Frances Rafferty, 81; Acted in B Movies and TV’s ‘December Bride’

Frances Rafferty, a pouty glamour girl in B movies of the 1940s and television shows of the 1950s who is best remembered as Spring Byington’s daughter in the long-running sitcom “December Bride,” has died. She was 81.

Rafferty died of natural causes in her sleep April 18 at the Paso Robles home she shared with her husband of 56 years, Thomas R. Baker.

The actress largely retired from both the large and small screens in 1961 after the brief run of a “December Bride” spinoff, “Pete and Gladys,” starring Harry Morgan. She continued to play occasional roles on such series as “The Streets of San Francisco” into the 1970s, but devoted much of her later years to raising quarter horses with Baker, once general manager of the Los Alamitos Race Course.

Among Rafferty’s best-known films was the 1943 “Girl Crazy,” in which Mickey Rooney escorted her to a college dance to the consternation of Judy Garland. Rafferty’s best acting performance probably was in the 1944 film version of author Pearl Buck’s “Dragon Seed,” in which she played a hapless girl who is raped and murdered.

Born in Sioux City, Iowa, Rafferty moved to Los Angeles with her family in 1931. She studied dance and won her first Hollywood job as understudy to a ballerina.

But her career veered to acting after she fell on the concrete stage of the Hollywood Bowl during a rehearsal for “The Firebird,” breaking a kneecap. Her friend, the late actress Alexis Smith, urged her to take drama lessons.

By 1942 Rafferty was before the cameras -- and then on the lockers of soldiers as a favorite pinup of World War II. She churned out wartime B movies such as “Hitler’s Madman,” “Thousands Cheer” and “Swing Shift Maisie.”

As television emerged, Rafferty found work on “Alcoa Theater” and other dramatic anthology series, then landed the plum supporting role on “December Bride,” which ran from 1954 to 1961.

After a three-year marriage to John Harlan, Rafferty married Baker in 1948. She is survived by her husband and their two children, Bridget and Kevin.