Noel Francis

Personal Info

Known For

Acting

Known Credits

0.4987

Gender

Female

Birthday

31-Aug-1906

Age

(120 years old)

Place of Birth

Temple, Texas, USA

Also Known As
  • Noel Frances Sweeney
  • Noel Frances

Noel Francis

Biography

Noel Francis was born in Temple, Texas in 1906. By age 20 she was appearing in the Ziegfeld Follies, working opposite the comedy team of Wheeler and Woolsey. Eventually Fox scouts noticed her and in 1929 she was signed to a Hollywood contract. Because of her Follies background, Fox intended to develop Noel as a musical and dance star. Unfortunately, musicals were on the wane at the time (they did rebound) and her contract was dropped. Luckily, she was picked up by Warner Brothers, and featured in a number of films that had her portraying the tough talking, sassy female connected to gangsters, convicts, and other underworld types, so popular with the movie going public then and now. Noel was rarely given the lead female role, though she worked near the top with some of the era's best actors in films that included Smart Money (1931), in which she is a scheming blonde helping Edward G. Robinson lose his money, and Blonde Crazy (1931), where her target is James Cagney. Her most noted performance was in I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang (1932), working with Paul Muni in one of his strongest performances. However, perhaps because of being typecast, she found herself in "B" productions after 1932, though one was as the lead female, in Mayfair Picture Corporation's 1934 What's Your Racket?, opposite Regis Toomey. Needing work, Noel returned to Broadway, but couldn't resume her career there, and returned to Hollywood to make three final films with Buck Jones, including Stone of Silver Creek (1935), in which she used her Broadway musical expertise to play a saloon singer. Between 1929 and 1937 Noel made 47 films. She died October 30, 1959 in Los Angeles, California.


