Kay Francis: A Passionate Life and Career [Paperback]

Lynn Kear (Author), John Rossman (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0786423668 | ISBN-13: 978-0786423668 | Publication Date: January 11, 2006

Kay Francis came of age in the Roaring Twenties and relished the era’s hedonistic pursuits. Her career as an actress was launched at the same time, and before her death in 1968, she had appeared on many theater stages, in more than 60 films, on radio, in USO tours, as a model, and on television. The tall, stylish actress had a husky voice and dark beauty that was striking on film. Despite her financial success, relaxed morals, and life as a socialite, the millionaire actress shunned luxuries such as limousines and sprawling estates popular among Hollywood elite. The actress who insisted she wanted to be forgotten left behind scrapbooks, boxes of memorabilia and detailed diaries. These rich resources help provide an exhaustive look at the life of one of Hollywood’s most intriguing early stars. Francis’ biography is the heart of this book, beginning with her family background and her upbringing by a vaudevillian actress mother. The story of her extensive career and never-ending romantic pursuits is peppered with comments from the media and her own diaries, and supplemented with ample photographs. A chronology gives dates of theater openings, film releases, marriages, television and radio appearances, births and deaths. A filmography includes complete cast and credit lists.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Film scholar and award-winning writer Lynn Kear lives in Stone Mountain, Georgia. John Rossman lives in New York.

Product Details

• Paperback: 242 pages
• Publisher: McFarland & Company (January 11, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786423668
• ISBN-13: 978-0786423668
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #739,859 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lynn Kear grew up in Illinois and has lived in Georgia for more than two decades. Her published works include biographies on Hollywood actresses Kay Francis, Agnes Moorehead, Evelyn Brent as well as books on reincarnation. Her newest non-fiction book is a biography on Laurette Taylor. With a Ph.D. in Communicative Arts Education she occasionally teaches public speaking and film studies. Murder in a Buckhead Garden is her first mystery.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kay Would Have Loved This Book!, February 1, 2006

By 

MrsSchmidlapp (Hollywood, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kay Francis: A Passionate Life and Career (Paperback)

I didn't know much about Kay before and I really enjoyed learning about her life. The authors used Kay's private diaries as the source for this book. There's quite a lot of juicy stuff in there about Kay's numerous affairs (with men and women) and her many abortions. The book also goes into a lot of detail about Kay's volunteer work during World War 2 when she traveled the world with Carole Landis, Mitzi Mayfair, and Martha Raye. What I liked best is that the authors include many of Kay's own diary entries in the book. This is really Kay finally telling her story to the world. There is also a filmography, lots of pictures, and a complete chronology of Kay's life. This is one movie star biography that is worth every penny!

I know there are other biographies out there about Kay but this one is simply the best.

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Memorable Hollywood Star Will NOT Be Forgotten, February 28, 2006

By 

James Edward Kirk, Jr. "Cricket's Dad" (The Misguided Heartland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kay Francis: A Passionate Life and Career (Paperback)

Finally! The definitive biography on the life of almost forgotten movie star, Kay Francis, perhaps the screen's most notable diva of the 1930's and 40's, blessed with both an educated fashion sense and a speech impediment... Still a devoted legion somewhere out there, her remembering fans as well as newer devotees will be thrilled with the immense amount of research and meticulous attention to detail that obviously went into the writing of this book. Authors Lynn Kear and John Rossman have completely overshadowed any other fizzled efforts to capture this most fascinating subject, placing her back in her well deserved role as one of Hollywood's brightest and most beautiful cinematic stars.

Brimming with historic photographs, publicity shots, and movie stills, this tremendous effort uncovers genealogical occurrences prior to Kay's birth, thoroughly examines the less successful stage career of her mother, actress and vaudevillian Katherine Clinton, and unravels the many financial blunders of her often absent father, Joe Gibbs. The book then follows Kay through a most unstable adolescence and reveals the ravenous details of Kay's meteoric rise from secretarial school and fashion savvy hopeful to the top of her chosen profession as she became, during The Great Depression no less, the highest paid film actress on the Warner Brothers' lot. The authors have also mined the cryptic details of calendar diaries left behind by the elusive star and in doing so, have reconstructed her extraordinary appetite for sexual escapades with both men and women, some of them legendary Hollywood icons like herself.

Kay Francis-A Passionate Life and Career, McFarland copyright 2006, captures the decadence and moral abandonment of what was undoubtedly Hollywood's most fascinating era with well placed poignancy and understanding. In these pages, the authors have revealed their subject as a mere mortal capable of bizarre behaviors and ethical meandering while celebrating her tremendous international success as a film star and acknowledging her passionate disdain for the entertainment industry that gave her everything. Francis' later years, some of them spent back on the stage in both Broadway and summer stock ventures, are also well documented as she begins to slip into the obscurity she often said she craved and finds herself living a more isolated existence and dealing with health issues, many of them brought on by the hedonistic exploits of her exotic and wayward youth.

Authors Kear and Rossman have sculpted a remarkable and definitive review of the legendary life and career of this not quite forgotten movie star. They've included a chronology, complete with film release dates, and a detailed filmography of all 68 of her motion pictures, as well as chapter notes acknowledging their meticulously researched sources. With apologies to "Miss Fwancis", we must acknowledge this book to be the most memorable Hollywood biography we've read in recent years.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kay is Back!, May 2, 2006

By 

Charles M. Tranberg "book lover" (Madison, WI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Kay Francis: A Passionate Life and Career (Paperback)

This year movie buffs are extremely fortunate because out on the market is not one but two wonderful new biographies of the actress who "couldn't wait to be forgotten"--Kay Francis. Lynn Kear and John Rossman have done a superb job of detailing Kay's life with an especially rich section about her early life--prior to Hollywood stardom. The book also captures the essence of the jazz age of the 1920's when women were coming out of their shells and becoming less uninhibited. In many ways Kay Francis was the epitomization of the free spirited women of the jazz age. The book, as usual for a McFarland product, is lovely to look at and the picture quality is superb. Both books quote from Kay's diaries which were long forgotten at a University archives. The diaries provide much of the dynamic revelations in the narrative--Kay's candid thoughts about her life and (many) lovers. Kay Francis certainly did, as the title says, have a passionate life--and a career which movie buffs and fans can easily appreciate. We are fortunate to have this wonderful book as a reminder of that life and career.