Connie Francis Biography and Filmography

Dubbed Jayne Mansfield's singing in "The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw".
After an appearance at the Westbury Music Fair in New York, November 8, 1974, Francis was raped at knifepoint at the Howard Johnson Motel where she was staying. She subsequently sued the hotel chain for failing to provide adequate security when she learned that a year after the rape occured, the broken lock to her former room had never been repaired. She was awarded a reported m.
As a child Connie Francis was asked by her father if she would rather have piano or accordian lessons. Being a child whose father played the accordian to her, Connie quickly chose the accordian. Something she regrets to date.
She previously dated singer Bobby Darin, who quickly ended the relationship once her father ran him off from one of her shows with a pistol.
She originally did not want to sing her first smash hit "Who's Sorry Now" as it was an older 1930s song. Thankfully her father convinced her otherwise.
When show host Perry wanted her to sing the Italian song "Mama" on "The Perry Como Show" (1948), she was very hesitant as she didn't want to be labeled an ethnic singer. The performance gained such a positive response that she released several records in Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese and a number of other languages.
When she first appeared on the scene she was written up in several magazines as being the new Judy Garland.
Singer/Songwriter Neil Sedaka was originally hesitant to offer the song "Stupid Cupid" to her as he thought it was much too juvenile for her.
She did not learn to drive until she was in her 20s.
She has been trying to promote a possible follow-up movie to her 1960s hit Where the Boys Are (1960) since the early 80s titled "Where The Men Are".
She has appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show a total of 26 times.
According to a broadcast on the A&E Biography channel, singer Elvis Presley attended one of her concerts and had to leave for emotional reasons once he heard her sing the song "Mama" as his mother had just recently died. The next day Elvis sent Connie two dozen yellow roses with a note apologizing for his abrupt exit.
When her first hit, "Who's Sorry Now", first aired on American Bandstand, host Dick Clark stated, "There's no doubt about it. This girl's headed straight for the #1 spot."
When she was first making demos, a New Jersey mobster approached her father and offered to place Connie's songs in every jukebox along the east coast. Mr. Franconero protested stating that if his daughter was going to make it he wanted to see her do it on her own.
The news of President John F. Kennedy's assassination reached her on the set of her third M-G-M film, Looking for Love (1964). She recorded the single "In The Summer of His Years" in honor of the fallen president and packaged it in a conservative gold sleeve with no photos. All proceeds from the song were donated to the family of a policeman who'd been slain that day in Dallas.
In 1967 she was voted Best Female Singer in Las Vegas.
She was not allowed to attend her high school prom by her parents but was permitted to attend her school's weekly chaperoned "Beehive" dances.
On July 3, 1963 she played a Command performance before Queen Elizabeth II at the Alhambra Theatre in Glasgow, Scotland.
In 1958 she earned her first million dollars, topped polls for Favorite Female Singer and received 5,000 fan letters a week.
Her first national appearance was on "Talent Scouts" (1948).
Suffers from Bipolar disorder and has to cycle off her lithium whenever she makes a personal appearence.
Was advertised in magazines to appear in an MGM movie titled "The Girl with a Definite Maybe" in 1965 but the film was never made.
Received a scholarship to study nursing after high school.
Was the Editor of her high school yearbook.
Connie was originally supposed to be born in Brooklyn, as that is where her family lived at the time. Her mother, though, had visited relatives in Newark, New Jersey and attended an all night dance when she went into labor. Thus she was born in a different state altogether.
Singer Gloria Estefan has been very vocal since the mid-1990s that she is interested in portraying Connie in a big screen movie of her life.
Stated that the two highlights of her career, thus far, were her performance of the song "Never on Sunday" at the 1961 Academy Awards Ceremony, and her performance for troops in Vietnam in 1968 in which she ended with the song "God Bless America" and the entire army of soldiers present stood and sang along, most of whom were in tears.
In 1961, singer Allan Chase released a vinyl 45 record titled "I'm In Love With Miss Connie Francis", backed with the song "Lonely Heart". The song gushes over her, often using titles of her songs in the lyrics.
One of the guests shown on the episode of "This Is Your Life" (1952) spotlighted on Connie was her 4th grade teacher. Connie said that she always appreciated her support over the years as the teacher she had the year previous told her that she'd never make it.