Frances Gifford
Age: N/A | From: Long Beach, California, USA
Person Details
Birthday:
Aliases: Mary Frances Gifford , Mary Gifford
Gender: Female
Place of birth: Long Beach, California, USA
Homepage:
Movie Involvements: 14
TV Involvements: 0
Most Famous Work
Biography
Frances Gifford had a somewhat unorthodox introduction to the movie business. Born and raised in Long Beach, California, she had no ambition to be an actress, and in fact had applied to UCLA when, at age 16, she and a friend got to visit the Samuel Goldwyn Studios, where they watched a movie being shot. A studio exec saw her and asked if she would take a screen test. She did, the studio was impressed with the result and put her under contract. Nothing much came of it, however, other than bit parts, and she moved to RKO. Nothing much happened there, either. She had married actor James Dunn and decided to retire, which she did, in 1938. Off the screen for almost two years, she got a small part in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), and her career began to revive. She was signed by Paramount, which soon loaned her to Republic, where she made the film she is probably most remembered for: the serial Jungle Girl (1941), based on an Edgar Rice Burroughs story. Unfortunately, her career never really took off, and she bounced around among several studios. In 1948 she was involved in an auto accident in which she received severe head injuries. Although she seemed to recover physically, her career took a nosedive, and she made her last film in 1953. In 1958 newspaper stories reported that as a result of the injuries sustained in the accident, she was admitted to a California state mental hospital. Nothing further was heard from her or about her until 1983, when a writer for a film magazine found her in Pasadena. She had apparently fully overcome her physical and mental problems and was working for the city library. She died of emphysema in Pasadena in 1994.
Most Famous Work
The Glass Key
(1942) Nurse
Tarzan Triumphs
(1943) Zandra
Cry 'Havoc'
(1943) Helen
American Empire
(1942) Abigail 'Abby' Taylor, Dan's Sister
Tombstone: The Town Too Tough to Die
(1942) Ruth Grant
Forty Little Mothers
(1940) Granville Girl
The Arnelo Affair
(1947) Anne Parkson
Sky Commando
(1953) Jo McWethyActing
| Year | Character | Movie/Tv |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Doris (archive sound) | |
| 1953 | Jo McWethy | |
| Evelyn Crewes | ||
| 1950 | Margaret Higgins | |
| 1948 | Laura Dene | |
| 1947 | Jean Tukker | |
| Anne Parkson | ||
| 1945 | Dr. Ann Wotters | |
| Viola Johnson | ||
| Maude Bancroft | ||
| 1944 | Sissy Mortimer | |
| (archive footage) | ||
| 1943 | Helen | |
| Hilary Dane | ||
| Zandra | ||
| 1942 | Abigail 'Abby' Taylor, Dan's Sister | |
| Grace Saunders | ||
| Nurse | ||
| Charlotte (uncredited) | ||
| Ruth Grant | ||
| Miss Halsey | ||
| Frances Gifford (uncredited) | ||
| 1941 | Nyoka Meredith | |
| Daphne | ||
| Doris | ||
| Helen Forbes | ||
| 1940 | Mary Mulvaney | |
| Granville Girl | ||
| 1939 | Brenda Gordon | |
| Hopper Girl (uncredited) | ||
| 1938 | Salesgirl (uncredited) | |
| Ticket Seller - Octopus Concession (uncredited) | ||
| Nightclub Patron | ||
| 1937 | Bus Passenger | |
| Undetermined Role (uncredited) | ||
| Mary McGuire (uncredited) | ||
| Showgirl | ||
| Year | Character | Movie/Tv |
