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Personal Info

Known For

Acting

Known Credits

36

Gender

Female

Birthday

1906-08-31

Day of Death

1959-10-30 (53 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.

Known For

Acting

Blonde Crazy

1931

Blonde Crazy

as

Helen Wilson

Smart Money

1931

Smart Money

as

Marie

Sudden Bill Dorn

1937

Sudden Bill Dorn

as

Lorna Kent

The Mouthpiece

1932

The Mouthpiece

as

Miss DeVere

Manhattan Tower

1932

Manhattan Tower

as

Marge Lyon

Smart Woman

1931

Smart Woman

as

Peggy Preston

Good Dame

1934

Good Dame

as

Puff Warner

New Movietone Follies of 1930

1930

New Movietone Follies of 1930

as

Gloria de Witt

The Important Witness

1933

The Important Witness

as

Ellen Kelly

Rough Romance

1930

Rough Romance

as

Flossie

Guilty as Hell

1932

Guilty as Hell

as

Julia Reed

So Big!

1932

So Big!

as

Mabel

Fifteen Wives

1934

Fifteen Wives

as

Ruby Cotton

Only Yesterday

1933

Only Yesterday

as

Letitia

My Pal, the King

1932

My Pal, the King

as

Princess Elsa

Havana Widows

1933

Havana Widows

as

Gladys Gable (uncredited)

The Expert

1932

The Expert

as

Daisy

Night Court

1932

Night Court

as

Lil Baker

Under-Cover Man

1932

Under-Cover Man

as

Connie

Son of a Sailor

1933

Son of a Sailor

as

Queenie

Blood Money

1933

Blood Money

as

Red's Girlfriend (uncredited)

The Loudspeaker

1934

The Loudspeaker

as

Dolly

Bureau of Missing Persons

1933

Bureau of Missing Persons

as

Alice Crane

Left-Handed Law

1937

Left-Handed Law

as

Betty Golden

Mutiny Ahead

1935

Mutiny Ahead

as

Mimi

Imitation of Life

1934

Imitation of Life

as

Mrs. Eden (uncredited)

Up the River

1930

Up the River

as

Sophie (uncredited)

Reform Girl

1933

Reform Girl

as

Lydia Johnson

Strictly Dynamite

1934

Strictly Dynamite

as

Lady Waiting in Georgie's Lobby (uncredited)

Flames

1932

Flames

as

Pat

Hold Me Tight

1933

Hold Me Tight

as

Trudie Holmes

Production

Crew

Directing