Queer Places:
Le Coq Rouge, 65 E 56th St, New York, NY 10022
Laurel Hill Cemetery, 3822 Ridge Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19132
Anne Hollingshead Francine (August 8, 1917 – December 3, 1999) was an American actress and cabaret singer.[1]
Isabel Pell died at the age of 51, collapsing while dining with her friend Anne
Andrews at La Reine Restaurant in New York. Pell ashes were strewn to the four winds from either Pride's Crossing, MA,
Margarett Sargent's house, or Hill Crest, Berwyn,
Mary A. Bair's House.
Eleonora Sears
was the principal legatee in the Pell will; others were Anne Francine, the
Philadelphia socialite who for a time was a New York cafe singer, and Mary
Bair of Berwyn, PA. Sears received all furniture, pictures, books, china,
glass, silverware, an automobile and two diamond clips, the Resistance and
Citoyen d'Honneur medals (the last two ornaments upon the recipient's death to
pass along to Samuel Riker, cousin of the deceased), a diamond guard ring, and
all the rest of the estate (amount not indicated). Also to Sears and to Mary
Bair, equal shares in "such money as I may have in the Bankers Trust Co. To
Anne Francine went a gold watch, bracelet, link ring and St. Christopher medal
and to Mary Bair went a gold cigaret case.
Francine was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey to Philadelphia socialite parents Albert and Emilie Francine. She was raised on the Main Line region of suburban Philadelphia. She won an amateur singing contest and began performing as a cabaret singer in the 1930s at the Coq Rouge.[2] Other notable engagements included the Copacabana and the Algonquin. She sang abroad in London and Paris in the 1940s. Her signature songs were The Lamp is Low and Raggedy Ann.[3]
She made her Broadway debut in 1954 with Shirley Booth in By the Beautiful Sea. She stepped in for
Bea Arthur as Vera Charles in the 1966 Broadway production of Mame, starring Angela Lansbury. She and Lansbury reprised their characters in the 1983 revival. She last appeared on Broadway in 1987 as Mrs. Harcourt in the Lincoln Center revival of Anything Goes, starring Patti LuPone.[4]
She portrayed the role as villain Flora Simpson Reilly in the American television series Harper Valley PTA.[5]
In 1979, she starred as the Evil Queen in the musical adaption of the 1937 animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Her film work included Federico
Fellini's Juliet of the Spirits (1965), Stand Up and Be Counted (1972), Savages (1972), and Crocodile Dundee (1986).
She taught cabaret singers at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center in Waterford, Connecticut even after losing her ability to speak after a stroke in 1992.[2] She died in a Connecticut hospital on December 3, 1999 after suffering a stroke[3] and was interred in the Michael Ehret mausoleum on "Millionaire's Row" at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.[2]
My published books:
BACK TO HOME PAGE
