Frances Langford

Actress and band singer Frances Langford began her movie career in 1935, playing part of a singing-sister act (with Alice Faye and Patsy Kelly) in Every Night at Eight. She flourished in the 1940s as a vocalist on Bob Hope's radio program and with her own weekly series. Never a brilliant actress, Langford was often a very good one: her better films include Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), in which she played turn-of-the-century entertainer Nora Bayes, and The Bamboo Blonde (1945), a fanciful reenactment of her many wartime USO tours. Collectors of comedy record albums will fondly recall Langford for her many co-starring stints with Don Ameche as the battling Bickersons. Frances Langford ended her show-business career in the early 1960s, opting for retirement with her third husband, the owner of Evinrude Motors.

~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide