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Francine Everett

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Name
  
Francine Everett

Role
  
Actress


Spouse
  
Rex Ingram (m. 1936–1939)

Parents
  
Noah Williamson

Francine Everett image2findagravecomphotos250photos201414610

Died
  
May 27, 1999, The Bronx, New York City, New York, United States

Movies
  
Dirty Gertie from Harlem U.S.A., Big Timers, Tall, Tan, and Terrific, Paradise in Harlem

People also search for
  
Rex Ingram, Spencer Williams

Francine Everett - If It Isn't Love (1945)


Francine Everett (April 13, 1915 – May 27, 1999) was an African-American actress and singer who is best known for her performances in race films, independently produced motion pictures with all-black casts that were created exclusively for distribution to cinemas that catered to African-American audiences.

Contents

Francine Everett Francine Everett The Poor Mans Dorothy Dandridge

Francine everett over 40s revue


Early life

Francine Everett Francine Everett The Poor Mans Dorothy Dandridge

She was born Franciene Williamson in Louisburg, North Carolina in 1915, and her father Noah was a tailor. She married Booker Everett in 1933 when she was 18. This marriage was dissolved, and she later married actor Rex Ingram. They divorced three years later in 1939. She studied and acted with the Federal Theater in Harlem, which was sponsored by the Works Progress Administration.

Career

Francine Everett Francine Everett The Poor Mans Dorothy Dandridge

Among Everett's starring roles were the films Paradise in Harlem (1939), Keep Punching (1939) co-starring Canada Lee and Dooley Wilson, Big Timers (1945) co-starring Moms Mabley and Stepin Fetchit, Tall, Tan and Terrific (1946) with Mantan Moreland and Dots Johnson, and Dirty Gertie from Harlem U.S.A. (1946), directed by Spencer Williams.

Everett appeared as a singer in more than 50 short musical films that were produced in the 1940s, notablly Ebony on Parade (1947), which co-starred Dorothy Dandridge, Cab Calloway and the Count Basie band. She also worked as a model in print advertisements for clothing and cosmetics.

Hollywood

Everett's association with Hollywood was brief and desultory. She first arrived in Hollywood in the mid-1930s with husband Rex Ingram, but refused to accept racially demeaning stereotypical roles. After starring in Dirty Gertie from Harlem U.S.A., she had bit parts in two Hollywood films: Lost Boundaries (1949) and Sidney Poitier's first film, No Way Out (1950).

Francine Everett Francine Everett The Most Beautiful Girl in Harlem 1940s video

At the height of her career, Everett was dubbed “the most beautiful woman in Harlem” by columnist Billy Rowe in The Amsterdam News, a black-owned newspaper in New York City. Looking back at her career, filmmaker William Greaves commented: "She would have been a superstar in Hollywood were it not for the apartheid climate in America and the movie industry at the time."

Retirement

Francine Everett Francine Everett The Most Beautiful Girl in Harlem 1940s video

After retiring from the entertainment industry, Everett took a clerical job at Harlem Hospital in New York. She retired from her hospital job in 1985, and in her later years she spoke about the race films at seminars sponsored by the International Agency for Minority Artist Affairs.

Francine Everett Francine Everett Alchetron The Free Social Encyclopedia

Everett died at a nursing home in The Bronx, New York, aged 84, on May 27, 1999.

Filmography

Actress
1950
No Way Out as
Woman (uncredited)
1949
Lost Boundaries as
White Girl as Black (uncredited)
1946
Dirty Gertie from Harlem U.S.A. as
Gertie La Rue
1946
Tall, Tan, and Terrific (Short) as
Miss Tall, Tan and Terrific
1946
Stars on Parade (Short) as
Patty Lyon
1945
Big Timers (Short) as
Betty Washburn / Specialty Act
1944
Stars on Parade as
Francine Everett - The Chords Member (uncredited)
1943
Babbling Bess (Short) as
Babbling Bess (uncredited)
1939
Paradise in Harlem as
Desdemona Jones
1939
Keep Punching as
Fanny Singleton
Soundtrack
1939
Paradise in Harlem (performer: "GOSPEL VERSION OF OTHELLO" - uncredited)
Self
1996
Spencer Williams: Remembrances of an Early Black Film Pioneer (Video documentary) as
Self
1941
Toot That Trumpet (Short) as
Self
Archive Footage
1990
That's Black Entertainment (Documentary) as
Self
1947
Ebony Parade as
Self

References

Francine Everett Wikipedia