Frances Dee

Frances Dee
from the film Becky Sharp (1935)
Born	Frances Marion Dee November 26, 1909 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Died	March 6, 2004 (aged 94) Norwalk, Connecticut. U.S.
Years active	1930–2004
Spouse(s)	Joel McCrea (1933–1990) his death
Children	Jody McCrea (1934–2009) David McCrea (b. 1935) Peter McCrea (b. 1955)

Frances Marion Dee (November 26, 1909 – March 6, 2004) was an American actress. She starred opposite Maurice Chevalier in the early talkie musical, Playboy of Paris (1930). She starred in the film An American Tragedy (1931) in a role later recreated by Elizabeth Taylor in the 1951 retitled remake, A Place in the Sun.

Early life

The younger daughter of Francis "Frank" Marion Dee and his wife, the former Henriette Putnam, Frances Marion Dee was born in Los Angeles, California, where her father was working as a civil-service examiner.^[1][2]

When Dee was 7 years old,^[3] her family moved to Chicago, Illinois.^[4] She attended Shakespeare Grammar School and Hyde Park High School, where she went by the nickname of Frankie Dee.

After graduating from Hyde Park High in 1927, of which she was vice president of her senior class, as well as voted Belle of the Year, she spent two years at the University of Chicago, where she participated in dramatic activities,^[4] before returning to California.

Career

Following her sophomore year in 1929, she went on summer vacation with her mother and older sister to visit family in the Los Angeles, California area. She began working as a movie extra as a lark. Her big break came when, still an extra, she was offered the lead opposite Maurice Chevalier in Playboy of Paris.

The audience appeal established in two films opposite Paramount stars Charles "Buddy" Rogers and Richard Arlen, led to the co-starring role as Sondra Finchley, opposite Phillips Holmes and Sylvia Sidney, in Paramount Pictures's prestigious, and controversial, production of An American Tragedy, directed by Josef von Sternberg.

Dee's additional screen credits included June Moon, Little Women, Of Human Bondage, Becky Sharp, and Payment on Demand. She co-starred with her husband Joel McCrea in the Western Four Faces West (1948).

Married life

Dee met actor Joel McCrea on the set of the 1933 film The Silver Cord.^[4] The attractive couple married on October 20, 1933, after a whirlwind courtship, and remained married until McCrea's death in 1990. During their lifetime together, the McCreas lived, raised their children, and rode their horses on their ranch in what was then an unincorporated area of eastern Ventura County, California. They ultimately donated several hundred acres of their personal property to the newly formed Conejo Valley YMCA for the city of Thousand Oaks, California, both of which celebrated their 40th anniversaries in 2004.

Joel McCrea died on their 57th wedding anniversary. Their three sons, including the actor Jody McCrea, and many grandchildren, also survived McCrea. But in 2004, Frances Dee McCrea died in Norwalk, Connecticut due to complications from a stroke at the age of 94. Jody McCrea died in 2009.

Partial filmography

Year	Title	Role
1930	Playboy of Paris	Yvonne Phillbert
1931	An American Tragedy	Sondra Flinchley
1932	Love Is a Racket	Mary Wodehouse
	This Reckless Age	Lois Ingals
	If I Had a Million	Mary Wallace
1933	The Crime of the Century
	Little Women	Margaret "Meg" March
	Blood Money	Elaine Talbart
	One Man's Journey	Joan Stockton
	Headline Shooter	Jane Mallory
1934	Finishing School	Virginia Radcliff
	Of Human Bondage	Sally Altheny
1935	Becky Sharp	Amelia Sedley
	The Gay Deception	Mirabel Miller
1937	Souls at Sea	Magaret Terryton
	Wells Fargo	Justine Pryor MacKay
1938	If I Were King	Katherine de Vaucelles
1939	Coast Guard	Nancy Bliss
1941	A Man Betrayed	Sabra Cameron
1943	I Walked With a Zombie	Betsy Conell
	Happy Land	Agnes March
1945	Patrick the Great	Lynn Andrews
1947	The Private Affairs of Bel Ami	Marie de Verenne
1948	Four Faces West	Fay Hollister
1951	Payment on Demand	Eileen Banson
1953	Mister Scoutmaster	Helen
2006	Far as the Eye Can See	(short)

References

1. Her birth name is given as Frances Marion Dee in the California Birth Index, 1905-1995, accessed via ancestry.com on January 13, 2011
2. Frank Dee's occupation is given in the 1910 U. S. Federal Census for Los Angeles, California, in which he is listed with his wife, Henriette, and daughters Margaret and Frances. In the 1920 U. S. Federal Census for Chicago, Illinois, Frank Dee is listed as an employment manager at a packing company. In the 1930 U. S. Federal Census for Indianapolis, Indiana, he was living as a lodger in a boarding house and working as a secretary at a public utility. All census records accessed on ancestry.com on January 13, 2011.
3. Soanes, Wood (June 17, 1934). "Frances Dee and Joel McCrea See Future Felicity and Freedom Upon Ranch When Studios Begin to Pall". California, Oakland. Oakland Tribune. p. 39. Retrieved March 19, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
4. Bowers, Emilie (March 3, 1935). "Charming Frances Dee". California, Oakland. Oakland Tribune. p. 59. Retrieved March 19, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.

External links

• Frances Dee at the Internet Movie Database
• Frances Dee at the Internet Broadway Database
  
• Frances Dee Biography and obituary
• Photographs of Frances Dee
• Frances Dee at Find a Grave