Actor, Jazz Musician Don Francks Dies at 84
He was not on the list.
Francks played Walter in the 'La Femme Nikita' series after
guest starring on classic American TV
Canadian actor and jazz vocalist Don Francks, a veteran of
classic American cop and detective TV shows like Mission Impossible, Mannix and
The Man From U.N.C.L.E., died Sunday after a battle with cancer. He was 84.
His Toronto agent Jennifer Goldhar on Monday confirmed his
death. Born in Vancouver on Feb. 28, 1932, Francks, as a young jazz musician
and vocalist, drove east to Toronto and starred in a host of 1950s CBC TV
specials.
He later moved to New York City, where he performed in the
1960s at the Blue Angel and recorded a live album at the Village Vanguard.
His acting career got started with the CBC in 1954 as a
regular on Burns Chuckwagon From the Stampede Corral, a Western-themed series
with musical artists, and other Canadian shows such as Riding High and The
Adventures of Tugboat Annie.
In the 1960s, he also guest starred on classic U.S. TV
series including The Wild Wild West, The Virginian and Ben Casey, and played
the role of U.S. Army captain Franklin Sheppard on the short-lived 1966 drama
Jericho.
On the movie front, Francks co-starred alongside Petula
Clark and Fred Astaire in Francis Ford Coppola's 1968 fantasy musical Finian's
Rainbow.
After leaving entertainment to live on the Red Pheasant
Reserve in Saskatchewan as Iron Buffalo, Francks returned to Toronto in 1974.
His subsequent film and TV credits included Joel Surnow's La Femme Nikita, in
which he played the role of Walter; The Listener; My Bloody Valentine; and more
recently a stint on Gangland Undercover.
Director Jon Cassar (24) paid tribute to Francks on his
Twitter account over the weekend: "Sad day. Don Francks has left us. He
truly was 1 of a kind. Honored to have worked with him those years on Nikita
RIP."
He is survived by his wife, Lili Francks, and four children,
actress Cree Summer Francks (A Different World, Inspector Gadget),
actor/songwriter Rainbow Francks, Trane Francks and Tyler Francks.
Selected filmography
Film
Year Title Role Notes
1981 Heavy Metal Grimaldi / Co-Pilot / Barbarian (voice) segments "Grimaldi",
"B-17","Taarna"
1981 My Bloody
Valentine Chief Jake Newby
1983 Rock &
Rule Mok (voice)
1987 The Big Town Carl Hooker
1995 Johnny
Mnemonic Hooky
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1978 Star Wars
Holiday Special Boba Fett
(voice) Television film
Uncredited
1983 Inspector
Gadget Big M.A.D Agent / M.A.D
Agent / Dr. Claw (voice) 65
Episodes
1985-1986 Star
Wars: Ewoks Umwak / Dulok
Shaman (voice)
1985 Star Wars:
Droids Jann Tosh / Kybo Ren /
Boba Fett (voice) 13
Episodes
1988-1989 Police
Academy Proctor / Thomas
"House" Conklin (voice) 64
Episodes
1989 The Legend of
Zelda Additional voices 13 Episodes
1991 Swamp Thing Anton Arcane (voice) 5 Episodes
1992-1996 X-Men
Sabretooth / Graydon Creed Sr. / Puck /
Shaman / Phalanx (Sabretooth) (voice) 17
Episodes
1996 Goosebumps Swamp Hermit Episode: "The Werewolf of Fever Swamp" Parts 1 & 2
1997-2001 La
Femme Nikita Walter 96 Episodes
1998 Donkey Kong
Country (voice)
1998 Silver Surfer
Kalok (voice) Episode: "The Origin of the Silver
Surfer: Part 1"
1998 Sam &
Max: Freelance Police Santa Claus
(voice) Episode: "Christmas
Bloody Christmas"
2010-2011 The
Adventures of Chuck and Friends Deep
(voice) 2 Episodes
Videogames
Year Title Role Notes
1996 X-Men vs.
Street Fighter Sabretooth
2000 Marvel vs.
Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes Uncredited
X-Men: Mutant Academy
2001 X-Men: Mutant
Academy 2
Ivy League Killers
(1959) .... Andy
R.C.M.P.
(1959–1960, TV Series) .... Constable Bill Mitchell
Drylanders (1963)
.... Russel
The Forest Rangers (1963, TV Series) ....
