How lucky I was to have met Frances Reid and to have worked with her. Like so many successful people she was complex. There was not one Frances but many and they all came together in this extraordinary person most people knew as Alice Horton.
Frances was not Alice. Oh, yes, she was wise and kind and fiesty, but she was not grandmotherly. Frances could cuss with the best of them. When her temper would rise no one contradicted her. Her wit was not only cutting it was precise.
I loved talking to Frances. She had been around Hollywood for decades and I loved hearing her stories of the “old” days. It was fascinating to hear the inside stuff about so many of the film and TV idols I grew up watching with wonder. But there was so more to Frances. She was extremely involved in AFTRA (the union that governs working conditions for actors on soaps). If you had a question about work conditions or union rules Frances would, more than likely, know the answer. When it came to politics her liberal out look was always fresh, lively, and humorous.
I will miss Frances Reid. Her brand of grand dame may not come our way again and we are much less for it.
