Anne Francis, 80, who starred as a sexy detective on TV’s Honey West in the mid-’60s died on Sunday of complications of pancreatic cancer at a retirement home in Santa Barbara, Calif., the Los Angeles Times reports.
She also appleared in the highly popular sci-fi classic Forbidden Planet in the 50′s.
Francis may never have been a top-ranking star but she always had her devoted cult followers. Among her better-known movies were Bad Day at Black Rock, Blackboard Jungle, Don’t Go Near the Water and Funny Girl.
In Forbidden Planet Francis was Altaira, the daughter of the space scientist played by Walter Pidgeon.
Francis said of the part “I got that part because I was under contract to MGM and I had good legs.” Her love interest in the movie was a handsome young Leslie Nielsen, who died in November.
She is survived by two daughters and a grandson.
