Anne Francis (born September 16 1930, in Ossining, New York) is an American actress, famous for her role in the science fiction film classic Forbidden Planet (1956) and as private detective Honey West in the television series Honey West (1965-1966).

For her role in Honey West, Francis won the Golden Globe award as best actress in a TV series, and she was nominated for an Emmy award for the same role.

Francis entered show business at a young age, working as a model at age 5, to help her family make ends meet during the Great Depression, and making her Broadway debut at age 11. Over her career, Ms. Francis appeared in scores of TV shows and several movies, including several appearances on The Twilight Zone, including the title character in "Jess-Belle," and most notably as Marsha White in the episode titled "The After Hours". In it, Francis is gradually revealed as a department store mannequin who has enjoyed a brief vacation amongst the living. Francis was a mainstay of 1970s television movies, and she returned to TV to portray "Mama Jo" for the 1984-86 TV-detective series Riptide.

In 1956, Anne appeared as Altaira in Forbidden Planet, a quite literate and well-produced "A" picture (based upon William Shakespeare's The Tempest), released by Metro Goldwyn Mayer, co-starring Walter Pidgeon and Leslie Nielsen. Playing the naive daughter of Pidgeon's brilliant but conflicted Dr. Morbius (the "Prospero" character from "The Tempest"), she added a touch of budding sexuality. Her character's love interest was a serious starship captain played by Leslie Nielsen. The role garnered her a generation of baby-boomer sci-fi fans.

In 1965, Francis turned to series television and was cast as "Private Eyeful" Honey West, a sexy private detective with a pet ocelot. The character was initially introduced on the popular TV series Burke's Law. Although the half-hour Honey West lasted only one season, the role added lustre to the actress' reputation. Anne is still widely recognized, as indicated in the lyrics of the song Science Fiction Double Feature from The Rocky Horror Show. During the 1981-82 television season, she had a recurring role as Alyssa Cooper on Dallas.

Francis was married to Bamlet L. Price, Jr., from May 1952 to April 1955, and to Dr. Robert Abeloff from 1960-1964. Abeloff and Francis had one daughter. She did not remarry after divorcing Dr. Abeloff. As of March 2006, she lives in Santa Barbara, California.

In 1953, Anne's measurements were a trim 34-22-34 as a starlet. By 1965, in time for her Honey West role, she was a more well-rounded 36-24-36.

She is currently battling lung cancer, and documenting her progress on her web site.

Beautiful, curvaceous, mole-lipped Anne Francis got into show business quite early in life. At age 6, she became a John Robert Powers model and swiftly moved into radio soaps in New York. By 11, she was on Broadway with Gertrude Lawrence in "Lady in the Dark". MGM put her under contract after WWII where she appeared in a couple of obscure starlet bits, both musical and dramatic, but nothing came of it. Trekking back to New York, she appeared to good notice during TV's "Golden Age" and was discovered by Darryl F. Zanuck as a juvenile delinquent in the low budget film So Young So Bad (1950), which led to a 20th-Century Fox contract. She soon starred in a number of promising blonde ingenue roles, including Elopement (1951), Lydia Bailey (1952) and Dreamboat (1952), along with co-starring opposite some of Hollywood's finest leading man in some noteworthy 50s classics: Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) opposite Spencer Tracy and Robert Ryan (I), Blackboard Jungle (1955) starring Glenn Ford (I) and a rising Sidney Poitier, and the sci-fi classic Forbidden Planet (1956) with a dead-serious Leslie Nielsen. But, for the most part, her roles emphasized her fetching looks than her acting ability and she soon refocused, finding a comfortable niche on 60s television. She found a most appreciative audience as an Emma Peel-like detective in the short-lived cult series "Honey West" (1965), where she combined glamour and a sexy veneer with judo throws and karate chops. She returned to films only on occasion after that, the most controversial being Funny Girl (1968), in which her co-starring role as Barbra Streisand's chorine pal was reduced to a glorified cameo and a lawsuit ensued. She also appeared gratuitously opposite top film comics in some of their worst vehicles: Hook, Line and Sinker (1969) starring Jerry Lewis (I), and Love God?, The (1969) with Don Knotts, which did absolutely nothing to further her career. She remained, however, a bright, colorful, decorative, wise-cracking presence in a slew of TV-movies well into the 90s. For such a promising start and with such amazing stamina and longevity, the girl with the sexy mole really deserved better.