# Frances Drake

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{{Short description|American actress (1912–2000)}}
{{about||the American actress|Frances Ann Denny Drake|people with a similar name|Francis Drake (disambiguation)}}
{{Use American English|date=July 2020}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name           = Frances Drake
| image          = Frances Drake in Mad Love (1935) trailer.jpg
| caption        = [Trailer](/source/Trailer_(promotion)) for ''[Mad Love](/source/Mad_Love_(1935_film))'' (1935) 
| birth_name     = Frances Morgan Dean 
| birth_date     = {{birth date|1912|10|22|mf=y}}
| birth_place    = New York City, U.S.
| death_date     = {{death date and age|2000|01|18|1912|10|22|mf=y}} 
| death_place    = [Irvine, California](/source/Irvine%2C_California), U.S.
| resting_place  = [Hollywood Forever Cemetery](/source/Hollywood_Forever_Cemetery)
| occupation     = Actress
| years_active   = 1933–1942
| spouse         = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Lt. the Hon. Cecil John Arthur Howard|1939|1985|reason=d.}}
* {{marriage|David Brown<br />|1992}}
}}
}}

'''Frances Drake''' (born '''Frances Morgan Dean'''; October 22, 1912 &ndash; January 18, 2000)<ref>[http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi Social Security Death Index]. Although some sources say 1908, the Social Security Death Index indicates Frances D. Howard was born on October 22, 1912, and died on January 17, 2000</ref> was an American actress best known for playing [Eponine](/source/Eponine) in ''[Les Misérables](/source/Les_Mis%C3%A9rables_(1935_film))'' (1935).<ref name="imdb">{{cite web|title="Frances Drake - Biography"|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0236903/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm|website=IMDB}}</ref>

==Early years==
Drake was born in New York City as Frances Morgan Dean to a wealthy family. She was educated at [Havergal College](/source/Havergal_College) in Canada and at age 14 "she was sent to school in England, under her aunt Violet Dean."<ref name="rr">{{cite news|last1=Coons|first1=Robbin|title=Hollywood Sights and Sounds|newspaper=The Raleigh Register |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4295898/the_raleigh_register/|agency=The Raleigh Register|date=September 27, 1935|location=West Virginia, Beckley|page=4|via = [Newspapers.com](/source/Newspapers.com)|access-date = February 12, 2016}} {{Open access}}</ref> She was there when the stock market crashed in 1929.

==Career==
Needing to make money for the first time in her life, Drake became a dancer and stage actress and found that film paid even better.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Yockel|first1=Michael|title=Actress Frances Drake, 91, Checks Out|url=http://www.nypress.com/actress-frances-drake-91-checks-out/}}</ref> In 1933, she explained: "I met an actor in London – Gordon Wallace, who was in [Eva Le Gallienne's](/source/Eva_Le_Gallienne) repertory company for a while – and he asked me to form a dance team with him. We danced, and a stage producer asked us to take parts in a play. Then I was invited to make films in England."<ref>{{cite news|title=Seeks to Lose English Twang|newspaper=The Gettysburg Times |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4296123/the_gettysburg_times/|agency=The Gettysburg Times|date=December 8, 1933|location=Pennsylvania, Gettysburg|page=8|via = [Newspapers.com](/source/Newspapers.com)|access-date = February 12, 2016}} {{Open access}}</ref>

She returned to the United States in 1934<ref name=fe>Katz, Ephraim (1979). ''The Film Encyclopedia: The Most Comprehensive Encyclopedia of World Cinema in a Single Volume''. Perigee Books. {{ISBN|0-399-50601-2}}. P. 358.</ref> and was offered a contract by [Paramount](/source/Paramount_Pictures), which changed her name to Frances Drake (after the studio initially wanted her new name to be Marianne Morel<ref name=rr/> to avoid confusion with the then-popular star [Frances Dee](/source/Frances_Dee)). She was coached by [opera](/source/opera) singer and actress [Marguerite Namara](/source/Marguerite_Namara) while continuing in film. She was often typecast in "damsel in distress" roles and appeared in proto-horror and proto-sci-fi films opposite stars like Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, and Peter Lorre.<ref name="imdb"/> One film reference book summed up Drake's career as follows: "She played leads in many Hollywood productions of the '30s, often as the terrified heroine of horror and mystery tales."<ref name=fe/>

==Personal life==
On February 12, 1939, Drake married Hon. Cecil Howard (1908&ndash;1985), second son of [Henry Howard, 19th Earl of Suffolk](/source/Henry_Howard%2C_19th_Earl_of_Suffolk). Howard disapproved of her career, and she retired from the screen when he received his inheritance.<ref name=fe/> After Howard's death, she married David Brown in 1992;<ref>{{cite news|last1=Bergan|first1=Ronald|title=Obituary: Frances Drake: Beauty who quit movies for her aristocrat husband|url=http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A75790977/GPS?sid=wikipedia|access-date=12 February 2016|agency=The Guardian|date=January 31, 2000|location=England, London}}{{subscription required|via=General OneFile}}</ref> he died in 2009.

