Arlene Francis
| Arlene Francis | |
|---|---|
Arlene Francis in 1958
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| Born |
Arlene Francis Kazanjian October 20, 1907 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | May 31, 2001 (aged 93) San Francisco, California, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Alzheimer's disease and cancer |
| Resting place | Roosevelt Memorial Park Trevose, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Finch College |
| Occupation | Actress, radio presenter, television personality |
| Years active | 1928–91 |
| Spouse(s) |
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| Children | Peter Gabel |
Arlene Francis (born Arline Francis Kazanjian; October 20, 1907 – May 31, 2001) was an American actress, radio and television talk show host, and game show panelist. She is known for her long-standing role as a panelist on the television game show What's My Line?, on which she regularly appeared for 25 years, from 1950 through the mid-1970s, on both the network and syndicated versions of the show.
Francis was born on October 20, 1907, in Boston, Massachusetts, the daughter of Leah (née Davis) and Aram Kazanjian. Her Armenian father was studying art in Paris at the age of 16 when he learned that both his parents had died in one of the Hamidian massacres perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire in Anatolia between 1894 and 1896. He emigrated to the United States and became a portrait photographer, opening his own studio in Boston in the early 20th century. Later in life, Kazanjian painted canvases of dogwoods, "rabbits in flight", and other nature scenes, selling them at auction in New York.
When Francis was seven years old, her father decided that opportunities were greater in New York and moved the family to a flat in Washington Heights, Manhattan. She remained a New Yorker until she entered a San Francisco nursing home in 1995.
After attending Finch College, Francis began a varied career as an entertainer based in New York City. She became an accomplished stage actress, performing in many local theatre and off-Broadway plays, and compiling 25 Broadway plays to her credit through 1975. In 1932, she made her film debut in Universal's Murders in the Rue Morgue. She appeared in films sporadically until the 1970s.
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