# James Franciscus

James Grover Franciscus (January 31, 1934 – July 8, 1991) was an American actor, known for his roles in feature films and in six television series: Mr. Novak, Naked City, The Investigators, Longstreet, Doc Elliot, and Hunter.

## Life and career

Franciscus was born in Clayton, Missouri, to Lorraine (née Grover) and John Allen Franciscus, who was killed during World War II when James was nine. In 1957, Franciscus received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and theatre arts from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, where he graduated magna cum laude. He was a classmate of Dick Cavett and Bill Hinnant. At Yale, he joined Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity.
His first major role was as Detective Jim Halloran in the half-hour version of ABC's Naked City. Franciscus guest starred on the CBS military comedy–drama Hennesey, starring Jackie Cooper, and on the NBC drama about family conflicts in the American Civil War entitled The Americans. CBS soon cast him in the lead in the 13-week series The Investigators, which aired from October 5 to December 28, 1961. He played the insurance investigator Russ Andrews, with James Philbrook as a co-star. Franciscus was also cast in the role of Tom Grover in the 1961 episode "The Empty Heart" of the CBS anthology series The DuPont Show with June Allyson. He performed in many feature films and television programs throughout the 1960s and 1970s, preceded by a minor role in an episode of The Twilight Zone titled "Judgment Night" in 1959, and a major role in episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents: "Forty Detectives Later" in 1960, and "Summer Shade" in 1961.
He starred in I Passed for White (1960), and in 1963, he appeared as Mike Norris in the episode "Hang By One Hand" on the NBC medical drama about psychiatry, The Eleventh Hour. He also guest-starred on Combat!, The F.B.I. and Miracle of the White Stallions. Franciscus may be best remembered for his title roles in NBC's Mr. Novak (1963–65) and ABC's Longstreet (1971–72) which included his blind character taking martial arts lessons in Jeet Kune Do from Bruce Lee as Li Tsung in four episodes, and for his vocal performance in the movie version of Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1973). Along with Lloyd Bridges, he served as host of the syndicated real-life adventure series Waterworld, which aired from 1972 to 1975. In 1977, he starred in his fifth television series, the short-lived Hunter, as a secret agent.
He was also frequently seen in feature films of the 1960s and 1970s such as Youngblood Hawke, Snow Treasure, The Amazing Dobermans, Marooned, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, City on Fire, When Time Ran Out, The Valley of Gwangi, and The Greek Tycoon. Over the years, Franciscus found film work with Italian cinema. In 1971, he accepted the lead role in Dario Argento's second film, The Cat o' Nine Tails. In 1979, he appeared in Antonio Margheriti's Killer Fish, and in 1980, he starred in director Enzo G. Castellari's Jaws-inspired Great White (aka The Last Shark).
He continued appearing in roles on the screen and television. When less important roles were offered, Franciscus turned to writing screenplays and producing. In 1991, the year of his death, he worked as an associate producer and screenwriter on the film 29th Street starring Anthony LaPaglia and Danny Aiello; it was his final project.

