Katherine Edwina "Kay" Francis (née Gibbs, January 13, 1905 â€"
August 26, 1968) was an American stage and film actress. After a brief
period on Broadway in the late 1920s, she moved to film and achieved
her greatest success between 1930 and 1936, when she was the number
one female star and highest-paid actress at the Warner Brothers
studio.Francis was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Territory
(present-day Oklahoma), in 1905. Her parents, Katharine Clinton
Francis, an actress, and Joseph Sprague Gibbs were married in 1903;
however, Katharine Gibbs took their daughter and left an alcoholic
Joseph by the time Francis was four. She inherited her 5 foot 9 inch
height from her father (who stood 6 feet 4 inches) and was to become
Hollywood's tallest female lead of the 1930s.Her mother had been born
in Nova Scotia, Canada, and was a moderately successful actress and
singer under the stage name Katharine Clinton. Francis was raised in
this hardscrabble theatrical circuit, often travelling with her
mother. She attended Catholic schools when it was affordable, becoming
a student at the Institute of the Holy Angels at age five. After also
attending Miss Fuller's School for Young Ladies in Ossining, New York
(1919) and the Cathedral School (1920), she enrolled at the Katharine
Gibbs Secretarial School in New York City. While attending there, she
did nothing to discourage the assumption that her mother was the same
pioneering American businesswoman who established the chain of
vocational schools.In 1922, a 17 year-old Francis became engaged to
and married James Dwight Francis, a well-to-do man from Pittsfield,
Massachusetts. Their marriage at New York's Saint Thomas Church ended
in divorce three years later. Although he made an offer of support,
Francis refused and instead gained employment on the stage.
August 26, 1968) was an American stage and film actress. After a brief
period on Broadway in the late 1920s, she moved to film and achieved
her greatest success between 1930 and 1936, when she was the number
one female star and highest-paid actress at the Warner Brothers
studio.Francis was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Territory
(present-day Oklahoma), in 1905. Her parents, Katharine Clinton
Francis, an actress, and Joseph Sprague Gibbs were married in 1903;
however, Katharine Gibbs took their daughter and left an alcoholic
Joseph by the time Francis was four. She inherited her 5 foot 9 inch
height from her father (who stood 6 feet 4 inches) and was to become
Hollywood's tallest female lead of the 1930s.Her mother had been born
in Nova Scotia, Canada, and was a moderately successful actress and
singer under the stage name Katharine Clinton. Francis was raised in
this hardscrabble theatrical circuit, often travelling with her
mother. She attended Catholic schools when it was affordable, becoming
a student at the Institute of the Holy Angels at age five. After also
attending Miss Fuller's School for Young Ladies in Ossining, New York
(1919) and the Cathedral School (1920), she enrolled at the Katharine
Gibbs Secretarial School in New York City. While attending there, she
did nothing to discourage the assumption that her mother was the same
pioneering American businesswoman who established the chain of
vocational schools.In 1922, a 17 year-old Francis became engaged to
and married James Dwight Francis, a well-to-do man from Pittsfield,
Massachusetts. Their marriage at New York's Saint Thomas Church ended
in divorce three years later. Although he made an offer of support,
Francis refused and instead gained employment on the stage.
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