Anne Francis | 'Honey West' star, 80   
       
   Anne Francis, 80, who was the love interest in the 1950s science-fiction   
   classic Forbidden Planet and later was a sexy private eye in TV's Honey West,   
   died Sunday at a Santa Barbara, Calif., nursing home.   
       
   Ms. Francis, who had surgery and chemotherapy after being diagnosed with lung   
   cancer in 2007, died of complications of pancreatic cancer, her daughter Jane   
   Uemura told the Los Angeles Times.   
       
   Ms. Francis, a stunning blonde with a prominent beauty mark, appeared opposite   
   such stars as Spencer Tracy, Paul Newman, Robert Taylor, and Glenn Ford in   
   some of the most popular films of the 1950s. But Forbidden Planet and Honey   
   West made her reputation.   
       
   Forbidden Planet was hailed in Leonard Maltin's 2006 Movie Guide as "one of   
   the most ambitious and intelligent films of its genre." A science-fiction   
   retelling of Shakespeare's The Tempest, the 1956 film had Leslie Nielsen and   
   other space travelers visiting a planet where expatriate scientist Walter   
   Pidgeon, his daughter (Francis), and their helper, Robby the Robot, built a   
   settlement.   
       
   In Honey West, which aired from 1965 to 1966, Ms. Francis' private-detective   
   character was a female James Bond: sexy, stylish, and as good with martial   
   arts as she was with a gun. She was nominated for an Emmy for the role, which   
   lasted 30 episodes.   
       
   "A lot of people speak to me about Honey West," Ms. Francis recalled. "The   
   character made young women think there was more they could reach for. It   
   encouraged a lot of people."   
       
   After a childhood career in New York radio and on Broadway, she arrived in   
   Hollywood.   
       
   In Blackboard Jungle, the 1955 film about an idealistic teacher (Ford) in a   
   violent city school, Francis played his pregnant wife, who is targeted for   
   harassment by one of his students.   
       
   When her movie career declined, she got active in TV, appearing in dozens of   
   series, including Charlie's Angels, The Golden Girls, and Home Improvement.   
       
   In addition to her daughter Jane, Ms. Francis is survived by her second   
   husband, Robert Abeloff; their daughter, Maggie; and a grandson.   
       
   - AP   
       
       
   Regards,   
       
   Roger   
      
   --- D'Bridge 3.59   
    * Origin: NCS BBS -Houma, LA- (1:3828/7)