Jan Francis
| Jan Francis | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Janet Stephanie Francis 5 August 1947 Westminster, London, England |
| Spouse(s) | Martin Thurley (1 August 1977 to date) |
| Children | two daughters |
Jan Francis (born 5 August 1947) is an English actress, best known for playing Penny Warrender in the 1980s romantic comedy Just Good Friends.
Francis was born at the former Charing Cross Hospital near Trafalgar Square, London. She is the eldest child of Frank Francis, a clerical officer with the Agricultural Society, and Marjorie (née Watling), an employment agent, who were married in 1944. She was raised in Streatham and was educated at the Lady Edridge Grammar School.
After training as a dancer at the Royal Ballet Senior School from which she graduated in 1965, Francis performed with the Royal Ballet Touring Company in Britain, in the rest of Europe and the United States. She left the Royal Ballet in September 1969 to pursue an acting career.
She made the transfer to becoming an actress through choreography, and performed with the Cheltenham Repertory Company between 1969 and 1970. She first appeared on television in 1971, before landing BBC Television drama roles including Kschessinska in Fall of Eagles and Lisa Colbert in Secret Army (1977–78).
In 1979 she starred in Dracula as Mina Van Helsing, opposite Laurence Olivier as Abraham Van Helsing.
She played the part of Susie Dean in Alan Plater's adaptation of the J. B. Priestley novel The Good Companions (1980) which was produced by Yorkshire Television. Writer John Sullivan met Francis and later created her best-known part – Penny Warrender in the 1980s BBC sitcom Just Good Friends.
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