Frances Gifford
| Frances Gifford | |
|---|---|
in a color publicity still
|
|
| Born |
Mary Frances Gifford December 7, 1920 Long Beach, California, U.S. |
| Died | January 22, 1994 (aged 73) Pasadena, California, U.S. |
| Cause of death | emphysema |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1937-1954 |
| Spouse(s) |
James Dunn (m.1938-1942; divorced) |
Mary Frances Gifford (December 7, 1920 - January 22, 1994) was an American actress who played leads and supporting roles in many 1930s and 1940s movies.
Gifford was born and raised in Long Beach, California and at the age of 16 had applied to UCLA School of Law with no intention of pursuing an acting career. With a friend, she visited the studios of Samuel Goldwyn to watch a film being made and while there was spotted by a talent scout who brought her to the attention of Goldwyn, who signed her to an acting contract.
After only receiving minor roles, Gifford moved to RKO where she was cast in several uncredited supporting roles in films of the late 1930s, including Stage Door (1937) starring Katharine Hepburn and Ginger Rogers.
In 1938, at the age of 18, Gifford married character actor James Dunn and in 1939 landed her first leading role, in the low-budget Mercy Plane, opposite her husband. A planned retirement was interrupted briefly when she played another uncredited role in James Stewart's break-out film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939).
Gifford played several more minor roles before she was, in 1941, loaned to Republic Pictures and cast in the role which would arguably produce her most enduring fame: as the semi-clad Nyoka in Jungle Girl, a 15-chapter movie serial, based very loosely on the novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs. The role was the first time since Pearl White in the silent era that an actress had played the lead in the movie serial genre.
The following year, Republic made a sequel Perils of Nyoka but Gifford was no longer available and the heroine's part was played by Kay Aldridge. In the Walt Disney feature The Reluctant Dragon (1941), Gifford had a leading role as Doris, a studio artist.
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