Anne Francis, Star of 'Honey West,' Dead at 80

Anne Francis, who played the first female detective on a TV series in ABC's 'Honey West' in 1965, has passed away.

Francis died of pancreatic cancer in Santa Barbara, Calif. She was 80.

To list Francis' roles on TV would be like listing all of the shows that were made between 1949 and 2004. Let's just say she appeared in a lot of programs, including 'Kraft Theater,' 'Rawhide,' 'The Untouchables,' 'Route 66,' 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents,' 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.,' 'The Invaders,' 'Mission: Impossible,' 'My Three Sons,' 'Columbo,' 'Dallas,' 'Home Improvement,' 'Wings' and 'Without a Trace.'

She also guest starred in a classic episode of 'The Twilight Zone' that was shown last weekend during Syfy's marathon of the show. She played the scared woman who becomes one of the mannequins in the department store in the episode 'The After Hours.' She also played Mama Jo, the woman who owned the charter boat with the all-female crew, on the first season of 'Riptide.'

Francis also appeared in one of the classic science fiction films of the 1950s, 'Forbidden Planet,' and in other movies including 'The Blackboard Jungle,' 'Hook, Line, and Sinker,' 'Bad Day at Black Rock' and 'Funny Girl.'

On a personal note, Francis was the best friend of a good friend of mine, and I've heard that she was a really nice woman. She had a lot of great stories about her time in Hollywood.

Francis was married twice and leaves two daughters and a grandson.