Sanders, Jack Brass' Friend
Ben Casey (1965,
TV Series) .... Alan Ames
High Steel (1966)
.... Narrator
The Wild Wild West
(1966, TV Series) .... T. Wiggett Jones
The Man from
U.N.C.L.E. (1966, TV Series) .... Artie King
Jericho (1966 TV
series) (1966-1967, TV Series) .... Captain Franklin Sheppard
Finian's Rainbow
(1968) .... Woody Mahoney
The Merv Griffin
Show (1968, TV Series) .... Himself
The Virginian
(1969, TV Series) .... Caleb and Jack Welles
Mission:
Impossible (1968-1969, TV Series) .... Major Alex Denesch / Nicholas Groat
Mannix (1969, TV
Series) .... Greg Martel
Lancer (1969, TV
Series) .... Noah Fletcher
Mister Rogers'
Neighborhood (1968–1970, TV Series) .... Mr. Anybody
McCabe & Mrs.
Miller (1971) .... Buffalo
Drying Up the
Streets (1978) .... Peter Brennan
The Great
Detective (1979, TV Series)
Fast Company
(1979) .... Elder
Riel (1979, TV
Movie) .... Ouilette
Fish Hawk (1979)
.... Deut Boggs
Summer's Children
(1979) .... Albert
The Phoenix Team
(1980, Series) .... David Brook
My Bloody
Valentine (1981) .... Chief Jake Newby
This Land
(1978–1982, TV Series) .... Host
Inspector Gadget
(1983, TV Series) .... Big M.A.D Agent / M.A.D Agent / Dr. Claw (voice)
Countdown to
Looking Glass (1984, TV Movie) .... Don Geller
The Littlest Hobo
(1984, TV Series) .... Reverend Dobson
Seeing Things
(1984-1985, TV Series) .... Guy / Sunshine
Jayce and the
Wheeled Warriors (1985, TV Series) .... Noak (voice)
Terminal Choice
(1985) .... Chauncy Rand
Danger Bay (1986,
TV Series) .... Commentator
Alfred Hitchcock
Presents (1987, TV Series) .... Sgt. Jim Willis
The Big Town
(1987) .... Carl Hooker
My Pet Monster
(1987, TV Series) .... (voice)
Madballs (1987, TV
Series) .... Commander Wolf Breath (voice)
Starcom: The U.S.
Space Force (1987, TV Series) .... Adm. Franklin Brinkley (Starcom Commander)
(voice)
Street Legal
(1987, TV Series) .... Mel
Oklahoma Smugglers
(1987) .... George Taip
AlfTales (1988, TV
Series) .... (voice)
Captain Power and
the Soldiers of the Future (1987-1988, TV Series) .... Lacchi (voice)
Garbage Pail Kids
(1988, TV Series) .... (voice)
Care Bears
Nutcracker Suite (1988) .... The Vizier (voice)
The Christmas Wife
(1988, TV Movie) .... Social Arranger
The Care Bears
(1986-1988, TV Series) .... (voice)
ALF: The Animated
Series (1987-1989, TV Series) .... (voice)
Police Academy
(1988-1989, TV Series) .... Proctor / Thomas "House" Conklin (voice)
The Legend of
Zelda (1989, TV Series) .... (voice)
Babar (1989, TV
Series) .... (voice)
Beetlejuice (1989)
.... Count Mein / Mr. Big (voice)
Piggsburg Pigs
(1990, TV Series) .... (voice)
Top Cops (1991, TV
Series) .... Dakota
Swamp Thing (1991)
.... Anton Arcane (voice)
Rupert (1991, TV
Series) .... (voice)
Married to It
(1991) .... Sol Chamberlain
Dog City (1992, TV
Series) .... the Dog City Residents (voice)
The Adventures of
Tintin (1992, TV Series) .... Captain Francis Haddock (voice)
Quiet Killer
(1992, TV Movie) .... Dr. Martin
E.N.G. (1992, TV
Series) .... Pointer
The Diviners
(1993, TV Movie) .... Royland
The Busy World of
Richard Scarry (1993, TV Series) .... (voice)
Cadillacs and
Dinosaurs (1993-1994, TV Series) .... Girth / Hobbs
Paint Cans (1994)
.... Maitland Burns
Tales from the
Cryptkeeper (1993-1994, TV Series) .... The Hunter / The Exterminator / Red
Beard (voice)
Hello Kitty and
Friends (1994, TV Series) .... (voice)
Side Effects
(1994, TV Series) .... Mr. Harrison
Free Willy (1994,
TV Series) .... (voice)
WildC.A.T.S.
