett, a Mandalorian bounty hunter, in the Star Wars Holiday Special. Francks, credited, voiced the role of Boba Fett in an episode of Star Wars: Droids. He voiced several characters in Inspector Gadget, along with his daughter, Cree Summer, who voiced Penny during the first season of the show. He provided the voice for Mok Swagger in the 1983 Canadian animated film Rock and Rule, and the voice of Sabretooth on X-Men. He also voiced both Thomas "House" Conklin & Sergeant Carl Proctor on the 1988 Police Academy animated series.

An avid motorcycle rider, Don Francks also had a collection of twelve antique cars, mostly Model-T Ford racing cars dated 1912 to 1927.{{cite web|title=[Untitled Don Francks biography]|first=Jack |last= Bennest|url= https://bcradiohistory.com/Biographies/DonFrancks.htm |publisher=Museum of Radio in British Columbia |access-date=23 May 2013|archive-date= 29 August 2018|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180829035033/https://bcradiohistory.com/Biographies/DonFrancks.htm|url-status=live}}"Actor or grease monkey? Don Francks loves both His collection of Model T runabouts spans 14 years" by Peter Bailey, Toronto Star (15 March, 1997) [Final Edition] Retrieved from {{ProQuest|437645636}} He supported Greenpeace{{cite book |last1=Gardner |first1=David|url= https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/don-francks|chapter=Don Francks |title=The Canadian Encyclopedia|publisher=Historica Canada|location=Toronto |access-date=23 May 2013|archive-date=August 29, 2018|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180829072258/https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/en/m/article/don-francks/|url-status=live}} and the Tibetan independence movement. After quitting alcohol at the age of 21, Francks smoked marijuana, performing a song called "Smoking Reefers."{{cite news |last1=Mackay |first1=Susan |title=Singer, actor Don Francks was a fountain of endless creativity |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/singer-actor-don-francks-was-a-fountain-of-endless-creativity/article29638254/ |work=The Globe and Mail|location=Canada |access-date=28 August 2018 |date=16 May 2018}} As a spokesman for Other Voices (Canadian TV series) in the mid-1960s, he investigated a boy's murder at Red Pheasant Cree Nation in Saskatchewan.{{cite web|first=Cynthia |last=Wilkerson|title=Interview with Gene Glazer |url=http://www.cynbythesea.com/Press/interviews/Francks.html |publisher=Cyn by the Sea |access-date=28 August 2018|archive-date= 9 March 2019|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190309163603/http://www.cynbythesea.com/Press/interviews/Francks.html|url-status=live}}

Later in life, Francks had a son, Bentley Clay Francks-Slaughter, who died in a house fire late in 2008.{{cite news |last1=Loriggio |first1=Paola |title=Oakville boy, 5, dies in fire

|url=https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2008/12/23/oakville_boy_5_dies_in_fire.html |work=The Toronto Star|location=Canada|access-date=23 December 2009 |date=23 December 2009}}{{cite news|url=https://www.legacy.com/amp/obituaries/thestar/122741689|title=Bentley Clay Francks-Slaughter| work=The Toronto Star|date=12 January 2009 |archive-date=17 July 2019 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190717221243/https://www.legacy.com/amp/obituaries/thestar/122741689/| url-status= live}}

Francks died in Toronto on April 3, 2016, of lung cancer.{{cite news|url= http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/don-francks-dead-actor-jazz-880428|title=Actor, Jazz Musician Don Francks Dies at 84|date=4 April 2016|access-date=17 September 2019|first=Etan|last=Vlessing|work=The Hollywood Reporter| archive-date=15 August 2018|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180815024644/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/don-francks-dead-actor-jazz-880428 |url-status=live}}

• ACTRA Award for Best Dramatic Performance, Drying Up the Streets and The Phoenix Team, 1980 and 1981

• Heyn, Christopher. "A Conversation with Don Francks". Inside Section One: Creating and Producing TV's La Femme Nikita. Introduction by Peta Wilson. Los Angeles: Persistence of Vision Press, 2006. p. 100–105; {{ISBN|0-9787625-0-9}}.

{{Reflist}}

• {{IMDb name}}
• {{IBDB name}}
• {{TCMDb name|65086%7C39564}}
• {{Iobdb name|15178}}
• {{Discogs artist|Don Francks}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20050324031411/http://donfrancks.com/ Official website archived]
• [http://www.filmreference.com/film/1/Don-Francks.html Filmography]
• [http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/don-francks-emc/ Entry at thecanadianencyclopedia.ca]

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Category:1932 births

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Category:Canadian jazz drummers

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Category:Deaths from cancer in Ontario

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Don

Category:Male actors from British Columbia

Category:Canadian male drummers

Category:Actors from Burnaby

Category:Canadian male jazz musicians