Frances Carson (April 1, 1895 – October 20, 1973) was an American actress on stage and in films, including three

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...

films.

Early life

Carson was from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and started acting and modeling professionally in her teens.

Career

Carson was an actress known for stage work in New York and London, and for film roles. She performed on Broadway in shows including ''Poor Little Thing'' (1914) with her husband Eric Blind, ''The White Feather'' (1915), ''The Riddle: Woman'' (1918-1919), ''The Hottentot'' (1920), '' The Bad Man'' (1920), ''The Scarlet Man'' (1921), ''The Blue Lagoon'' (1921), ''Two Married Men'' (1925), ''Potiphar's Wife'' (1928), ''The First Law'' (1929), ''Slightly Scandalous'' (1944), and ''The Visitor'' (1944). In London, Carson appeared in ''Glamour'' (1922), ''The Love Habit'' (1923), '' R.U.R.'' (1923, with

Basil Rathbone Philip St. John Basil Rathbone MC (13 June 1892 – 21 July 1967) was a South African-born English actor. He rose to prominence in the United Kingdom as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in more than 70 films, primarily costume ...

) ''The Last Warning'' (1923), ''Havoc'' (1924), ''The Happy Hangman'' (1925), ''The Silver Fox'' (1925), ''Virginia's Husband'' (1926), ''Aloma: A Tale of the South Seas'' (1926–1927), ''These Internationals'' (1928), and ''The Barker'' (1928). When she played

Salome Salome (; he, שְלוֹמִית, Shlomit, related to , "peace"; el, Σαλώμη), also known as Salome III, was a Jewish princess, the daughter of Herod II, son of Herod the Great, and princess Herodias, granddaughter of Herod the Great, a ...

Leonid Andreyev Leonid Nikolaievich Andreyev (russian: Леони́д Никола́евич Андре́ев, – 12 September 1919) was a Russian playwright, novelist and short-story writer, who is considered to be a father of Expressionism in Russian lite ...

's ''Katerina'' in 1926, with

John Gielgud Sir Arthur John Gielgud, (; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the Briti ...

, her revealing costume prompted a censor to insist that she wear a shawl on stage. She also co-wrote a play, ''The Unknown Woman''; it was produced in London in 1927. Her costumes were photographed and described in fashion columns. Critic Giles P. Cain noted in 1917 that "Miss Carson has some decided marks of individuality of speech and manner that bespeak her realization of the fact that merely being natural on the stage is no sign of any very great merit."

Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time (magazine), Time'' magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combina ...

mentioned seeing Carson dining with

Irving Berlin Irving Berlin (born Israel Beilin; yi, ישראל ביילין; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-American composer, songwriter and lyricist. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook. Born in Imperial Russ ...

and

Elsie Janis Elsie Janis (born Elsie Bierbower, March 16, 1889 – February 26, 1956) was an American actress of stage and screen, singer, songwriter, screenwriter and radio announcer. Entertaining the troops during World War I immortalized her as " the sw ...

at the

Algonquin Hotel The Algonquin Hotel is a hotel at 59 West 44th Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. The 181-room hotel, opened in 1902, was designed by architect Goldwin Starrett for the Puritan Realty Company. The hotel has hosted nume ...

British Pathé British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

made a short newsreel about Carson having her fingernails painted by artist

Arthur Ferrier Arthur Ferrier (1891 – 27 May 1973) was a Scottish artist, illustrator and cartoonist. Ferrier was born and started work in Glasgow, Scotland as an analytical chemist. He freelanced as a cartoonist for the '' Daily Record'' there. He moved ...

in 1924. Also in 1924, she attended a

séance A séance or seance (; ) is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word ''séance'' comes from the French word for "session", from the Old French ''seoir'', "to sit". In French, the word's meaning is quite general: one may, for example, spea ...

with P. G. Wodehouse,

Hannen Swaffer Frederick Charles Hannen Swaffer (1 November 1879 – 16 January 1962) was an English journalist and drama critic. Although his views were left-wing, he worked mostly for right-wing publications, many of them owned by Lord Northcliffe. He was a p ...

, and

Donald Calthrop Donald Esme Clayton Calthrop (11 April 1888 – 15 July 1940) was an English stage and film actor. Born in London, Calthrop was educated at St Paul's School and made his first stage appearance at eighteen years of age at the Comedy Theatr ...

, and believed that she was contacted by her late husband on this occasion. Carson had roles in several films, including ''

Java Head Tanjung Layar, formerly Java's Eerste Punt in Dutch, and Java's First Point, or Java Head in English is a prominent cape at the extreme western end of Java, at the Indian Ocean entrance to the Sunda Strait. Java Head is a bluff at the sea's e ...

'' (1934), ''

Foreign Correspondent A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locat ...

'' (1940), '' Smilin' Through'' (1941), ''

Two-Faced Woman ''Two-Faced Woman'' is a 1941 American romantic comedy film directed by George Cukor and starring Greta Garbo in her final film role, Melvyn Douglas, Constance Bennett, and Roland Young. The movie was distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Ga ...

'' (1941), '' Saboteur'' (1942), ''Framing Father'' (1942), ''

Scattergood Rides High ''Scattergood Rides High'' is a 1942 American comedy film directed by Christy Cabanne and written by Michael L. Simmons. It is the sequel to the 1941 film ''Scattergood Meets Broadway''. The film stars Guy Kibbee, Jed Prouty, Dorothy Moore, Char ...

'' (1942), and ''

Shadow of a Doubt ''Shadow of a Doubt'' is a 1943 American psychological thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and starring Teresa Wright and Joseph Cotten. Written by Thornton Wilder, Sally Benson, and Alma Reville, the film was nominated for an Ac ...

'' (1943).

Personal life

Carson married British actor Eric Blind in 1913; he died suddenly from pneumonia in 1916. She was living with fellow actress

Blanche Yurka Blanche Yurka (born Blanch Jurka, June 19, 1887 – June 6, 1974) was an American stage and film actress and director. She was an opera singer with minor roles at the Metropolitan Opera and later became a stage actress, making her Broadway deb ...

in Los Angeles in 1940, and died in 1973, aged 78 years.

References

External links

A 1920 photograph of Carson
in the collection of the

National Museum of American History The National Museum of American History: Kenneth E. Behring Center collects, preserves, and displays the heritage of the United States in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific, and military history. Among the items on display is t ...

, Smithsonian Institution * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Carson, Frances 1895 births 1973 deaths People from Philadelphia American actresses