## Personal life

In the summer of 1956, while working as the stage manager at the Cape Playhouse in Dennis, Massachusetts, Franciscus dated his apprentice, Jane Fonda. In her autobiography My Life So Far (2005), Fonda identifies Franciscus as the boy to whom she lost her virginity.
On March 28, 1960, Franciscus married Kathleen "Kitty" Wellman, a daughter of film director William A. Wellman. They had four children — Jamie, Kellie, Korie, and Jolie. After the couple's divorce, he married Carla Ankney in 1980. They were still married at the time of Franciscus's 1991 death from emphysema in North Hollywood, California, at 57.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1957 | Four Boys and a Gun | Johnny Doyle | |
| 1958 | The Mugger | Eddie Baxter | |
| 1960 | I Passed for White | Rick Leyton | |
| 1961 | The Outsider | Private James B. Sorenson | |
| 1963 | Miracle of the White Stallions | Major Hoffman | |
| 1964 | Youngblood Hawke | Youngblood Hawke | |
| 1968 | Snow Treasure | Second Lieutenant H. Kalasch | |
| 1969 | The Valley of Gwangi | Tuck Kirby | |
| 1969 | Marooned | Clayton Stone | |
| 1969 | The Great Sex War | Un­known | |
| 1970 | Hell Boats | Lieutenant Commander Jeffords, R.N.V.R. | |
| 1970 | Beneath the Planet of the Apes | Brent | |
| 1971 | The Cat o' Nine Tails | Carlo Giordani | |
| 1971 | Kidnapped | — | Uncredited producer |
| 1973 | Jonathan Livingston Seagull | Jonathan Livingston Seagull (voice) | |
| 1974 | Aloha Means Goodbye | Dr. Lawrence Maddox | |
| 1976 | The Amazing Dobermans | Lucky | |
| 1978 | Good Guys Wear Black | Conrad Morgan | |
| 1978 | The Greek Tycoon | President James Cassidy | |
| 1979 | Concorde Affaire '79 | Moses Brody | |
| 1979 | City on Fire | Jimbo | |
| 1979 | Killer Fish | Paul Diller | |
| 1980 | When Time Ran Out... | Bob Spangler | |
| 1980 | Nightkill | Steve Fulton | |
| 1981 | The Last Shark | Peter Benton | |
| 1982 | Butterfly | Moke Blue | |
| 1983 | Great Transport | John Mason | |
| 1991 | 29th Street | — | Associate producer and story writer |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1957 | Studio One | Brass | Episode: "A Walk in the Forest" |
| 1958 | Studio One | Brass | Episode: "A Walk in the Forest" |
| 1958 | Studio One | Norstad | Episode: "Kurishiki Incident" |
| 1958 | Studio One | Johnny | Episode: "The Strong Man" |
| 1958 | Have Gun – Will Travel | Tom Nelson | Episode: "Deliver the Body" |
| 1958 | The Silent Service | Lieutenant John R. Bertrand | Episode: "The Bowfin Story" |
| 1958–1959 | Naked City | Detective Jimmy Halloran | Main role; 39 episodes |
| 1959 | Tales of Wells Fargo | Joe Braddock | Episode: "The Stage Line" |
| 1959 | Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse | Clay Darrow | Episode: "Six Guns for Donegan" |
| 1959 | Whirlybirds | Jerry Lambert / Tom Drake | Episode: "Dead Wrong" |
| 1959 | The Twilight Zone | Lieutenant Mueller | Episode: "Judgment Night" |
| 1959 | Father Knows Best | Bill Shappard | Episode: "Bud, the Willing Worker" |
| 1959 | The Rifleman | Philip Simmons | Episode: "The Legacy" |
| 1959 | Death Valley Days | Mike Ward | Episode: "Lady of the Press" |
| 1960 | The Millionaire | Tom Doane | Episode: "The Story of Margaret Stoneham" |
| 1960 | Wagon Train | John Colter | Episode: "The Benjamin Burns Story" |
| 1960 | Hennesey | Williams | Episode: "The Annapolis Man" |
| 1960 | Black Saddle | Quinn Jackson | Episode: "The Penalty" |
| 1960 | Alfred Hitchcock Presents | William Tyre | Season 5 Episode 28: "Forty Detectives Later" |
| 1960 | Rawhide | Andy Nye | S2:E28, "Incident of the Murder Steer" |
| 1960 | The Deputy | William Emerson Stanhope / Billy Bart | Episode: "Mother and Son" |
| 1961 | Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Ben Kendall | Season 6 Episode 15: "Summer Shade" |
| 1961 | The DuPont Show with June Allyson | Tom Grover | Episode: "The Guilty Heart" |
| 1961 | General Electric Theater | Bill Taylor | Episode: "Love Is a Lion's Roar" |
| 1961 | The Americans | Lieutenant Hannon | Episode: "The Invaders" |
| 1961 | The Investigators | Russ Andrews | Main role; 13 episodes |
| 1962 | Ben Casey | John Wickware | Episode: "So Oft It Chances in Particular Men" |
| 1963 | Dr. Kildare | Stan Fisher | Episode: "Jail Ward" |
| 1963 | The Eleventh Hour | Mike Norris | Episode: "Hang by One Hand" |
| 1963–1965 | Mr. Novak | John Novak | Main role; 60 episodes |
| 1965 | Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre | Larry Martin | Episode: "Escape into Jeopardy" |
| 1966 | 12 O'Clock High | Captain Tom Carpenter | Episode: "Cross-Hairs on Death" |
| 1966 | Combat! | Private First Class Charles Harris | Episode: "Decision" |
| 1967 | The F.B.I. | Charles Burnett | Episode: "Force of Nature" |
| 1968 | Judd, for the Defense | Father William Chitwood | Episode: "The Devil's Surrogate" |
| 1968 | Shadow Over Elveron | Dr. Matthew Tregaskis | Television film |
| 1968 | The F.B.I. | Mitchell Flynn | Episode: "Out of Control" |
| 1968 | Heidi | — | Television film; also producer |
| 1969 | Trial Run | Louis Coleman | Television film |
| 1970 | Night Slaves | Clay Howard | Television film |
| 1970 | Jane Eyre | — | Television film; also producer |
| 1971–1972 | Longstreet | Mike Longstreet | Main role; 24 episodes |
| 1972 | Ghost Story | Paul Dover | Episode: "At the Cradle Foot" |
| 1973 | The 500 Pound Jerk | Gil Davenport | Television film |
| 1973 | The Red Pony | — | Television film; also producer |
| 1973–1974 | Doc Elliot | Dr. Benjamin Elliot | Main role; 15 episodes |
| 1975 | The Dream Makers | Sammy Stone | Television film |
| 1975 | The Trial of Chaplain Jensen | Chaplain Andrew Jensen | Television film |
| 1975 | Insight | The Psychiatrist | Episode: "The Man from Inner Space" |
| 1975 | A Girl Named Sooner | — | Television film; also uncredited producer |
| 1976 | One of My Wives Is Missing | Daniel Corban | Television film |
| 1976–1977 | Hunter | James Hunter | Main role; 13 episodes |
| 1977 | The Man Inside | Rush | Television film |
| 1978 | Secrets of Three Hungry Wives | Mark Powers | Television film |
| 1978 | The Pirate | Dick Carriage | Television film |
| 1978 | Puzzle | Harry Scott | Television film |
| 1981 | Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy | President John F. Kennedy | Television film |
| 1985 | Secret Weapons | Colonel Victor Khudenko | Television film |
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