Noel Francis

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: Acting

Born: Temple, Texas, USA, 1906-08-31

Died: 1959-10-30

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1930	New Movietone Follies of 1930	Gloria de Witt	0
2	1930	Rough Romance	Flossie	50
3	1930	Up the River	Sophie (uncredited)	58
4	1931	Bachelor Apartment	Janet	62
5	1931	Smart Money	Marie	69
6	1931	Smart Woman	Peggy Preston	59
7	1931	Blonde Crazy	Helen Wilson	70
8	1931	Ladies of the Big House	Thelma	60
9	1932	The Expert	Daisy	63
10	1932	The Mouthpiece	Miss DeVere	59
11	1932	My Pal, the King	Princess Elsa	0
12	1932	So Big!	Mabel	59
13	1932	Flames	Pat	25
14	1932	Night Court	Lil Baker	64
15	1932	Guilty as Hell	Julia Reed	58
16	1932	I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang	Linda	78
17	1932	Manhattan Tower	Marge Lyon	59
18	1932	Under-Cover Man	Connie	45
19	1933	Reform Girl	Lydia Johnson	55
20	1933	Hold Me Tight	Trudie Holmes	0
21	1933	The Important Witness	Ellen Kelly	50
22	1933	Bureau of Missing Persons	Alice Crane	58
23	1933	Only Yesterday	Letitia	68
24	1933	Blood Money	Red's Girlfriend (uncredited)	70
25	1933	Havana Widows	Gladys Gable (uncredited)	58
26	1933	Son of a Sailor	Queenie	50
27	1934	Good Dame	Puff Warner	55
28	1934	Strictly Dynamite	Lady Waiting in Georgie's Lobby (uncredited)	53
29	1934	The Loudspeaker	Dolly	0
30	1934	Fifteen Wives	Ruby Cotton	10
31	1934	Imitation of Life	Mrs. Eden (uncredited)	70
32	1935	The White Cockatoo	Elise	53
33	1935	Mutiny Ahead	Mimi	40
34	1935	Stone of Silver Creek	Lola	0
35	1937	Left-Handed Law	Betty Golden	40
36	1937	Sudden Bill Dorn	Lorna Kent	0

Noel Francis

Film

Television