Actor Robert Francis appeared in only four films, yet his brief career placed him alongside Hollywood legends like Humphrey Bogart and Fred MacMurray. He was just 25 years old when he died in a plane crash in 1955, months after the release of his most famous film. Born Robert Charles Francis on February 26, 1930, in Glendale, California, he was a strong student and an accomplished skier who hoped to make the U. S.
Olympic team. A talent scout spotted him at a Santa Monica beach and persuaded him to try acting. After graduating from Pasadena City College, Francis spent two years in the U. S.
Army before attending a drama workshop. His acting coach’s husband worked at Columbia Pictures and helped arrange a screen test. Columbia studio head Harry Cohn, known for keeping his actors in line, was impressed by Francis’s quiet, calm manner—a contrast to the more intense styles of contemporaries like James Dean and Marlon Brando. The screen test earned Francis a contract and a leading role in the World War II picture “The Caine Mutiny” (1954).
He played Willie Keith, an inexperienced naval officer, opposite Humphrey Bogart, Fred MacMurray, Van Johnson, and José Ferrer. The role became his most significant part. He followed with roles in“They Rode West,”“The Bamboo Prison,” and John Ford’s“The Long Gray Line. ” He received favorable reviews and consistently portrayed military characters.
Francis was then loaned to MGM for the film“Tribute to a Bad Man” and was scheduled to travel to Wyoming for filming. About a week before his departure, on July 31, 1955, he was flying a borrowed Beechcraft Bonanza belonging to fellow actor Joe Kirkwood Jr. Also aboard were Kirkwood’s business partner George Meyer, a commercial pilot, and actress Anne Russell. Shortly after a 5 p.
m. takeoff from Hollywood Burbank Airport, the plane’s engine began to cut out and lost power over Wrestler Cemetery. Francis reportedly managed to avoid crashing into a crowd at nearby Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery, but the aircraft stalled and crashed in a parking lot, bursting into flames and killing all three aboard. Robert Francis was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park.
Though James Dean is often remembered for dying at a young age after starring in only three films, Francis made four features and also died in an accident—yet his name has largely faded from public memory.
