Francine York

Francine York (born Francine Yerich; August 26, 1936 – January 6, 2017) was an American actress and model. She also used the name Francine Yerick.

Early life

Francine Yerich was born to Frank and Sophie Yerich in the small mining town Aurora, Minnesota. She attended Hamline University on a drama scholarship.

Career

Model

At age 17, she won the local Miss Eveleth beauty contest and became a runner-up in the Miss Minnesota contest, which was hosted by former Miss America BeBe Shopp.

Showgirl

York soon got a job as a showgirl at Bimbo's nightclub in San Francisco. Bimbo's headliner, Mary Meade French, brought Francine to Hollywood and helped get her signed with an agent. Francine worked as a showgirl at Frank Sennes' Moulin Rouge, a popular Hollywood nightclub on Sunset Blvd., where she performed in three shows a night, seven nights a week, for six months. Tired of sharing a stage with elephants, pigeons, and horses, she began taking acting classes with actor/teacher Jeff Corey. A theatrical producer cast her in a play called ''Whisper in God's Ear'' at the Circle Theatre, and she was also cast in her first movie, '' Secret File: Hollywood'', a film about the day-to-day operations of a sleazy Hollywood tabloid.

Actress

Film

York's first screen role was in Robert Clarke's Hollywood exploitation film ''Secret File Hollywood'' shot in 1960 but not distributed until 1962. Her big break came when Jerry Lewis cast her in ''It's Only Money'', in which she played a tantalizing sexpot, a role which brought her much publicity. This led to Lewis hiring her for five more of his films, including ''The Nutty Professor'', '' The Patsy'', ''The Disorderly Orderly'', '' The Family Jewels'', and '' Cracking Up'', in which she portrayed a 15th-century marquise. Other film appearances include ''Bedtime Story'', ''Tickle Me'', ''Cannon for Cordoba'', and science fiction cult films such as ''Curse of the Swamp Creature'', ''Mutiny in Outer Space'', and ''Space Probe Taurus''. In ''The Doll Squad'' (1973), she played CIA agent Sabrina Kincaid. She portrayed Marilyn Monroe in ''Marilyn: Alive and Behind Bars'', and in 2000, she played Nicolas Cage's mother-in-law in ''The Family Man''.

Television

York portrayed Amanda Agnew on '' It Takes a Thief'', Wendy Wendkoski on ''Slattery's People'', and Kate Landis on ''The Courtship of Eddie's Father''. In 1964, she appeared as Nurse Norma in ''My Favorite Martian'' S1 E37 "Uncle Martins Wisdom Tooth". York played Lillie Langtry (with Peter Whitney as Judge Roy Bean) in the 1965 episode "A Picture of a Lady" of the syndicated television anthology series, ''Death Valley Days''. York was featured in five episodes of '' Burke's Law'' between 1964 and 1965, and made two guest appearances on ''Perry Mason'', including the role of Ursula Quigley in the 1965 episode "The Case of the Wrongful Writ" and as co-defendant Bobbi Dane in the 1966 episode "The Case of the Sausalito Sunrise".

She appeared as Niolani, a military leader from a matriarchal society where males were subjugated, in ''Lost in Space'' Season 2, Episode 25 "The Colonists" (1966). She also appeared in a segment of ''Green Acres''; and in “Marry Me, Marry Me”, a 1966 episode of ''Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.''.

On ''Batman'' she appeared as Lydia Limpit in episodes 29 and 30 "The Bookworm Turns/While Gotham City Burns" (1966). She continued to act in films and on television, with TV appearances including ''Hot in Cleveland'' (as British matriarch Lady Natalie), and ''The Mindy Project''.

She appeared on ''Bewitched'' as a statue of the goddess Venus which came to life and became Samantha and Darrin's maid in season 8 episode 5, "Bewitched, Bothered and Baldoni" (1971), which became infamous because of her skimpy costumes. She also appeared in an episode of ''Adam-12'', "Reason to Run", Season 3 episode 25.

She appeared on ''Columbo'' in Season 5, episode 1, "Forgotten Lady", as Sgt. Leftkowitz in 1975.

She appeared as Queen Medusa during the second season of ''Jason of Star Command'' in 1979: in episode 3 "Web of the Star Witch", in episode 10 "Little Girl Lost", and in episode 11 "Mimi's Secret".

In March 1991, York made guest appearances on ''All My Children'', ''One Life to Live'', and '' Santa Barbara''.

Other pursuits

York also worked as a fitness/nutrition expert and a gourmet cook.

Personal life and death

York never married, and once joked that "Like Cinderella, I always wanted to marry the handsome prince...but they don't make glass slippers in size ten!" However, she was the decade-long companion to director Vincent Sherman until his death in 2006. She died on January 6, 2017, in Van Nuys, California from cancer, aged 80. She had been working on her autobiography. She is interred at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

Filmography

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:York, Francine
1938 births
2017 deaths
Actresses from Minnesota
American film actresses
American television actresses
Burials at Hollywood Forever Cemetery
American soap opera actresses
Deaths from cancer in California
People from Aurora, Minnesota
20th-century American actresses
21st-century American actresses