Frances Drake


Actor
Frances Drake

About

Also Known As
Frances Dean
Birth Place
New York City, New York, USA
Born
October 22, 1908
Died
January 17, 2000

Photos & Videos

Family & Companions

Cecil John Howard
Husband
Son of Earl of Suffolk; married c. 1939 until his death in 1985.
David Brown
Husband
Married from 1992 until her death.

Biography

Life Events

1933

First role on London stage; billed as Frances Dean

1933

British film acting debut; billed as Frances Dean

1934

First Hollywood film role, "Bolero"

1935

Co-starred with Charles Laughton in "Les Miserables"

1935

Had arguably best screen role in "Mad Love", opposite Peter Lorre

1936

Cast as Boris Karloff's wife in "The Invisible Ray"

1942

Final film, "The Affairs of Martha"

Photo Collections

Mad Love - Behind-the-Scenes Photos
Mad Love - Behind-the-Scenes Photos
Mad Love - Lobby Cards
Mad Love - Lobby Cards

Videos

Movie Clip

There's Always A Woman (1938) -- (Movie Clip) Go On With Your Quarrelling Bill (Melvyn Douglas), who doesn't know his wife Sally (Joan Blondell) has taken a case for his detective agency he thinks he just shut down, tries to keep up as she tracks the dinner party of her client (Mary Astor), in There's Always A Woman, 1938.
Mad Love (1935) -- (Movie Clip) I'd Gladly Give My Own Two Hands Paris surgeon Gogol (Peter Lorre), who is thus far not sinister, only obsessed with actress Yvonne (Frances Drake), concludes he cannot save her injured pianist husband’s hands, then remembers, without telling her, the ones left over from the execution he just witnessed, in Mad Love, 1935.
Mad Love (1935) -- (Movie Clip) She's Only Wax Opening in which we meet Frances Drake as Mme. Yvonne Orlac, before her last performance at a Paris horror theater, and Peter Lorre as Dr. Gogol, a big fan, visiting her wax likeness at the museum next door, in MGM’s version of Maurice Renard’s Hands Of Orlac, Mad Love, 1935.
Mad Love (1935) -- (Movie Clip) Not Death But Love Ever nuttier Dr. Gogol (Peter Lorre) is communing with his stolen wax statue of his beloved Madame Orlac (Frances Drake), then we join her and pianist husband (Colin Clive), whose hands the doctor saved by secretly replacing them with those of an executed murderer, in Mad Love, 1935.
Mad Love (1935) -- (Movie Clip) I Must See You Again Doctor Gogol (Peter Lorre), famous surgeon and leading patron of a Paris horror theater, is thrilled to meet his favorite actress Madame Orlac (Frances Drake) then crushed to learn she's married, and leaving town in Mad Love, 1935.

Companions

Cecil John Howard
Husband
Son of Earl of Suffolk; married c. 1939 until his death in 1985.
David Brown
Husband
Married from 1992 until her death.

Bibliography