Frances Rafferty
{{Short description|American actress (1922-2004)}}
{{Use American English|date=July 2020}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Frances Rafferty
| image = FRANCESRafferty.jpg
| imagesize =
| caption = Rafferty in the 1940s
| birth_name = Frances Anne Rafferty
| birth_date = {{birth date|1922|6|16|mf=y}}
| birth_place = Sioux City, Iowa, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|2004|4|18|1922|6|16|mf=y}}
| death_place = Paso Robles, California, U.S.
| resting_place =
| occupation = Actress, dancer
| years_active = 1942–1977
| spouse = {{plainlist|
- {{Marriage|John Horton|1944|1947|reason=div}}
- {{Marriage|Thomas R. Baker|1948}}
}}
| relations = Max Rafferty (brother)
}}
Frances Anne Rafferty (June 16, 1922 – April 18, 2004) was an American actress, dancer, World War II pin-up girl and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player.
Early life
Frances Anne Rafferty was born in Sioux City, Iowa, the daughter of Maxwell Lewis Rafferty and DeEtta Frances ({{nee}} Cox) Rafferty. She was the younger sister of California educator and Republican politician Max Rafferty, whose wife was Frances (nee Longman) Rafferty.Source Citation: US Federal Census Year: 1930; Census Place: Sioux City, Woodbury, Iowa; Roll 690; Page: 3B; Enumeration District: 55; Image: 429.0.
At 1931, At the age of nine she moved with her family to Los Angeles. At a young age, she studied dancing, and her physical attributes and dancing skills led to work in the film industry.{{Cite web |last=Staff |first=Variety |date=2004-04-27 |title=Frances Rafferty |url=https://variety.com/2004/scene/markets-festivals/frances-rafferty-1117903850/ |access-date=2025-06-05 |website=Variety |language=en-US}}
Rafferty attended Miss Bryant's Day School and Bryant School while the family lived in Iowa. After moving to California, she graduated from University High School in Los Angeles.{{cite web|title=Frances Rafferty|url=http://data.desmoinesregister.com/famous-iowans/frances-rafferty|website=DataCentral|publisher=Des Moines Register|accessdate=2 April 2017|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170402004519/http://data.desmoinesregister.com/famous-iowans/frances-rafferty|archivedate=2 April 2017}}
Career
File:Frances Rafferty.jpg photo of Rafferty for Yank, the Army Weekly in 1945]]
Signed by MGM Studios, Rafferty made her film debut in 1942.{{Citation needed |date=April 2024}} She appeared in minor and secondary roles, and although she had a part in the 1944 film Dragon Seed with Katharine Hepburn and Walter Huston, her significant parts were limited almost exclusively to "B" movies. She played the female lead in "The Hidden Eyes"(1945). For instance, in 1948, she starred with Hugh Beaumont in the film noir Money Madness, directed by Sam Newfield. Her only role in a major film was in Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in Hollywood (1945).
During World War II, she was a volunteer pin-up girl for YANK magazine, a publication for the soldiers of the United States military.{{Citation needed |date=April 2024}}
In 1949, Rafferty was a performer on the anthology series Oboler Comedy Theater on ABC television.{{cite book|last1=Terrace|first1=Vincent|title=Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010|date=2011|publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers|location=Jefferson, N.C.|isbn=978-0-7864-6477-7|pages=777–778|edition=2nd}}
From 1954 to 1959, she appeared as Ruth Ruskin Henshaw in all 156 episodes of the Desilu Studios sitcom December Bride on CBS. When fellow cast member Harry Morgan and actress Cara Williams starred in the 1960-62 December Bride spin off sitcom, Pete and Gladys, Rafferty was subsequently cast in seven episodes in the role of "Nancy".
Rafferty appeared in a number of different television programs throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Among them were two guest appearances on Perry Mason. She portrayed Heather Marlow in "Never Look Back", the Season 4, Episode 18, installment of My Three Sons in 1964.
After her retirement from acting in 1965, she made a final appearance in a 1977 episode of the crime drama The Streets of San Francisco.
Personal life
She was married to her first husband from 1944 until their divorce in 1947. (Rafferty's biography on The Des Moines Register's DataCentral site gives Rafferty's first husband's name as "Maj. John Horton". An Associated Press news story dated February 18, 1947, reported "Movie Actress Frances Rafferty obtained a divorce today from John E. Horton, former army major."){{cite news|title=Frances Rafferty Granted Divorce|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/9979719/eau_claire_leader/|work=Eau Claire Leader|agency=Associated Press|date=February 19, 1947|location=Wisconsin, Eau Claire|page=1|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = April 1, 2017}} {{Open access}}
Death
Filmography
| class="wikitable" | |||
| Year
! Title ! Role ! Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| rowspan=3 | 1942 | Fingers at the Window | Clinic Switchboard Operator | Uncredited |
| The War Against Mrs. Hadley | Sally | ||
| Seven Sweethearts | George Van Maaster | ||
| rowspan=9 | 1943 | Slightly Dangerous | Girl Getting Off Bus | Uncredited |
| Presenting Lily Mars | Showgirl | Uncredited | |
| Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case | Irene | ||
| Hitler's Madman | Annaliese Cermak | Uncredited | |
| Pilot No. 5 | Carhop | Uncredited | |
| Young Ideas | Co-Ed | ||
| Swing Shift Maisie | Office Worker | Uncredited | |
| Thousands Cheer | Marie Corbino | ||
| Girl Crazy | Marjorie Tait | ||
| rowspan=4 | 1944 | Broadway Rhythm | Autograph Seeker | Uncredited |
| Dragon Seed | Orchid Tan - Lao Ta's Wife | ||
| Barbary Coast Gent | Portia Adair | ||
| Mrs. Parkington | Jane Stilham | ||
| rowspan=2 | 1945 | The Hidden Eye | Jean Hampton | |
| Abbott and Costello in Hollywood | Claire Warren | ||
| 1946 | Bad Bascomb | Dora McCabe | |
| rowspan=4 | 1947 | Lost Honeymoon | Lois Evans | |
| The Adventures of Don Coyote | Maggie Riley | ||
| Curley | Mildred Johnson | ||
| The Hal Roach Comedy Carnival | Schoolteacher Mildred Johnson, in 'Curly' | ||
| rowspan=2 | 1948 | Money Madness | Julie Saunders | |
| Lady at Midnight | Ellen McPhail Wiggins | ||
| 1949 | An Old-Fashioned Girl | Frances Shaw | |
| 1952 | Rodeo | Dixie Benson | |
| 1953 | Your Jeweler's Showcase | Julie Elson | Episode: "Christmas Is Magic" |
| 1954 | The Shanghai Story | Mrs. Warren | |
| 1956 | G.E. Summer Originals | Episode: "The Unwilling Witness" | |
| 1961 | Wings of Chance | Arlene Baker |
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{Portal|Biography|Iowa|California|Los Angeles|Film|Television}}
{{Commons category}}
- {{IMDb name|0706261}}
- {{Find a Grave|8682705}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rafferty, Frances}}
Category:American film actresses
Category:American television actresses
Category:Ranchers from California
Category:Actresses from Los Angeles
Category:Actors from Sioux City, Iowa