Frances Drake
Active - 1934 - 1942 | Born - Oct 22, 1908 in New York City, NY | Died - Jan 17, 2000 in Irvine, CA | Genres - Drama, Crime, Romance, Comedy, Mystery | Height: 5’ 2-1/2”
Dark-eyed, dark-haired leading lady Frances Drake was born in New York and educated in England and Canada. While appearing in musical comedy in England in 1933, Drake made her first film appearances, using her given name of Dean. Back in America in 1934, Drake enjoyed a flurry of film activity, frequently playing imperiled heroines in such melodramas as Mad Love (1935), The Invisible Ray (1936) and Florida Special (1936).
She made her Hollywood debut in Bolero (1934) and was thereafter typecast as damsels in distress opposite horror stars Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, and Peter Lorre. Paramount changed her name to Frances Drake because her birth name, Frances Dean, was too similar to that of one of their stars, Frances Dee.
Frances moved to England to be with a sick aunt when she was fifteen and stayed.
Drake asked for her release from her three year Paramount contract in 1936 six weeks early. Studio boss William LeBaron granted her request and even continued to continue to pay her for that time. Unfortunately she was very unhappy at her new studio Fox, and her agent Charles K. Feldman, arranged to have her contract bought by Columbia.
Drake retired from films at the urging of her husband.
Available Films:
Active - 1934 - 1942 | Born - Oct 22, 1908 in New York City, NY | Died - Jan 17, 2000 in Irvine, CA | Genres - Drama, Crime, Romance, Comedy, Mystery | Height: 5’ 2-1/2”
Dark-eyed, dark-haired leading lady Frances Drake was born in New York and educated in England and Canada. While appearing in musical comedy in England in 1933, Drake made her first film appearances, using her given name of Dean. Back in America in 1934, Drake enjoyed a flurry of film activity, frequently playing imperiled heroines in such melodramas as Mad Love (1935), The Invisible Ray (1936) and Florida Special (1936).
She made her Hollywood debut in Bolero (1934) and was thereafter typecast as damsels in distress opposite horror stars Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, and Peter Lorre. Paramount changed her name to Frances Drake because her birth name, Frances Dean, was too similar to that of one of their stars, Frances Dee.
Frances moved to England to be with a sick aunt when she was fifteen and stayed.
Drake asked for her release from her three year Paramount contract in 1936 six weeks early. Studio boss William LeBaron granted her request and even continued to continue to pay her for that time. Unfortunately she was very unhappy at her new studio Fox, and her agent Charles K. Feldman, arranged to have her contract bought by Columbia.
Drake retired from films at the urging of her husband.
Available Films:
BOLERO IT'S A WONDERFUL WORLD MAD LOVE |
MIDNIGHT TAXI PREVIEW MURDER MYSTERY, THE TRUMPET BLOWS, THE |
Trivia:
[In a 1986 interview] “Charles Laughton was very interesting to watch. Before he went into a scene, he’d go through these gyrations, and huff and puff... I don’t know what it did for him, but he was quite amusing to watch! He was often very effective, wasn’t he? Marvelous!”
[In a 1986 interview about Brian Donlevy] “.. a very strange man. He never talked to anybody.”
[In a 1986 interview] “Charles Laughton was very interesting to watch. Before he went into a scene, he’d go through these gyrations, and huff and puff... I don’t know what it did for him, but he was quite amusing to watch! He was often very effective, wasn’t he? Marvelous!”
[In a 1986 interview about Brian Donlevy] “.. a very strange man. He never talked to anybody.”
