Frances Carson (April 1, 1895 – October 20, 1973) was an American actress on stage and in films, including three Alfred Hitchcock films.
In London, Carson appeared in Glamour (1922), The Love Habit (1923), R.U.R. (1923, with Basil Rathbone) The Last Warning (1923), Havoc (1924), The Happy Hangman (1925), The Silver Fox (1925), Virginia's Husband (1926), Aloma: A Tale of the South Seas (1926–1927), These Internationals (1928), and The Barker (1928). When she played Salome in Leonid Andreyev's Katerina in 1926, with John Gielgud, her revealing costume prompted a censor to insist that she wear a shawl on stage. She also co-wrote a play, The Unknown Woman; it was produced in London in 1927.
Her costumes were photographed and described in fashion columns. Critic Giles P. Cain noted in 1917 that "Miss Carson has some decided marks of individuality of speech and manner that bespeak her realization of the fact that merely being natural on the stage is no sign of any very great merit." Noël Coward mentioned seeing Carson dining with Irving Berlin and Elsie Janis at the Algonquin Hotel. British Pathé made a short newsreel about Carson having her fingernails painted by artist Arthur Ferrier in 1924. Also in 1924, she attended a séance with P. G. Wodehouse, Hannen Swaffer, and Donald Calthrop, and believed that she was contacted by her late husband on this occasion.
Carson had roles in several films, including Java Head (1934), Foreign Correspondent (1940), Smilin' Through (1941), Two-Faced Woman (1941), Saboteur (1942), Framing Father (1942), Scattergood Rides High (1942), and Shadow of a Doubt (1943).
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