Noel Francis
Noel Francis
Biography
Noel Francis was born in Temple, Texas in 1906. By age 20 she was appearing in the Ziegfeld Follies, working opposite the comedy team of Wheeler and Woolsey. Eventually Fox scouts noticed her and in 1929 she was signed to a Hollywood contract. Because of her Follies background, Fox intended to develop Noel as a musical and dance star. Unfortunately, musicals were on the wane at the time (they did rebound) and her contract was dropped. Luckily, she was picked up by Warner Brothers, and featured in a number of films that had her portraying the tough talking, sassy female connected to gangsters, convicts, and other underworld types, so popular with the movie going public then and now. Noel was rarely given the lead female role, though she worked near the top with some of the era's best actors in films that included Smart Money (1931), in which she is a scheming blonde helping Edward G. Robinson lose his money, and Blonde Crazy (1931), where her target is James Cagney. Her most noted performance was in I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang (1932), working with Paul Muni in one of his strongest performances. However, perhaps because of being typecast, she found herself in "B" productions after 1932, though one was as the lead female, in Mayfair Picture Corporation's 1934 What's Your Racket?, opposite Regis Toomey. Needing work, Noel returned to Broadway, but couldn't resume her career there, and returned to Hollywood to make three final films with Buck Jones, including Stone of Silver Creek (1935), in which she used her Broadway musical expertise to play a saloon singer. Between 1929 and 1937 Noel made 47 films. She died October 30, 1959 in Los Angeles, California.
Known For
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
36
Gender
Female
Birthday
1906-08-31 (118 years old)
Place of Birth
Temple, Texas, USA
Acting

1937

Left-Handed Law as Betty Golden

1937

Sudden Bill Dorn as Lorna Kent

1935

The White Cockatoo as Elise

1935

Mutiny Ahead as Mimi

1934

Imitation of Life as Mrs. Eden (uncredited)

1934

Fifteen Wives as Ruby Cotton

1934

Good Dame as Puff Warner

1934

The Loudspeaker as Dolly

1934

Strictly Dynamite as Lady Waiting in Georgie's Lobby (uncredited)

1933

Blood Money as Red's Girlfriend (uncredited)

1933

Only Yesterday as Letitia

1933

Bureau of Missing Persons as Alice Crane

1933

The Important Witness as Ellen Kelly

1933

Havana Widows as Gladys Gable (uncredited)

1933

Son of a Sailor as Queenie

1933

Reform Girl as Lydia Johnson

1933

Hold Me Tight as Trudie Holmes

1932

So Big! as Mabel

1932

The Mouthpiece as Miss DeVere

1932

The Expert as Daisy

1932

Manhattan Tower as Marge Lyon

1932

My Pal, the King as Princess Elsa

1932

Guilty as Hell as Julia Reed

1932

Night Court as Lil Baker

1932

Flames as Pat

1932

Under-Cover Man as Connie

1931

Smart Woman as Peggy Preston

1931

Smart Money as Marie

1931

Blonde Crazy as Helen Wilson

1931

Bachelor Apartment as Janet

1930

Up the River as Sophie (uncredited)

1930

Rough Romance as Flossie

1930

New Movietone Follies of 1930 as Gloria de Witt