Frances Dee
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Frances Dee (born November 26, 1909 (sources used to cite 1907 as her year of birth while she was alive); died March 6, 2004) was an actress.
She was born Frances Marion Dee in Los Angeles, California, where her Army officer father was stationed, and grew up in Chicago, Illinois, where she attended Shakespeare Grammar School and Hyde Park High School, where she went by the nickname of Frankie Dee. After graduating from Hyde Park High in 1927, of which she was Vice President of Her Senior Class, as well as voted Belle of the Year, she spent two years at University of Chicago before returning to California.
Following her sophomore year in 1929, she went on summer vacation with her mother and older sister to visit family in the Los Angeles, California area. She began working as a movie extra as a lark. Her big break came when, still an extra, she was offered the lead opposite Maurice Chevalier in Playboy of Paris. The audience appeal established in two films opposite Paramount stars Charles "Buddy" Rogers and Richard Arlen, led to the co-starring role as Sondra Finchley, opposite Phillips Holmes and Sylvia Sidney, in Paramount's prestigious, and controversial, production of An American Tragedy, directed by Josef von Sternberg. She met actor Joel McCrea on the set of the 1933 film The Silver Cord. The attractive couple married on October 20, 1933, after a whirlwind courtship and remained married until McCrea's death in 1990.
Joel McCrea died on his 57th wedding anniversary; he was survived by his wife and their three sons, including the actor Jody McCrea. His and Dee's estate was estimated at $50,000,000 (USD)
Frances Dee McCrea died in Norwalk, Connecticut due to complications from a stroke at the age of 94.
External links
- [Frances Dee] A page with bio, images and obit links about the American Actress.
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