Derek Francis
Encyclopedia
Derek Francis was an English
comedy and character actor.
He was a regular in the Carry On film players, appearing in six of the films in the 1960s and 1970s. He appeared in Roger Corman
's last film of his Edgar Allan Poe
series The Tomb of Ligeia
(1964). He also took roles in several BBC
adaptations of Charles Dickens
novels. His last role was in the 1984 version of A Christmas Carol
.
Other roles included parts in the most established television series of the period: Rising Damp
, The Professionals
, The Sweeney
, The New Avengers
, Danger Man
, Jason King
, Up Pompeii!
, Wild, Wild Women
, Coronation Street
, and Z-Cars
. He also appeared as the Emperor Nero
, a comic turn in the early Doctor Who
story entitled The Romans
opposite William Hartnell
.
Among his stage roles was the title character in Cymbeline
for the Old Vic
in 1957.
He died of a heart attack
in Wimbledon, London
.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
comedy and character actor.
He was a regular in the Carry On film players, appearing in six of the films in the 1960s and 1970s. He appeared in Roger Corman
Roger Corman
Roger William Corman is an American film producer, director and actor. He has mostly worked on low-budget B movies. Some of Corman's work has an established critical reputation, such as his cycle of films adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe, and in 2009 he won an Honorary Academy Award for...
's last film of his Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
series The Tomb of Ligeia
The Tomb of Ligeia
The Tomb of Ligeia is an American International Pictures horror film starring Vincent Price and Elizabeth Shepherd in a story about a man haunted by the spirit of his dead wife and her effect on his second marriage. The screenplay by Robert Towne was based upon the tale "Ligeia" by American...
(1964). He also took roles in several BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
adaptations of Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
novels. His last role was in the 1984 version of A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol (1984 film)
A Christmas Carol is a 1984 made-for-television film adaptation of Charles Dickens' famous 1843 novella of the same name. The film is directed by Clive Donner who had been an editor of the 1951 film Scrooge and stars George C. Scott as Ebenezer Scrooge...
.
Other roles included parts in the most established television series of the period: Rising Damp
Rising Damp
Rising Damp is a television sitcom produced by Yorkshire Television for ITV, first broadcast from 1974 to 1978. It was adapted for television by Eric Chappell from his well-received 1971 stage play, The Banana Box The series was the highest-ranking ITV sitcom on the 100 Best Sitcoms poll run in...
, The Professionals
The Professionals (TV series)
The Professionals was a British crime-action television drama series produced by Avengers Mk1 Productions and London Weekend Television that aired on the ITV network from 1977 to 1983. In all, 57 episodes were produced, filmed between 1977 and 1981. It starred Martin Shaw, Lewis Collins and Gordon...
, The Sweeney
The Sweeney
The Sweeney is a 1970s British television police drama focusing on two members of the Flying Squad, a branch of the Metropolitan Police specialising in tackling armed robbery and violent crime in London...
, The New Avengers
The Avengers (TV series)
The Avengers is a spy-fi British television series set in the 1960s Britain. The Avengers initially focused on Dr. David Keel and his assistant John Steed . Hendry left after the first series and Steed became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants...
, Danger Man
Danger Man
Danger Man is a British television series that was broadcast between 1960 and 1962, and again between 1964 and 1968. The series featured Patrick McGoohan as secret agent John Drake. Ralph Smart created the program and wrote many of the scripts...
, Jason King
Jason King (TV series)
Jason King was a British television series produced from 1971 to 1972. Each episode was one hour in duration , and the series had a run of one season of 26 episodes. As well as its native UK, the series was also screened in countries as far afield as Australia, Norway, Argentina and Peru...
, Up Pompeii!
Up Pompeii!
Up Pompeii! is a British television comedy series broadcast between 1969 and 1970, starring Frankie Howerd. The first series was written by Talbot Rothwell, a scriptwriter for the Carry On films, and the second series by Rothwell and Sid Colin. Two later specials were transmitted in 1975 and...
, Wild, Wild Women
Wild, Wild Women
Wild, Wild Women was a British sitcom that aired on BBC from 1968 to 1969. Made in black-and-white, it starred Barbara Windsor and was written by Ronald Wolfe and Ronald Chesney.-Pilot:*Barbara Windsor - Millie*Derek Francis - Mr Harcourt...
