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Frances Drake

{{Short description|American actress (1912–2000)}}

{{about||the American actress|Frances Ann Denny Drake|people with a similar name|Francis Drake (disambiguation)}}

{{Use American English|date=July 2020}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2020}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Frances Drake

| image = Frances Drake in Mad Love (1935) trailer.jpg

| caption = Trailer for Mad Love (1935)

| birth_name = Frances Morgan Dean

| birth_date = {{birth date|1912|10|22|mf=y}}

| birth_place = New York City, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|2000|01|18|1912|10|22|mf=y}}

| death_place = Irvine, California, U.S.

| resting_place = Hollywood Forever Cemetery

| occupation = Actress

| years_active = 1933–1942

| spouse = {{plainlist|

  • {{marriage|Lt. the Hon. Cecil John Arthur Howard|1939|1985|reason=d.}}
  • {{marriage|David Brown
    |1992}}

}}

}}

Frances Drake (born Frances Morgan Dean; October 22, 1912 – January 18, 2000)[http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi Social Security Death Index]. Although some sources say 1908, the Social Security Death Index indicates Frances D. Howard was born on October 22, 1912, and died on January 17, 2000 was an American actress best known for playing Eponine in Les Misérables (1935).{{cite web|title="Frances Drake - Biography"|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0236903/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm|website=IMDB}}

Early years

Drake was born in New York City as Frances Morgan Dean to a wealthy family. She was educated at Havergal College in Canada and at age 14 "she was sent to school in England, under her aunt Violet Dean."{{cite news|last1=Coons|first1=Robbin|title=Hollywood Sights and Sounds|newspaper=The Raleigh Register |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4295898/the_raleigh_register/|agency=The Raleigh Register|date=September 27, 1935|location=West Virginia, Beckley|page=4|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = February 12, 2016}} {{Open access}} She was there when the stock market crashed in 1929.

Career

Needing to make money for the first time in her life, Drake became a dancer and stage actress and found that film paid even better.{{cite web|last1=Yockel|first1=Michael|title=Actress Frances Drake, 91, Checks Out|url=http://www.nypress.com/actress-frances-drake-91-checks-out/}} In 1933, she explained: "I met an actor in London – Gordon Wallace, who was in Eva Le Gallienne's repertory company for a while – and he asked me to form a dance team with him. We danced, and a stage producer asked us to take parts in a play. Then I was invited to make films in England."{{cite news|title=Seeks to Lose English Twang|newspaper=The Gettysburg Times |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4296123/the_gettysburg_times/|agency=The Gettysburg Times|date=December 8, 1933|location=Pennsylvania, Gettysburg|page=8|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = February 12, 2016}} {{Open access}}

She returned to the United States in 1934Katz, Ephraim (1979). The Film Encyclopedia: The Most Comprehensive Encyclopedia of World Cinema in a Single Volume. Perigee Books. {{ISBN|0-399-50601-2}}. P. 358. and was offered a contract by Paramount, which changed her name to Frances Drake (after the studio initially wanted her new name to be Marianne Morel to avoid confusion with the then-popular star Frances Dee). She was coached by opera singer and actress Marguerite Namara while continuing in film. She was often typecast in "damsel in distress" roles and appeared in proto-horror and proto-sci-fi films opposite stars like Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, and Peter Lorre. One film reference book summed up Drake's career as follows: "She played leads in many Hollywood productions of the '30s, often as the terrified heroine of horror and mystery tales."

Personal life

On February 12, 1939, Drake married Hon. Cecil Howard (1908–1985), second son of Henry Howard, 19th Earl of Suffolk. Howard disapproved of her career, and she retired from the screen when he received his inheritance. After Howard's death, she married David Brown in 1992;{{cite news|last1=Bergan|first1=Ronald|title=Obituary: Frances Drake: Beauty who quit movies for her aristocrat husband|url=http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A75790977/GPS?sid=wikipedia|access-date=12 February 2016|agency=The Guardian|date=January 31, 2000|location=England, London}}{{subscription required|via=General OneFile}} he died in 2009.

Recognition

She has a star in the Motion Picture section of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located at 6821 Hollywood Boulevard.

She has a school named after her in Leominster, Massachusetts.{{Cite web |url=http://fds.leominster.mec.edu/ |title=Home - Frances Drake School |access-date=April 9, 2018 |archive-date=April 17, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180417224033/http://fds.leominster.mec.edu/ |url-status=dead }}

Death

Drake died in Irvine, California, on January 18, 2000, aged 87.{{cite news|last1=Vallance|first1=Tom|title=Obituary: Frances Drake|url=http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A66415968/GPS?sid=wikipedia|access-date=12 February 2016|agency=The Independent|date=January 25, 2000|location=England, London}} She is interred in Section 8 Garden of Legends in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Hollywood, California.{{cite web|title=Frances Drake|url=http://www.walkoffame.com/frances-drake|website=Hollywood Walk of Fame|access-date=12 February 2016}}

Filmography

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References

{{reflist}}

External links

{{Commons category}}

{{Portal|Biography}}

  • {{IMDb name}}
  • {{Find a Grave}}
  • [http://film.virtual-history.com/person.php?personid=308 Photographs of Frances Drake]

{{Authority control}}

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Category:Actresses from New York City

Category:American film actresses

Category:Actors from Orange County, California

Category:1912 births

Category:2000 deaths

Category:Burials at Hollywood Forever Cemetery

Frances

Category:20th-century American actresses

Category:Havergal College alumni