Hollywood Actresses that Time Forgot: Kay Francis

It is a sad tragedy that 90% of moviegoers today don't care about seeing 90% of the greatest films ever made. Well, what can you expect when the Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean trilogies witness movie theaters packed to the gills and in some cases even manage to trick the morons in the Academy that they are deserving of Oscars. Whereas almost everyone in America today knows Angelina Jolie, a precious few know the names of actresses like Una Merkel, Jean Harlow, and Ella Raines, any one of whom could act rings around Jolie without even getting out of bed. One of the biggest stars in Hollywood is nearly totally forgotten now because the majority of so-called film fans have taken their lead from George W. Bush: avoid learning any history at all cost.

Kay Francis was for a time, during the early to mid 1930s, the Queen of Warner Brothers. No other female star enjoyed the stature granted to Francis, who had infamously jumped from Paramount to Warners on the basis of a lucrative contract that promised her meatier roles. The success of Kay Francis during the transition from silent movies to talkies is a bit ironic. Remember what Norma Desmond said about silent movie stars in Sunset Blvd: We had faces! Well, Kay Francis had a face made for silent movies. She was a striking woman, nowhere near beautiful but attractive enough. (Kind of like Angelina Jolie!) She had enormous almond-shaped eyes that seemed almost lit from within, drawing the spectator in. They say that the eyes are the window to the soul and every great actor truly believes that. Kay Francis was an early Hollywood superstar who fully believed and exploited that fact. She could have been a legend as a silent movie actress. Lending further irony to the fact that she was actually the first Hollywood superstar of the sound ear for Warner Brothers was the fact that she had a quite noticeable speech impediment.