, Coronation Street
Coronation Street
Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
, and Z-Cars
Z-Cars
Z-Cars is a British television drama series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby in the outskirts of Liverpool in Merseyside. Produced by the BBC, it debuted in January 1962 and ran until September 1978.-Origins:The series was developed by...
. He also appeared as the Emperor Nero
Nero
Nero , was Roman Emperor from 54 to 68, and the last in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great-uncle Claudius to become his heir and successor, and succeeded to the throne in 54 following Claudius' death....
, a comic turn in the early Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
story entitled The Romans
The Romans (Doctor Who)
The Romans is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from January 16 to February 6, 1965. The story is set during the era of the Roman Empire in the reign of Nero.-Plot:...
opposite William Hartnell
William Hartnell
William Henry Hartnell was an English actor. During 1963-66, he was the first actor to play the Doctor in the long-running BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who.-Early life:...
.
Among his stage roles was the title character in Cymbeline
Cymbeline
Cymbeline , also known as Cymbeline, King of Britain or The Tragedy of Cymbeline, is a play by William Shakespeare, based on legends concerning the early Celtic British King Cunobelinus. Although listed as a tragedy in the First Folio, modern critics often classify Cymbeline as a romance...
for the Old Vic
Old Vic
The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian...
in 1957.
He died of a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
in Wimbledon, London
Wimbledon, London
Wimbledon is a district in the south west area of London, England, located south of Wandsworth, and east of Kingston upon Thames. It is situated within Greater London. It is home to the Wimbledon Tennis Championships and New Wimbledon Theatre, and contains Wimbledon Common, one of the largest areas...
.
Selected filmography
- The CriminalThe CriminalThe Criminal is a 1960 British drama film produced by Nat Cohen and directed by Joseph Losey, starring Stanley Baker, Sam Wanamaker and Jill Bennett. Baker plays an ex-con who takes part in the robbery of a racetrack and is caught and sent back to prison...
(1960) - No Love for JohnnieNo Love for JohnnieNo Love for Johnnie is a 1961 British drama film directed by Ralph Thomas. It was based on the book of the same title by the Member of Parliament Wilfred Fienburgh and stars Peter Finch....
(1961) - Two Living, One DeadTwo Living, One DeadTwo Living, One Dead is a 1961 Anglo-Swedish existentialist thriller, directed by Anthony Asquith and starring Patrick McGoohan, Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers.-Background:...
(1961) - Captain Clegg (1962)
- Bitter Harvest (1963)
- The Hi-JackersThe Hi-JackersThe Hi-Jackers is a 1963 film directed by Jim O'Connolly. It stars Antony Booth and Jacqueline Ellis.-Cast:* Antony Booth as Terry McKinley* Jacqueline Ellis as Shirley* Derek Francis as Jack Carter* Patrick Cargill as Inspector Grayson...
(1963) - SmokescreenSmokescreen (film)Smokescreen is a 1964 British crime thriller, written and directed by Jim O'Connolly, and starring Peter Vaughan.-Cast:* Peter Vaughan as Roper* John Carson as Trevor Bayliss* Yvonne Romain as Janet Dexter* Gerald Flood as Graham Turner...
(1964) - Ring of SpiesRing of SpiesRing of Spies is a 1964 British spy film based on the real-life case of the Portland Spy Ring.-Plot:A dissatisfied Navy clerk begins handling secret documents when he is approached by secret Czech intelligence to hand over documents to them. Although he is being black-mailed, he agrees to do so...
(1964) - The Comedy ManThe Comedy ManThe Comedy Man is a 1964 British drama film directed by Alvin Rakoff and starring Kenneth More, Cecil Parker, Dennis Price and Billie Whitelaw...
(1964) - The Tomb of LigeiaThe Tomb of LigeiaThe Tomb of Ligeia is an American International Pictures horror film starring Vincent Price and Elizabeth Shepherd in a story about a man haunted by the spirit of his dead wife and her effect on his second marriage. The screenplay by Robert Towne was based upon the tale "Ligeia" by American...
(1964) - The Little OnesThe Little OnesThe Little Ones was a 1965 British family comedy film directed by British director Jim O'Connolly starring Carl Gonzales and Kim Smith. Dudley Foster stars asSuperintendent Carter and Derek Newark plays the strict Detective Sgt. Wilson....
