He might've been well spotted in Disney's film Treasure Island as a pirate named Black Dog which was an instant classic but a year later, viewers will remember him as the Spirit of Christmas Present in Charles Dickens adapted classic Scrooge plus his roles as Front De Boeuf in Ivanhoe, Captain Gardiner in Moby Dick and Hardcastle in The Smallest Show on Earth.

His first role in a horror film was back in 1958 titled Corridors of Blood which he played the role of Black Ben. The film also starred the legendary horror icon Boris Karloff. The story was about a doctor trying to relieve suffering patients at a hospital and painstakingly develops an opium-based anesthetic, to which he gradually becomes addicted.

His next one was a Sherlock Holmes flick titled Hound of the Baskerville's which came out to theatre's a year later as it starred Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. This time, Francis played a doctor named Richard Mortimer. In this Sherlock Holmes tale, a man named Sir Henry Baskerville is confronted with the mystery of the supernatural hound that supposedly takes revenge upon the Baskerville family due to returning to his familie’s manor house on the lonely moors after his father dies under mysterious circumstances. Of course, Sherlock Holmes with his assistant named Dr.Watson investigates this terrfying unsolved mystery. Most of Sherlock's tales are mystery's but however lots of critics count this one as a blood dripping horror tale as well. I have never seen it (I have never seen any of Francis' horror flicks yet) but I really want to.

Right after that he leapt into a horror/sci-fi which was a remake of a 1944 thriller classic known as The Man in Half Moon Street from 1944 but this one was retitled The Man Who Could Cheat Death. Francis plays an inpector LeGris as he tries to find clues on a mad scientist named Dr. Bonner who plans to be immortal through periodic gland transplants from younger, healthier human victims. His age is 104 years old but he makes himself look 40 with all of what he is doing. Francis also reunites with Christopher Lee.

Then he played another similar type role as a Police Inspector and worked with Lee the third time in The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll which this time Dr. Jekyll experiments with scientific means of revealing the hidden, dark side of man and releases a murderer from within himself.

In his fourth horror flick he had a smaller role and was uncredited but was well noticed in as a Bearded Customer in Curse of the Werewolf which starred Oliver Reed. This was the film that inspired many other werewolf films of a motherless child named Leon who born on Christmas day in Spain as his mother died giving birth to him which she was raped by a beggar. Leon becomes a werewolf while going on a hunt and then when is grows into a young adult he works in a wine cellar and falls in love with the owner's daughter but one full he wreaks havoc in the small town there.

Then a few years later in 1964, there was a gothic shock horror titled The Black Torment as he plays Black John of a story of a lord returns to his manor with his new wife, to hear rumours that he had already secretly returned and had committed several murders which he was never aware of.

During the same year, he played his last supporting role in a horror flick titled the Devil Doll as Dr. Keisling of a ventriloquist & hypnotist named Vorelli carrying along an amazing dummy named Hugo whom was once a person in Vorelli's past. Hugo is tricked into killing Vorelli's wife as she threatens to expose him.

Francis continued to pursue his acting career in TV and film throughout the 60's and 70's. His credits included From Russia with Love, The Three Lives of Thomasinia and The Three Musketeers.

I first spotted Francis as his guest roles in the kids sci-fi cult classic TV series of the 70's titled The Tomorrow People as the evil robot shape changer Jedikiah. The Tomorrow People are young homo superior telepaths with the availability to teleport themselves to other areas around the world as well as at other planets controlled by a talking computer named Tim as they try to stop wars and invasions. Of course Jedikiah tries to destroy them and use them for slaves as well. Francis was wonderful in his role and was the first villain when the series started. He returns to his role a couple years later only at the end to be turned into a human beggar for all his evil deeds he's done. This upset fans of the series as he never returned to his role as the series mainly focused on new villains for each episode. I always requested that there should be a TV movie reunion of the series as there were some audio reunions of the series released onto a CD. My idea was that another actor plays Jedikiah returning back as a robot with an aid of a scientist and seeking revenge but some dreams never happen. Francis had alot of credit for his role in this show even if it was a guest spot and remained the most popular villain in the series.

I also saw him guest in the original Doctor Who series starring William Hartnell in part 5 of "The Keys of Marinus" as he played another alien human looking villain (Not as menacing) named Vasor but his role wasn't as big. Of course he also gets what is coming to him in that one too. He did return to play another character a year later in the series of a part 3 episode titled "The Myth Makers" as Agamemnon but very little footage of this series exists.

Both TV shows I saw him in he was marvellous and I will always remember how a talented actor he was.

His last on screen gig was a part as Simon the Pharisee mini-series in 1977 titled The Jesus of Nazareth. Some of it was also shot in Italy and starred many American celebrities like Robert Powell, Anne Bancroft, Ernest Borgnine and James Earl Jones.

Afterwards, he would have fallen back on those regular employers of British character actors - radio and the stage.

He did alot of radio plays for BBC7 and one was was noted for was Rules of Asylum which is his story of a man who, having escaped from a sanatorium, appears to pose a threat to the state. This dramatisation stars Betty Huntley-Wright and Neville Jason and was first heard as a 90-minute play on Radio 4 in November 1973. Also stars Vernon Joyner, Manning Wilson, Francis de Wolff and Cyril Shaps. (Repeated in 3 parts on BBC7 12 to 14 Jan 2004)

Tragedy struck on April 18, 1984 when he sadly passed away at the age of 71. There is no information on how he died but hopefully he died happy and is entertianing his acting career in God's Kingdom with other UK celebirites who passed on with him too that he has worked with like Boris Karloff. In my books and to the fans he will remain a legend as a supporting actor and will always be remembered. Rest in peace big guy!