Frances Grant

Frances Grant
Frances Grant, 1937
Born	Stella Fortier (1909-02-15)February 15, 1909 Roxbury, Massachusetts, USA
Died	February 20, 1982(1982-02-20) (aged 73) Lexington, Massachusetts, USA
Occupation	Actress, dancer

Frances Grant (February 15, 1909 – February 20, 1982) was an American movie actress and dancer. She appeared as the leading lady of Gene Autry in Red River Valley (1936) and Oh, Susanna! (1936) and other b-films.

According to the US Censuses for 1920, 1930 and 1940, Frances Grant was born in 1911 in Colorado, to Fannie Hale Grant and Ernest V. Grant, a mining engineer, and was their only child. They had moved to Los Angeles, California, by 1920 (where the census identifies her as "Donna" Grant), at which time she was already a dancer. In the early 1930s, she became the dancing partner of Hal Le Roy in the Ziegfeld Follies. In 1934, she began her film career with uncredited roles as a dancer in the Kentucky Kernels (1934) and The Nitwits (1935).

Grant appeared in her first major film role in the 1935 Western film Thunder Mountain opposite George O'Brien. In the following year she appeared as the leading lady of Gene Autry in Red River Valley (1936) and Oh, Susanna! (1936). In the latter film, Grant sings a duet with Autry on the song "Water Wheel" with Autry accompanying them on guitar. That same year she had leading roles in Born to Fight with Frankie Darro, The Traitor with Tim McCoy, and Cavalry opposite Bob Steele.

Grant's last leading role was in Rich Relations (1937). She appeared in three additional films as a dancer uncredited. In the 1940s and 1950s, Grant worked as a dance director in films such as Masquerade in Mexico (1945), Mrs. Mike (1949), and Fancy Pants (1950).