Francine was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey, to Philadelphia socialite parents Albert and Emilie Francine. She was raised in the
Main Line region of suburban Philadelphia. She won an amateur singing contest and began performing as a cabaret singer in the 1930s at the Coq Rouge. She made her
Broadway debut in 1954 with
Shirley Booth in
By the Beautiful Sea. She stepped in for
Bea Arthur as Vera Charles in the 1966 Broadway production of
Mame, starring
Angela Lansbury. She and Lansbury reprised their characters in the 1983 revival. She last appeared on Broadway in 1987 as Mrs. Harcourt in the Lincoln Center revival of
Anything Goes, starring
Patti LuPone. She portrayed the role of villain Flora Simpson Reilly in the American television series
Harper Valley PTA. In 1979, she starred as
the Evil Queen in the
musical adaption of the 1937 animated film
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Her film work included Fellini's
Juliet of the Spirits (1965),
Stand Up and Be Counted (1972),
Savages (1972), and
Crocodile Dundee (1986). She taught cabaret singers at the
Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center in
Waterford, Connecticut even after losing her ability to speak after a stroke in 1992. ==Filmography==