Frances Drake was an American actress, is best-known for playing Eponine in Les Misérables. Born in New York City, she was educated in Canada and Britain, and was appearing as a nightclub dancer in London when she made her first film appearances under her birth name of Frances Dean, including Meet My Sister and The Jewel. Returning to America in 1934, she began coaching with opera singer and actress Marguerite Namara.
On February 12, 1939, she married the Hon. Cecil Howard, second son of Henry Howard, 19th Earl of Suffolk, and shortly after retired from the screen. After Howard’s death in 1985, she remarried to David Brown in 1992; he died in 2000.
Born in New York and educated in Canada and England, she started out as a nightclub dancer in London, where she made her screen debut in Meet My Sister (1933) under her real name of Frances Dean. She went to Hollywood in 1934, having gained a Paramount contract, starting with a dancing role in Bolero, which starred George Raft and Carole Lombard.
Paramount failed to use her well, and it was while she was on loan to MGM that she made Mad Love. Also at MGM, she played Joan Crawford's witty rival for Robert Montgomery in Forsaking All Others (1935). In the same year, she was touching as Eponine in the oft-filmed Les Misérables, with Fredric March as Jean Valjean. This was followed by another role as a beauty in The Invisible Ray (1936) at Universal. This time Boris Karloff is the mad scientist - he learns that, as a result of an experiment with radium X, he can kill with a touch and Drake, as his wife, almost falls victim.
Then it was back to starring in second-feature films such as I'd Give My Life (1936), as the mother of a young hood; and The Lone Wolf in Paris (1938), as a princess who employs the gentleman thief hero (Francis Lederer) to steal back her stolen jewels.
In 1939, Drake married Cecil John Howard, the second son of the 19th Earl of Suffolk and, after small parts in two more films, I Take This Woman and The Affairs of Martha, she retired because "my husband hated the movie business", although they continued to live in Beverly Hills. In 1992, seven years after Howard's death, she married David Brown, who survives her.
Frances Drake, film actress, born October 22 1908; died January 17 2000
Frances Drake
Frances Drake, a leading lady of the 1930s and '40s who was one of that era's great brunet beauties of film, has died.
A longtime resident of Beverly Hills, Drake died Monday at Irvine Medical Center, said her husband, David Brown. She was 91.
Known for her striking looks and huge hazel eyes, Drake appeared in more than 20 movies with some of her generation's biggest stars, including Joan Crawford, Clark Gable and Cary Grant.
Born in New York and educated in Canada and England, she started out as a nightclub dancer in London, where she made both her stage and screen debuts under her real name, Frances Dean.
She moved to Hollywood in 1934 and appeared in many productions, beginning with "Bolero," in which she starred opposite George Raft and Carole Lombard. That was followed by "Ladies Should Listen" with Cary Grant and "Les Miserables" with Fredric March and Charles Laughton.
She was best remembered as the terrified heroine in horror and mystery films. In "Mad Love," released in 1935, she was the love interest of mad scientist Peter Lorre, who cut off her pianist-husband's hand in a disastrous operation. She also starred in a 1936 production called "The Invisible Ray," with Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi, in which Drake played scientist Karloff's long-suffering wife.
Her last movies included "I Take This Woman," a 1940 release with Spencer Tracy and Hedy Lamarr, and "The Affairs of Martha" in 1942. She said she retired after marrying Cecil John Howard, the son of the 19th earl of Suffolk, because her husband hated the movie business. Howard died in 1985. Drake married Brown in 1992.
A memorial service will be held Wednesday at 2 p.m. at Hollywood United Methodist Church, 6817 Franklin Ave.