Star of TV show HONEY WEST and sci-fi classic FORBIDDEN PLANET, ANNE FRANCIS is gone at age 80.
The blonde beauty who made her mark in 1950s films and TV shows died from complications associated with pancreatic cancer after beating lung cancer, The Los Angeles Times reported.
Anne, who maintained a fairly active website devoted to fans and memorabilia, died at a Santa Barbara retirement home with friends and family by her side.
Anne, who grew from child star to cult fave, appeared in over 30 movies including Bad Day at Black Rock with Spencer Tracy, Blackboard Jungle, Rogue Cop with Robert Taylor and Funny Girl with Barbara Streisand.
Among her many TV appearances, Anne gave a memorable turn on The Twilight Zone in an ep where she played a mannequin come to life.
But on TV Anne is best remembered for her role in the private eye series of Honey West, a landmark in during the TV era of housewives, as the independent, take-charge Honey West was often cited as role model for young baby-boomer women.
"She was probably the forerunner of what we would call the good aspects of female independence," Anne said in an interview.
"Producers and writers I work with, young women in their 30s and 40s, tell me all the time, ‘You have no idea what an influence you had on me with Honey West. You showed that I could do something unusual with my life, that I could have my freedom and not be dependent on another human being for my livelihood.’
Francis won a Golden Globe as best female TV star and received an Emmy nomination for her portrayal of Honey West.
The Aaron Spelling show wasn’t picked up for a 2nd season in 1966 when ABC decided to import The Avengers from the UK with Diana Rigg as Emma Peel for far less cost.
Born Sept. 16, 1930 in Ossining, NY, Anne’s family moved to New York City, where she was promptly signed by the John Robert Powers modeling agency.
Appearing as a child star on radio shows Let’s Pretend and Coast-to-Coast on a Bus, she then moved on to radio soaps.
In 1941, she made her B’way debut, playing Gertrude Lawrence as a child, in Lady in the Dark.
Anne first arrived in Hollywood in 1946.
After playing a teenage prostitute who had a baby sentenced to a girl’s reform school in So Young, So Bad, a 1950 movie drama, Anne was signed to a contract at 20th Century Fox.
Later, under contract to MGM, Anne co-starred in Forbidden Planet, with the late Leslie Nielsen and Walter Pidgeon. The movie was a big-budget, box-office smash that received an Oscar nom for special effects.
Forbidden Planet catapulted sci-fi films from the B-movie scrap heap, paving the way for 2001: A Space Odyssey a decade later.
Anne played Altaira, the alluring mini-skirted daughter of the mad scientist Morbius (Walter Pidgeon) — the soul survivors of a failed expedition to the super-advanced world of the Krell.
"I got that part because I was under contract to MGM and I had good legs," Anne divulged.
"I don’t think that any of us really were aware of the fact that it was going to turn into a longtime cult film, probably much, much stronger today than it was then.
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"Forbidden Planet just had a life of its own, something that none of us was aware was going to happen."
Anne’s Altaira will live forever in the hearts of all those who came under her spell.
Farewell, my lovely...