(1994, TV Series) .... (voice)
Kung Fu: The
Legend Continues (1994, TV Series) .... Stranger
Highlander: The
Animated Series (1994, TV Series) .... (voice)
Ultraforce (1995,
TV Series) .... (voice)
Little Bear (1995,
TV Series) .... (voice)
A Vow to Kill
(1995, TV Movie) .... Smithford
Johnny Mnemonic
(1995) .... Hooky
First Degree
(1995) .... Lou Matlin
The Neverending
Story (1995, TV Series) .... Gmork (voice)
Road to Avonlea
(1991-1995, TV Series) .... Abe Pike
Ace Ventura: Pet
Detective (1996, TV Series) .... (voice)
Blazing Dragons
(1996, Video Game) .... (voice)
Flash Gordon
(1996, TV Series) .... (voice)
Goosebumps (1996,
TV Series) .... Swamp Hermit
Hostile Advances:
The Kerry Ellison Story (1996, TV Movie) .... Marty
Harriet the Spy
(1996) .... Harrison Withers
Bogus (1996) ....
Dr. Surprise
Journey to the
Center of the Earth (1996, TV Movie) .... (voice)
First Degree
(1997) .... Lou Matlin
Chester Cheetah
(1997, TV Series) .... (voice)
La Femme Nikita
(1997–2001, TV Series) .... Walter
Freaky Stories
(1997, TV Series) .... (voice)
Pippi Longstocking
(1997, TV Series) .... (voice)
Ned's Newt (1997,
TV Series) .... (voice)
Fat Dog Mendoza
(1998, TV Series) .... (voice)
Birdz (1998, TV
Series) .... (voice)
Bad Dog (1998, TV
Series) .... (voice)
Donkey Kong
Country (1998, TV Series) .... (voice)
Eerie, Indiana:
The Other Dimension (1998, TV Series) .... Sandman
The Minion (1998)
.... Michael Baer
Summer of the
Monkeys (1998) .... Bayliss Hatcher
Little Men (1998,
TV Series) .... Levi Cole
Traders (1998, TV
Series)
Mythic Warriors:
Guardians of the Legend (1998, TV Series) .... Blue-Eyed Wolf / Sailor #2
(voice)
Mr. Music (1998,
TV Movie) .... Zal Adamchyk
Rescue Heroes
(1999, TV Series) .... (voice)
Avengers: United
They Stand (1999, TV Series) .... (voice)
Relic Hunter
(1999, TV Series) .... Jake Whitney
Seasons of Love
(1999, TV Series) .... Reverend Doctor Garshwin
Psi Factor:
Chronicles of the Paranormal (2000, TV Series) .... Samuel Thompson
Marvel vs. Capcom
2: New Age of Heroes (2000, Video Game) .... Sabretooth / Victor Creed
The Famous Jett
Jackson (2000, TV Series) .... Phil Phelps
Medabots (2001, TV
Series) .... (voice)
Earth: Final
Conflict (2001, TV Series) .... Kyle Madrid
The Zack Files
(2001, TV Series) .... Raoul
A Killing Spring
(2002, TV Movie) .... Lou Massey
Tracker (2002, TV
Series) .... Wahota Keene
My Name Is Tanino
(2002) .... Chinawsky [5]
Eckhart (2002, TV
Series) .... Boss Mouse (voice)
Call of the Wild
(2002)
Cyberchase (2002,
TV Series) .... (voice)
Beyblade (2002, TV
Series) .... (voice)
Knights of the
Zodiac (2003, TV Series) .... (voice)
My Dad the Rock
Star (2003, TV Series) .... Skunk (voice)
Atomic Betty
(2004, Episodes: "No-L9", "Like Father, Like Scum/Planet
Stinxx") .... Max Sr. (voice)
This Is Wonderland
(2004-2005, TV Series) .... Stan Puck
Lie with Me (2005)
.... Joshua
The Very Good
Adventures of Yam Roll in Happy Kingdom (2006, TV Series) .... Futukayoi
(voice)
Puppets Who Kill
(2004-2006, TV Series) .... Blind Willy / The Evil Head
Sons of Butcher
(2006, TV Series) .... Barney G.
I'm Not There
(2007) .... Gentleman Hobo (Hobo Joe) on the train
The Listener
(2009, TV Series) ... Wally
Hemlock Grove
(2013, TV Series) .... Nicolae Rumancek
He Never Died
(2015) .... Goatee Man
Gangland
Undercover (2015, TV Series) .... Lizard
The Second Time
Around (2016) .... Murray (final film role)
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