Anne Francis was an American actress known for her ground-breaking roles in the science-fiction film Forbidden Planet (1956) and the television action-drama series Honey West (1965–1966). Forbidden Planet marked a first in color, big-budget, science-fiction-themed motion pictures. Nine years later, Francis challenged female stereotypes in Honey West, in which she played a perky blonde private investigator who was as quick with body slams as witty one-liners. She earned a Golden Globe Award and Emmy Award nomination for her performance.
Studio publicity photo from the 1950s
James Best, Laura Devon, and Anne Francis in "Jess-Belle", an episode of The Twilight Zone (1963)
Leslie Nielsen and Francis in Forbidden Planet, 1956
Forbidden Planet is a 1956 American science fiction film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, produced by Nicholas Nayfack, and directed by Fred M. Wilcox from a script by Cyril Hume that was based on an original film story by Allen Adler and Irving Block. It stars Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, and Leslie Nielsen. Shot in Eastmancolor and CinemaScope, it is considered one of the great science fiction films of the 1950s, a precursor of contemporary science fiction cinema. The characters and isolated setting have been compared to those in William Shakespeare's The Tempest, and the plot contains certain happenings analogous to the play, leading many to consider it a loose adaptation.
Theatrical release poster
Leslie Nielsen and Anne Francis in Forbidden Planet
Drive-in advertisement from 1956
Warren Stevens (Doc Ostrow), Richard Anderson (Chief Quinn), and Earl Holliman (Cookie) at San Diego's Comic-Con International, July 2006.