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 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.
External links
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/nm0290271
Wikipedia: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19282115
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Filmography (Movies)
Sudden Bill Dorn
Character:Lorna Kent
Release Date:01/12/1937
Left-Handed Law
Character:Betty Golden
Release Date:31/03/1937
Stone of Silver Creek
Character:Lola
Release Date:14/04/1935
Mutiny Ahead
Character:Mimi
Release Date:01/03/1935
The White Cockatoo
Character:Elise
Release Date:29/01/1935
Imitation of Life
Character:Mrs. Eden (uncredited)
Release Date:23/11/1934
Fifteen Wives
Character:Ruby Cotton
Release Date:15/07/1934
The Loudspeaker
Character:Dolly
Release Date:01/06/1934
Strictly Dynamite
Character:Lady Waiting in Georgie's Lobby (uncredited)
Release Date:11/05/1934
Good Dame
Character:Puff Warner
Release Date:16/03/1934
What's Your Racket
Character:Mae Cosgrove
Release Date:06/03/1934
Son of a Sailor
Character:Queenie
Release Date:29/11/1933
Havana Widows
Character:Gladys Gable (uncredited)
Release Date:18/11/1933
Blood Money
Character:Red's Girlfriend (uncredited)
Release Date:17/11/1933
Only Yesterday
Character:Letitia
Release Date:01/11/1933
Bureau of Missing Persons
Character:Alice Crane
Release Date:16/09/1933
The Important Witness
Character:Ellen Kelly
Release Date:15/07/1933
Hold Me Tight
Character:Trudie Holmes
Release Date:20/05/1933
Reform Girl
Character:Lydia Johnson
Release Date:04/03/1933
Under-Cover Man
Character:Connie
Release Date:02/12/1932
Manhattan Tower
Character:Marge Lyon
Release Date:01/12/1932
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
Character:Linda
Release Date:09/11/1932
Guilty as Hell
Character:Julia Reed
Release Date:05/08/1932
Night Court
Character:Lil Baker
Release Date:04/06/1932
Flames
Character:Pat
Release Date:29/05/1932
So Big!
Character:Mabel
Release Date:30/04/1932
My Pal, the King
Character:Princess Elsa
Release Date:03/04/1932
The Mouthpiece
Character:Miss DeVere
Release Date:21/03/1932
The Expert
Character:Daisy
Release Date:05/03/1932
Ladies of the Big House
Character:Thelma
Release Date:26/12/1931
Blonde Crazy
Character:Helen Wilson
Release Date:16/09/1931
Smart Woman
Character:Peggy Preston
Release Date:12/09/1931
Smart Money
Character:Marie
Release Date:11/06/1931
Bachelor Apartment
Character:Janet
Release Date:15/04/1931
Up the River
Character:Sophie (uncredited)
Release Date:10/10/1930
Rough Romance
Character:Flossie
Release Date:15/06/1930
New Movietone Follies of 1930
Character:Gloria de Witt
Release Date:04/05/1930
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