VETERAN OF THE SCREEN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21912, 22 September 1934, Page 12 (Supplement)

VETERAN OF THE SCREEN

ALEC B. FRANCIS* DEATH With the passing of Alec B? Francis, who has just died in Hollywood, the screen loses _ a valuable character actor, one who endeared himself to millions of filmgoers for his sympathetic portrayal of benevolent and lovable old gentlemen. Francis had the gift of being able to imbue his screen roles with an air of whimsical, if subdued, humour, even though the "lines" actually allocated to him were often very matter-of-fact. He had been on the screen for 24 years. He made his debut with the old Vitagraph Company when such stars as John Bunny, Maurice CosteHo and Flora Finch were in their heyday.

He was born in London "about" 1868, and was educated at Uppingham College. His career was a varied and colourful one. He entered a monastery and became a monk. Then, discovering that the law appealed to him, he planned a legal career, but changed his mind and enlisted in the Gloucestershire Regiment. The army did not hold him for long, and *he joined a theatrical company and toured India. Tired of that, he re-enlisted in the army, this time in the Royal Horse Artillery. After his discharge he returned to the stage, gave it up for farming in Canada, drifted to America, and again took up the theatre as a career. One of the early film pioneers, Jesse L. Lasky, gave him a contract to play in a musical hall sketch, and from this he graduated to" the old Vitagraph studio at Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York, in the days when all film stars were anonymous.