Francine York

Francine York (born Francine Yerich; August 26, 1936 – January 6, 2017) was an American actress and model. She also used her birth name Francine Yerich in her occupation.

Early life Francine Yerich was born to Frank and Sophie Yerich in the small mining town of Aurora, Minnesota.

Actress Film York's first screen role was in Robert Clarke's Hollywood exploitation film Secret File Hollywood shot in 1960 but not distributed until 1962. Her big break came when Jerry Lewis cast her in It's Only Money, in which she played a tantalizing sexpot, a role which brought her much publicity. This led to Lewis hiring her for five more of his films, including The Nutty Professor, The Patsy, The Disorderly Orderly, The Family Jewels, and Cracking Up, in which she portrayed a 15th-century marquise. Other film appearances include Bedtime Story, Tickle Me, Cannon for Cordoba, and science fiction cult films such as Curse of the Swamp Creature, Mutiny in Outer Space, and Space Probe Taurus. In The Doll Squad (1973), she played CIA agent Sabrina Kincaid. She portrayed Marilyn Monroe in Marilyn: Alive and Behind Bars, and in 2000, she played Nicolas Cage's mother-in-law in The Family Man. Wendy Wendkoski on Slattery's People, and Kate Landis on The Courtship of Eddie's Father. In 1964, she appeared as Nurse Norma in My Favorite Martian S1 E37 "Uncle Martins Wisdom Tooth". York played Lillie Langtry (with Peter Whitney as Judge Roy Bean) in the 1965 episode "A Picture of a Lady" of the syndicated television anthology series, Death Valley Days. York was featured in five episodes of Burke's Law between 1964 and 1965, and made two guest appearances on Perry Mason, including the role of Ursula Quigley in the 1965 episode "The Case of the Wrongful Writ" and as co-defendant Bobbi Dane in the 1966 episode "The Case of the Sausalito Sunrise".

She appeared as Noble Niolani, a military leader from a matriarchal society where males were subjugated, in Lost in Space Season 2, Episode 25 "The Colonists" (1966). She also appeared in the Green Acres segment “The Agricultural Student;” and in “Marry Me, Marry Me”, a 1966 episode of Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C..

On Batman she appeared as Lydia Limpit in episodes 29 and 30 "The Bookworm Turns/While Gotham City Burns" (1966). However, she was the decade-long companion to director Vincent Sherman until his death in 2006. She died on January 6, 2017, in Van Nuys, California from cancer, aged 80. She had been working on her autobiography.

Filmography