After her appearance on TV’s Land of the Giants in 1970, Francine York told an interviewer, “I can’t escape playing the big parts. Why can’t I play the girl next door? It seems I’m always blowing up the world or something.” Standing 5-foot-8 and measuring 38-23-35, it is no wonder the statuesque dark-haired beauty was usually cast in bigger-than-life roles. Francine made her film debut in the cult low-budget Secret File: Hollywood. She then progressed from featured roles in the early sixties opposite Jerry Lewis, Marlon Brando, and Elvis Presley to starring roles in such cult drive-in movies as Curse of the Swamp Creatures, Space Monster, and The Doll Squad.
On TV, Francine York held the Robinson family captive on Lost in Space, vamped the Dynamic Duo on Batman, beguiled Robert Conrad on The Wild, Wild West, and became the living goddess Venus de Milo on Bewitched. Francine became so adept at playing these types of roles, that years later when the casting director of the seventies Saturday morning series Jason of Star Command asked her if she could play the evil queen, she replied jokingly, “I am the queen!” Always a pro, York had the ability to command and dominate the screen with her poise and confidence. She has energetically played so many different roles wearing a variety of wigs and using an assortment of dialects (Italian, French, British, Southern, etc.) that she became somewhat of a chameleon in Hollywood. No one ever criticized her for giving a lazy performance. And in a business that can be cruel, especially to older actresses, the self-determined Francine continues to act today.
Read my interview with Francine York in my book Fantasy Femmes of Sixties Cinema and keep an eye out for her upcoming memoir!
https://youtu.be/gvf55tSFJUA