Credits

Flames Flames (1932) Character: Pat
Brown is a confident young firefighter. He and his buddy become interested in two girls, after saving their cat. He then fights a fire in the apartment building next door to his new girlfriend.
What's Your Racket What's Your Racket (1934) Character: Mae Cosgrove
Mae Cosgrove, a nightclub hostess, carries out a robbery on the safe of a gangster's palatial home.
Fifteen Wives Fifteen Wives (1934) Character: Ruby Cotton
Shortly after his arrival from South America to New York, Steven Humbolt is found dead in his apartment at the Savoia Hotel. Inspector Decker Dawes investigates the case and although the cause of death is described as apoplexy, Dawes is convinced it as murder, especially after he learns that Humbolt had been married fifteen times.
The Line-Up The Line-Up (1934) Character: Mabel Martin
Bob Curtis (William Gargan), the youngest member of the New York City plain-clothes squad, is assigned to help Detective-Sergeant Doyle (Paul Hurst) uncover the people behind a number of fur robberies. Peggy Arnold (Marian Nixon), a beautiful girl, comes under suspicion, but Bob, convinced of her innocence, adopts a desperate plan to clear her and round up the real criminals.
Bachelor Apartment Bachelor Apartment (1931) Character: Janet
A New York playboy, Wayne Carter, dates wild women until he falls for a hard-working stenographer, Helene Andrews.
Up the River Up the River (1930) Character: Sophie (uncredited)
Daily life at men and women's prison units where baseball and the marching band are serious business. Two prisoners escape in order to help paroled Steve from being blackmailed by his girlfriend's ex-partner-in-crime.
Strictly Dynamite Strictly Dynamite (1934) Character: Lady Waiting in Georgie's Lobby (uncredited)
A failed poet ends up becoming a gag writer for a bombastic comedian.
Stone of Silver Creek Stone of Silver Creek (1935) Character: Lola
In perhaps the most tranquil B-Western of the 1930s, Buck Jones, who also produced, plays the tough but goodhearted proprietor of the Bonanza, the only gambling establishment in otherwise God-fearing Silver Creek. Noel Francis, who used to play blonde schemers in Warner Bros. gangster films, earns second billing as the casino's equally goodhearted chanteuse.
Smart Money Smart Money (1931) Character: Marie
Two brothers' trip to the big city to do a little gambling results in a fateful turn of events.
Rough Romance Rough Romance (1930) Character: Flossie
Love and logging in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon.
The Mouthpiece The Mouthpiece (1932) Character: Miss DeVere
A prosecutor quits his job and becomes a defense attorney when he finds out that a man he got convicted and executed was actually innocent.
Mutiny Ahead Mutiny Ahead (1935) Character: Mimi
A wealthy playboy winds up getting himself involved with mobsters and a search for buried treasure.
Good Dame Good Dame (1934) Character: Puff Warner
A chorus girl gets stranded in a small midwestern town. Against her better judgement, she hooks up with a smooth-talking con artist who says he can help her get out of town.
Hold Me Tight Hold Me Tight (1933) Character: Trudie Holmes
Newly married sweethearts Chuck Evans and Molly Roberts work at Blair's Department Store and Molly plans to quit to be a stay-at-home wife and mother. But Chuck unexpectedly and unfairly gets fired so Molly stays on. She catches the eye of Dolan, the crooked store detective, and he makes a play for her, trying to make Chuck, who is still unemployed, small in her eyes. Meanwhile, Dolan puts into action his plan to steal the store's fur coats by hiring his girlfriend, Trudie Holmes, and Molly to do a sham inventory one night, then hires Chuck to unwittingly drive the contraband away. Dolan arranges with his mugs for Chuck to be the fall guy if anything goes wrong. Molly & Chuck become suspicious and manage to foil the robbery. Blair appoints Chuck the head of the shipping department and the young couple see a bright future ahead.
The White Cockatoo The White Cockatoo (1935) Character: Elise
In a spooky hotel on the coast of France, two bands of crooks are working independently of the other in an attempt to steal the inherited fortune of an American girl, Sue Tally. Along the way the heiress is kidnapped, three murders are committed, a girl appears in two places at once, mysterious persons roam about the old hotel at night and mysteriously disappear, and there is a hidden room without any doors.
So Big! So Big! (1932) Character: Mabel
A farmer's widow takes on the land and her late husband's tempestuous son.
Bureau of Missing Persons Bureau of Missing Persons (1933) Character: Alice Crane
Butch Saunders has been transferred to Missing Persons because he was too brutal in other police work...
Manhattan Tower Manhattan Tower (1932) Character: Marge Lyon
The lives of the residents of a Manhattan apartment building are intertwined with the actions of a crooked investor.
New Movietone Follies of 1930 New Movietone Follies of 1930 (1930) Character: Gloria de Witt
Minimum plot. Maximum stars of early cinema. Rich young Conrad Sterling (William Collier Jr.) is in love with struggling actress Mary Mason (Miriam Seeger). To prove his love, he hires Mary and the entire company of the show in which she is appearing to entertain his weekend guests at his lavish mansion.
Under-Cover Man Under-Cover Man (1932) Character: Connie
When his father is murdered, erstwhile conman Nick Darrow asks the cops if he can go undercover to find the killers, and maybe even stop a crime ring that has been plaguing the police. The sister of another innocent victim joins him as they infiltrate the syndicate. Any wrong move could lead to instant death.
Smart Woman Smart Woman (1931) Character: Peggy Preston
A society man's loving, devoted wife, upon learning that he has been unfaithful and is planning to leave her for the other woman, strategically pretends to be having an affair of her own. The woman's friends gladly assist in the deception.
Sudden Bill Dorn Sudden Bill Dorn (1937) Character: Lorna Kent
Bundy has found gold on the Kent ranch but directs everyone to Ghost Town as he tries to take over the ranch. But Bill and Kent's niece Lorna have taken possession. When it appears Bundy is attracted to Lorna, his jealous girl friend has men destroy the ranch and the explosion helps uncover the gold vein.
Blonde Crazy Blonde Crazy (1931) Character: Helen Wilson
The adventures of a cocky con man and his beautiful accomplice.
Only Yesterday Only Yesterday (1933) Character: Letitia
On the back of the Wall Street Crash of 1929, a young businessman is about to commit suicide. With a note to his wife scribbled down and a gun in his hand, he notices an envelope addressed to him on his desk. As he begins to read, we're taken back to World War One and his meeting with a young woman named Mary Lane.
Guilty as Hell Guilty as Hell (1932) Character: Julia Reed
Richard Arlen is the convicted murderer and Adrienne Ames his sister who believes in his innocence. We see the murder and the framing set-up at the beginning of the film, so there’s no mystery for the audience to solve. Just the pleasure of watching an intricate cat-and-mouse game, with the murderer one step ahead of his pursuers until the final, tense confrontation.
Blood Money Blood Money (1933) Character: Red's Girlfriend (uncredited)
The title refers to the business of affable, ambitious bail bondsman (and politically-connected grifter) Bill Bailey, who, in the course of his work, crosses paths with every kind of offender there is, from first-time defendants to career criminals.
Son of a Sailor Son of a Sailor (1933) Character: Queenie
A lovesick fool bumbles into espionage and finds a stolen plane.
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932) Character: Linda
A World War I veteran’s dreams of becoming a master architect evaporate in the cold light of economic realities. Things get even worse when he’s falsely convicted of a crime and sent to work on a chain gang.
Night Court Night Court (1932) Character: Lil Baker
A corrupt night court judge tears an innocent young family apart in his efforts to elude a special prosecutor.
The Important Witness The Important Witness (1933) Character: Ellen Kelly
A freelance stenographer is hired for a job, but when she arrives at the address she was given, she finds that a murder has taken place there--and she is arrested for it.
The Loudspeaker The Loudspeaker (1934) Character: Dolly
A young man from a small town hits New York City, bound and determined to become a radio star. Amazingly, he achieves his ambition, but in the process alienates everyone around him with his arrogance and egomania.
Reform Girl Reform Girl (1933) Character: Lydia Johnson
A young girl just out of prison and desperate for money finds herself involved in a plot to smear a politician by pretending to be his long-lost daughter.
Imitation of Life Imitation of Life (1934) Character: Mrs. Eden (uncredited)
A struggling widow and her daughter take in a black housekeeper and her fair-skinned daughter. The two women start a successful business but face familial, identity, and racial issues along the way.
The Expert The Expert (1932) Character: Daisy
An elderly gentleman arrives for an extended stay with his grown son in Chicago.
Ladies of the Big House Ladies of the Big House (1931) Character: Thelma
A woman tries to save her husband from the electric chair after both are sent to prison for a murder they didn't commit.
My Pal, the King My Pal, the King (1932) Character: Princess Elsa
The king of a European country, who is a child, meets the cowboy star of a traveling circus.
Havana Widows Havana Widows (1933) Character: Gladys Gable (uncredited)
Two golddiggers go fishing for millionaires in Havana.
Left-Handed Law Left-Handed Law (1937) Character: Betty Golden
An army colonel tries to bring peace to a lawless community.



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