==Recognition==
She has a star in the Motion Picture section of the [Hollywood Walk of Fame](/source/Hollywood_Walk_of_Fame), located at 6821 [Hollywood Boulevard](/source/Hollywood_Boulevard).

She has a school named after her in Leominster, Massachusetts.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://fds.leominster.mec.edu/ |title=Home - Frances Drake School |access-date=April 9, 2018 |archive-date=April 17, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180417224033/http://fds.leominster.mec.edu/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Death==
Drake died in [Irvine, California](/source/Irvine%2C_California), on January 18, 2000, aged 87.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Vallance|first1=Tom|title=Obituary: Frances Drake|url=http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A66415968/GPS?sid=wikipedia|access-date=12 February 2016|agency=The Independent|date=January 25, 2000|location=England, London}}</ref> She is interred in Section 8 Garden of Legends in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Hollywood, California.<ref>{{cite web|title=Frances Drake|url=http://www.walkoffame.com/frances-drake|website=Hollywood Walk of Fame|access-date=12 February 2016}}</ref>

==Filmography==
{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}
* ''[The Jewel](/source/The_Jewel_(1933_film))'' (1933) - Jenny Day/Lady Joan
* ''[Meet My Sister](/source/Meet_My_Sister)'' (1933) - Helen Sowerby
* ''[Bolero](/source/Bolero_(1934_film))'' (1934) - Leona
* ''[The Trumpet Blows](/source/The_Trumpet_Blows)'' (1934) - Chulita
* ''[Ladies Should Listen](/source/Ladies_Should_Listen)'' (1934) - Anna Mirelle
* ''[Forsaking All Others](/source/Forsaking_All_Others)'' (1934) - Connie Barnes Todd
* ''[Transient Lady](/source/Transient_Lady)'' (1935) - Dale Cameron
* ''[Les Miserables](/source/Les_Miserables_(1935_film))'' (1935) - [Eponine](/source/Eponine)
* ''[Mad Love](/source/Mad_Love_(1935_film))'' (1935) - Yvonne Orlac
* ''[Without Regret](/source/Without_Regret_(film))'' (1935) - Mona Gould
* ''[The Invisible Ray](/source/The_Invisible_Ray_(1936_film))'' (1936) - Diana Rukh
* ''[The Preview Murder Mystery](/source/The_Preview_Murder_Mystery)'' (1936) - Peggy Madison
* ''[Florida Special](/source/Florida_Special)'' (1936) - Marina Landon
* ''[And Sudden Death](/source/And_Sudden_Death)'' (1936) - Betty Winslow
* ''[I'd Give My Life](/source/I'd_Give_My_Life)'' (1936) - Mary Reyburn
* ''[Midnight Taxi](/source/Midnight_Taxi_(1937_film))'' (1937) - Gilda Lee
* ''[You Can't Have Everything](/source/You_Can't_Have_Everything)'' (1937) - Pamela Beaumont
* ''[She Married an Artist](/source/She_Married_an_Artist)'' (1937) - Sally Dennis
* ''[Love Under Fire](/source/Love_Under_Fire)'' (1937)
* ''[There's Always a Woman](/source/There's_Always_a_Woman)'' (1938) - Anne Calhoun
* ''[The Lone Wolf in Paris](/source/The_Lone_Wolf_in_Paris)'' (1938) - Princess Thania of Arvonne
* ''[It's a Wonderful World](/source/It's_a_Wonderful_World_(1939_film))'' (1939) - Vivian Tarbel
* ''[I Take This Woman](/source/I_Take_This_Woman_(1940_film))'' (1940) - Lola Estermont
* ''[The Affairs of Martha](/source/The_Affairs_of_Martha)'' (1942) - Sylvia Norwood (final film role)
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{Portal|Biography}}

* {{IMDb name}}
* {{Find a Grave}}
* [http://film.virtual-history.com/person.php?personid=308 Photographs of Frances Drake]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drake, Frances}}
Category:Actresses from New York City
Category:American film actresses
Category:Actresses from Orange County, California
Category:1912 births
Category:2000 deaths
Category:Burials at Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Category:Howard family (English aristocracy)
Category:20th-century American actresses
Category:Havergal College alumni

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Frances Drake](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Drake) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Drake?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.