(1965) - Rasputin, the Mad MonkRasputin, the Mad MonkRasputin, the Mad Monk is a 1966 Hammer film directed by Don Sharp.It stars Christopher Lee as Grigori Rasputin, the Russian peasant-mystic notable for gaining great influence with the Tsars prior to the Russian Revolution. It also stars Barbara Shelley, Francis Matthews, Suzan Farmer, Richard...
(1966) - Jules Verne's Rocket to the MoonJules Verne's Rocket to the MoonJules Verne's Rocket to the Moon is a 1967 British science fiction comedy film directed by Don Sharp and produced by Harry Alan Towers...
(1967) - The Forsyte SagaThe Forsyte SagaThe Forsyte Saga is a series of three novels and two interludes published between 1906 and 1921 by John Galsworthy. They chronicle the vicissitudes of the leading members of an upper-middle-class British family, similar to Galsworthy's own...
(1967) - Carry On DoctorCarry On DoctorCarry On Doctor is the fifteenth film in the Carry On series. It is the second in the series to have a medical theme. Frankie Howerd makes the first of his two appearances in the film series. He stars alongside regulars Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims and Bernard Bresslaw...
(1967) - What's Good for the GooseWhat's Good for the GooseWhat's Good For The Goose is a 1969 British comedy film, and was Norman Wisdom's last starring role in a film. It was written and directed by Menahem Golan. In the movie he leaves his wife and kids to go off on a business trip and he has an affair with a young woman played by Sally Geeson...
(1969) - Carry On CampingCarry On CampingCarry On Camping is a 1969 comedy film and the seventeenth Carry On film. It features series regulars Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Terry Scott, Hattie Jacques, Barbara Windsor, Bernard Bresslaw and Peter Butterworth.-Plot:...
(1969) - CrossplotCrossplot (film)Crossplot is a 1969 film starring Roger Moore. Italian actress Claudia Lange was also featured in her largest English-speaking role. Bernard Lee, famous for his role as M in the James Bond films, also appeared.-Plot:...
(1969) - Carry On LovingCarry On LovingCarry On Loving is the twentieth Carry On film, and was released in 1970. It features series regulars Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Hattie Jacques, Terry Scott and Bernard Bresslaw alongside newcomers Richard O'Callaghan and Jacki Piper . Carry On Loving featured...
(1970) - Scrooge (1970)
- The StatueThe Statue (1971 film)The Statue is a British film comedy starring David Niven, Robert Vaughn and Italian beauty Virna Lisi in the key roles.-Cast:* David Niven as Alex Bolt* Virna Lisi as Rhonda Bolt* Robert Vaughn as Ray* Ann Bell as Pat* John Cleese as Harry...
(1971) - Carry On HenryCarry On HenryCarry On Henry is the 21st of the Carry On series and was released in 1971. It tells a fictionalised story involving Sid James as Henry VIII, who chases after Barbara Windsor's character Bettina. James and Windsor feature alongside other regulars Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Terry...
(1971) - Carry On MatronCarry On MatronCarry On Matron is the twenty-third Carry On film. It was released in 1972. It features series regulars Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Hattie Jacques, Bernard Bresslaw, Barbara Windsor and Kenneth Connor. This was the last Carry on... film for Terry Scott after appearing...
(1972) - To the Devil a DaughterTo the Devil a DaughterTo the Devil... A Daughter is a 1976 horror film made by Hammer Film Productions, taken from the novel of the same name by Dennis Wheatley, directed by Peter Sykes. It stars Richard Widmark, Christopher Lee, Honor Blackman, Nastassja Kinski and Denholm Elliott...
(1976) - Dickens of LondonDickens of LondonDickens of London is a 1976 television miniseries from Yorkshire Television based on the life of English novelist Charles Dickens. Both Dickens and his father John were played by British actor Roy Dotrice. The series was written by Wolf Mankowitz and Marc Miller...
(1976) - JabberwockyJabberwocky (film)Jabberwocky is a 1977 British fantasy black comedy film directed by Terry Gilliam. It stars Michael Palin as a young cooper who is forced through clumsy, often slapstick misfortunes to hunt a terrible dragon after the death of his father...
(1977)