Portrait of Frances Dee for Coming Out Party (1934). Source: Tumblr

Frances Dee was a graceful and versatile actress of 1930s and 40s movies. She and her husband actor Joel McCrea shared similar values, including giving their sons a home away from the Hollywood lifestyle. She continued to work when she could, acting in a variety of genres from costume drama to horror.

While both she and McCrea were known to be easy to work with, they had different approaches to acting. Their grandson Wyatt McCrea told Roy Rogers’ daughter Cheryl Rogers Barnett on her Along the Trails show in 2018, “My grandmother, she worked really hard, and took acting classes and studied a lot of different techniques. She always got aggravated with my grandfather because he could care less, you know, he’s like, ‘Well, if they want me, they’ll call me.’ . . . I think that [my grandmother] was a better actress. I daresay that my grandfather did a lot more films, but I think that she was probably better as an actor than he was because she put in a lot more time and really studied it. . .”

From Extra to Leading LadyFrances Dee was born in Los Angeles, yet she lived much of her life in Chicago. While attending the University of Chicago, she participated in plays by the College Dramatic Society, stimulating her to desire to become an actress, according to Australian Cessnock Eagle and South Maitland Recorder on April 20, 1934. One summer while visiting California, she went to the movie studios to work as an extra. A few months later Maurice Chevalier, well known French entertainer, selected her to star with him in Playboy of Paris (1930). Dee continued to learn her craft on set. For example, Henderson Daily News reported on April 23, 1931 that during The American Tragedy (1931), director Josef von Sternberg instructed Dee to be on set each day regardless, in order to explain the “psychology of the scene”.

Frances Dee and Buster Crabbe for King of the Jungle (1933). Source: Pinterest

This mentoring was evident in her emotiveness. Coleman Democrat Voice in 1933 detected such, describing her approach having “a forthright, simple actuality to everything which she does on the screen”. During the 1930s, she excelled in roles such as Meg March, alongside Katharine Hepburn as Jo in Little Women (1933) as well as a shy student influenced by her bold roommate played by Ginger Rogers in Finishing School (1934). Dee portrayed a modern free spirited young woman (This Reckless Age) as convincingly as an overworked secretary who wins a sweepstakes (The Gay Deception) or adventurous reporter covering natural disasters (Headline Shooter). In the August 29, 1936 edition of the Mirror, as one of the several actors asked to describe Hollywood, she said, “Hollywood is the only place in the world where a woman can make as much money as a man.”

Actress & MotherIn the mid 1930s Dee made fewer movies to spend time with her sons. Living at the ranch was an adjustment, since she had grown up in cities. Soon it became a retreat from her work that allowed her to maintain perspective. To World’s News on August 8, 1953, Dee said, “When we first went to the ranch to live I was a little dubious about it. I felt rather isolated, particularly when Joel was away on location and couldn’t come home at night. I’m not particularly gregarious, but at times it would have been nice to have had closer neighbors. We missed some parties and other events I would have liked to attend. But, on the other hand, much of Hollywood’s social life is really business—a matter of keeping up with the business, or being seen, or fearing to offend.” Often described as delicate looking, Dee was strong and worked at the ranch in the gardens of vegetables and fruits among other tasks.

Joan Bennett and Frances Dee in Mexico as two of the reported 126 total performers who entertained army troops there in 1942. Source: Tumblr

She co-starred with the ranks of Gary Cooper, Ronald Colman and Randolph Scott. Even with roles that didn’t make use of her range, she created a memorable performance. A review of Wells Fargo (1937), which also starred Joel McCrea, in News Adelaide noticed her ability to add original touches to her character and wrote Dee “[gave] several novel twists to a role that might otherwise have been rather too familiar.” Studios who wanted an actress under contract for a select number of movies a year may have factored in the challenge of strong lead roles. A critic in the Australian Independent on February 27, 1941 speculated, “. . .Frances [Dee], perhaps has not been as much of a success as Joel-perhaps because she hasn’t had the right roles and the opportunities.” During the early 1940s she worked with John Wayne in the drama A Man Betrayed (1941) and William Holden in the romantic comedy Meet the Stewarts (1942). On set of the latter film, she told the Australian Women’s Weekly on June 27, 1942, “I must admit that now I’m anxious to get into the Hollywood swim again. But ranch life is the best for the children. Joel and I want a normal life for them . . . [After Meet the Stewarts] then I’m prepared to make three or four pictures a year, freelancing of course.”

A Welcome ReturnWhile she never did return to acting in films regularly, Dee’s love for her craft included establishing a community drama club, according to the Louisville Times on January 21, 1943. A stage was built in the barn on the ranch for the club to use whenever they wanted. During the times she’d appear in a film, critics welcomed seeing her perform again. Furthermore, her peers never forgot about her. In 1951 she told the Healdsburg Tribune about her role in Payment on Demand at Bette Davis’s request, “Producer Jack Skirball told me I was called at Bette’s suggestion. That was really a heart-warming surprise. I hadn’t seen Bette since we worked together on this same RKO lot in ‘Of Human Bondage’ back in 1934.”

Studio portrait of Frances Dee, circa 1948. Source: Tumblr

Unlike actors who were distant, Frances Dee was personable. During Mr. Scoutmaster (1953), it was noted she only went to her dressing room for a costume change, otherwise spending time with the crew. She said to Cessnock Eagle and South Maitland Recorder on November 13, 1953, “It’s a funny thing, but I’ve always wanted to know what was happening and what people were saying on a set, so I stay in the centre [sic] of activity.” Similar to 20 years before when she was starting out, Dee was curious to learn and kindhearted, a trait she had her whole life. While Wyatt McCrea respected his grandparents individually and for prioritizing family, he said to Cheryl Rogers Barnett in 2018, “My grandmother made the conscious decision to kind of scale back when she started having a family. When the kids got to be about school age, she backed off to about one film a year. Then in ’54 she made her last movie, but I always wondered the same thing—that if she had really not had any restrictions how far might have gone as an actress. I think she would have hit the ceiling.”