Arlene Francis made her first screen appearance in the horror-film ‘Murders in the Rue Morgue’ (1932). She also appeared in several off-Broadway and Broadway productions and hosted many radio-shows, including ‘What’s My Name?’ (1938-1949) and appeared in a number of radio serials, such as ‘Betty & Bob’ (1940) and ‘Monitor’ amongst others.
In 1938, Francis appeared in the Orson Welles-directed comedy film ‘Too Much Johnson.’ After making her TV debut as a substitute host on the series ‘The Eyes Have It’ (1949-1950), she earned fame as a host. She hosted radio dating-show ‘Blind Date’ (1943) followed by the TV-show based on it, ‘Your Big Moment,’ (1949-1952). Thus, she became the first woman to host a TV game show.
Francis joined the weekly panel game show ‘What’s My Line?’ from its second episode and was a regular and popular panelist on the show from 1950 to 1967; she then appeared in the daily syndicated version from 1968-1975. She thus remained a part of the well-received show for its entire 25-year run. At one point of time, she was the highest paid TV-show panelist and well-known for her ready wit.
Concurrently, Francis also hosted radio-shows including the long-running interview show ‘The Arlene Francis Show’ on New York radio and also the TV-show of the same name during 1957-1958. She also hosted the daytime TV-program intended for women, ‘Home’ (1954-1957), earning the tag of ‘First Lady of Television.’ She was guest-host of the reality show ‘The Comeback Story’ (1954) and the first female guest-host of the late night talk-show ‘Tonight’ (1962).
The various TV-shows Francis appeared on include ‘This is Show Business’ (1950), ‘Your Show of Shows’ (1950-1952), ‘The Match Game’ (1962-1964, 1973-1978), ‘Missing Links’ (1963-1964), ‘Got the Message’ (1964), ‘I’ve Got a Secret’ (1960-1966), ‘Password’ (1961-1975) and others.
Francis hosted shows such as ‘Fashion Magic’ (1951), ‘Talent Patrol’ (1955), and was guest-host of ‘Today’ (1959-1973).
The movies Francis appeared in included the film adaption of the play ‘All My Sons’ (1948), the drama film ‘With These Hands’ (1950), the political comedy film ‘One, Two, Three’ (1961), the romantic comedy ‘The Thrill of it All’ (1963), the TV remake of the 1944 film ‘Laura’ (1968), and another TV movie ‘Harvey’ (1972).
Francis made guest-appearances in the TV series ‘Sure as Fate,’ ‘The Clock,’ ‘Lights Out,’ ‘Suspense,’ ‘Lux Video Theater,’ ‘Five Fingers’ amongst others.
Her last film appearance was in the drama film ‘Fedora’ (1978).Â
This American political comedy film is about an executive working for Coca Cola who is also given the task of taking care of his boss’s daughter, who is a socialite. When she falls for a German communist having anti capitalistic views, he is tasked with preventing her from getting married to him.
Too Much Johnson is a silent comedy film, which tells the story of a man, who finds out that the woman he loves, is seeing another man. Therefore, he acts like a villain and starts to chase him down.
