Biography of James Franciscus

James Grover Franciscus was born in Clayton, Missouri, on January 31, 1934, the younger of two boys born to John and Loraine Franciscus. In interviews he described his early childhood in a small town in Mark Twain's home state as being something out of Tom Sawyer. However, this changed abruptly when his father, a volunteer with the British Air Force in WWII prior to America's entry into the war, was killed in action and his mother remarried a New York investor. The family moved to Manhattan and Franciscus attended prep schools in New England before going to Yale.

While at Yale he was friends with Dick Cavett and appeared in a movie, Four Boys and a Gun, as a junior, which was shot during the summer break before his senior year. He was offered a studio contract but he stayed at Yale to obtain his degree. Franciscus graduated from Yale in 1957. In the summer after his senior year, while working in a summer stock theater, he met and had a romantic relationship with Jane Fonda, who writes in her autobiography that Franciscus was her first lover. Franciscus went on vacation with the family in Spain, where he ran with the bulls in Pamplona. He proposed marriage to Fonda, but she turned him down.

Franciscus won his first major role as Jimmy O'Halloran in the classic police drama "Naked City", in 1958. The show was canceled but later unexpectedly revived, at which time it changed from a 30-minute to one hour format. When the show went back on the air, Franciscus had other commitments, probably either the movie "The Outsider" with Tony Curtis, or the TV show "The Investigators", both of which were released in 1961.

Franciscus married Kathleen "Kitty" Wellman, daughter of director William Wellman, in 1960 and the couple had four daughters. Unusual for actors at the time, Franciscus tried to always put his home life first, and went out of his way to make time to be with his family. He had his contracts written to allow him to be home for dinner and on weekends. When he and Kitty separated in the late 1970s, he put family ahead of his career, and, almost unheard of at the time, and certainly in Hollywood, it was he who took custody of all four girls, raising them as a single father. Later, the amicably divorced couple split child-rearing duties, and Kitty raised the two younger girls while the two older girls stayed with their father.

Franciscus was the first choice to play the lead in "Dr. Kildare", but again his prior commitments prevented him from taking the role and it went instead to Richard Chamberlain. Instead, Franciscus was chosen for the lead in the high school drama "Mr. Novak", about an idealistic poor boy who becomes a suburban English teacher, which also starred Dean Jagger, Burgess Meredith, and many well known and highly regarded co-stars and guest stars. The show lasted two seasons.

When Warren Beatty turned down the lead role in Herman Wouk's "Youngblood Hawke" (and almost ended his career - it was supposed to be a huge hit), Franciscus won the role from a field of 200 other actors (and almost ended his career - it was a disaster). He recovered from "Hawke" and went on to work constantly, appearing in science fiction movies such as "Marooned", Ray Harryhausen's "Valley of Gwangi", and "Beneath the Planet of the Apes"; the war movie "Hell Boats"; Dario Argento's spaghetti slasher "Cat O' Nine Tails"; and many TV guest shots and made-for-TV movies.

In 1971 Franciscus returned to a full-time television show in one of his signature roles as blind insurance investigator Mike Longstreet. Notable for Franciscus's realistic portrayal of a blind man as well as for co-stars Bruce Lee and seeing eye dog Pax, the show nevertheless only lasted a single season. Franciscus went on to other series ("Doc Elliott", "Hunter") and many more TV and movie appearances, including his first villain roles.

Franciscus was also a noted producer, bringing several classics such as "Kidnapped", "The Red Pony", and "Heidi" to the screen, and as a writer on projects like "Beneath the Planet of the Apes" and "29th Street".

Despite his athleticism and youthfulness, Franciscus never kicked a 4-pack-a-day cigarette habit. He died of emphysema in 1991 at the age of 57.