Arlene Francis

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Arlene Francis (born Arline Francis Kazanjian October 20, 1907 - May 31, 2001) was an American actress of Armenian descent. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, she is probably best known for her long-standing role as a panelist on the television game show "What's My Line?"

Career

Arlene Francis had a broad and varied career as an entertainer. She was an accomplished actress with 25 Broadway plays to her credit, from La Gringa in 1928 to Don't Call Back in 1975. She also performed in many local theatre and off-Broadway plays.

Arlene was also a well known New York radio personality, having hosted several radio shows until her diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease in the 1980s.

She is perhaps best known as a panelist on the long-running game show "What's My Line?," which aired on CBS from 1950 to 1967 and was later revived as a syndicated show. She joined the show on its second episode in 1950 and remained until the end of the syndicated version of the program in 1975. She was the only member of the original show to appear in the syndicated version. She brought a mixture of warmth, poise, sophistication, theater glamor, and humor, including well-timed puns (usually to better response than those of fellow panelist Bennett Cerf). She offered affectionate words to celebrity guests she knew and/or respected, and genuine curiosity about the more interesting and unique guests' occupations. The show's announcer typically introduced her as "the delightful star of stage and television."

She also appeared on many other game shows, including "Match Game," "Password" and other programs produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman. The cable network GSN currently airs "What's My Line?" in the early morning, as well as episodes of other game shows in which she appears.

Arlene was a pioneer for women on television. She hosted the "Home" show for NBC in the early 1950s, a morning show on topics of interest to women, she later hosted "Talent Patrol" in the mid 1950s. Arlene was one of the first women to host a non musical or dramatic program.

Arlene also acted in several films in her career, including "One Two Three" (1961), which co-starred James Cagney and the television version of the play "Laura" (1968), which she had played on stage several times. Her film debut was as a prostitute in "Murders in the Rue Morgue" in 1932; her final film was "Fedora" in 1978.

Arlene wrote an autobiography in 1978 entitled "Arlene Francis: A Memoir." She also wrote "That Certain Something: The Magic of Charm" in 1960 and an entertaining book/cookbook, "No Time for Cooking", in 1961.

She died on May 31, 2001 in San Francisco, California at the age of 93 after a long bout with Alzheimer's disease and cancer.

Trivia

• It was on the NBC "Home" Show in 1956 that Arlene Francis first introduced the now legendary Eames Lounge Chair and its matching ottoman (its official title is the Eames Lounge (671) and Ottoman (672)) to the American public.
• In 1960 a dumbbell she was using to prop open a window in her Manhattan apartment slipped and fell eight stories onto a Detroit tourist who was in New York celebrating his 60th birthday, killing him.[IMBD]
• According to Francis's obituary in the L.A. Times (June 2, 2001), in 1963 she was driving on a rain-swept highway, when she collided with another car, killing the other driver. She suffered a concussion and a fractured shoulder. During her recuperation, Francis missed several weeks of "What's My Line?" broadcasts. Upon her return, she gamely wore outfits sporting cloaks and large scarves to camoflage her arm which appeared to be in a sling.

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