Billy Franey

Acting

Billy Franey

Born — Died

1889-06-23 — 1940-12-06

Place of birth

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Known for

Acting

Credits

61 titles

Known for

The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle poster
7.0

In 1911, minor stage comic, Vernon Castle meets the stage-struck Irene Foote. A few misadventures later, they marry and then abandon comedy to attempt a dancing career together. While they're performing in Paris, an agent sees them rehearse and starts them on their brilliant career as the world's foremost ballroom dancers. However, at the height of their fame, World War I begins.

The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle

1939

'Neath the Arizona Skies poster
4.8

Chris Morrell, the guardian of half-Indian girl Nina, is helping her find her missing white father. so she can cash in on her late mother's oil lease. Outlaw Sam Black is after the girl and her father as well. Besides dealing with the Black gang, Morrell has to find another robber, Jim Moore, who switches clothes with him after he finds Chris unconscious from a fight with Sam Black. Along the way, he meets a lady who's the sister of Jim Moore, another bad hombre who's in cahoots with Jim Moore, and an old friend who takes in Nina and helps Chris locate Nina's father and fight off the various desperadoes

'Neath the Arizona Skies

1934

The Star Packer poster
4.5

John Travers and Yak, his faithful Indian sidekick, pick up where a murdered sheriff leaves off, and try to nab the mysterious Shadow.

The Star Packer

1934

The Saint's Double Trouble poster
6.0

Reformed jewel thief Simon Templar lands in hot water when a look-alike smuggles stolen goods out of Egypt.

The Saint's Double Trouble

1940

Next Time I Marry poster
7.2

Heiress Nancy Crocker Fleming will only receive her inheritance if she marries a "plain American." Her late father was afraid a foreign gigolo would steal her heart and money. So Nancy pays Tony Anthony, working on a WPA road project, to marry, then divorce her. When Nancy inadvertently drives off with Tony's dog, Tony seemingly kidnaps her to retrieve the pooch, which leads to a cross-country race between the two to reach Reno and the divorce court since neither one wants to be the second to file papers.

Next Time I Marry

1938

Dummy Ache poster
5.5

Dummy Ache is a 1936 American short comedy film directed by Leslie Goodwins. An assuming husband, suspicious of his wife, follows her for the day. Misunderstandings, mishaps, and hijinks ensue. It was nominated for an Academy Award at the 9th Academy Awards in 1936 for Best Short Subject (Two-Reel). Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with Library of Congress. Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division in 2013.

Dummy Ache

1936

Film credits

1940s · 5 titles

1930s · 27 titles

The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle poster
7.0

In 1911, minor stage comic, Vernon Castle meets the stage-struck Irene Foote. A few misadventures later, they marry and then abandon comedy to attempt a dancing career together. While they're performing in Paris, an agent sees them rehearse and starts them on their brilliant career as the world's foremost ballroom dancers. However, at the height of their fame, World War I begins.

The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle

1939

'Neath the Arizona Skies poster
4.8

Chris Morrell, the guardian of half-Indian girl Nina, is helping her find her missing white father. so she can cash in on her late mother's oil lease. Outlaw Sam Black is after the girl and her father as well. Besides dealing with the Black gang, Morrell has to find another robber, Jim Moore, who switches clothes with him after he finds Chris unconscious from a fight with Sam Black. Along the way, he meets a lady who's the sister of Jim Moore, another bad hombre who's in cahoots with Jim Moore, and an old friend who takes in Nina and helps Chris locate Nina's father and fight off the various desperadoes

'Neath the Arizona Skies

1934

The Star Packer poster
4.5

John Travers and Yak, his faithful Indian sidekick, pick up where a murdered sheriff leaves off, and try to nab the mysterious Shadow.

The Star Packer

1934

Next Time I Marry poster
7.2

Heiress Nancy Crocker Fleming will only receive her inheritance if she marries a "plain American." Her late father was afraid a foreign gigolo would steal her heart and money. So Nancy pays Tony Anthony, working on a WPA road project, to marry, then divorce her. When Nancy inadvertently drives off with Tony's dog, Tony seemingly kidnaps her to retrieve the pooch, which leads to a cross-country race between the two to reach Reno and the divorce court since neither one wants to be the second to file papers.

Next Time I Marry

1938

Dummy Ache poster
5.5

Dummy Ache is a 1936 American short comedy film directed by Leslie Goodwins. An assuming husband, suspicious of his wife, follows her for the day. Misunderstandings, mishaps, and hijinks ensue. It was nominated for an Academy Award at the 9th Academy Awards in 1936 for Best Short Subject (Two-Reel). Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with Library of Congress. Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division in 2013.

Dummy Ache

1936

The Night of June 13 poster
7.5

Elna Curry, once a concert pianist, develops an unfounded jealousy of neighbor, Trudie Morrow. Elna who suffers from neurasthenia, believes that Trudie is having an affair with her husband, John, and vows revenge on Trudie. John explains to Trudie Elna's condition and plan. Trudie, being good-hearted tells John that she'll move. One evening, John returns late from work to discover Elna dead. John burns Elna's suicide note to protect Trudie. This results in John being charged for murder and put on trial.

The Night of June 13

1932

Love Among the Millionaires poster
5.8

A young waitress falls for the son of a railroad tycoon, and finds herself hobnobbing with the rich when he invites her to spend some time with he and his family in Palm Springs.

Love Among the Millionaires

1930

Ghost Town Gold poster
5.7

The three Mesquiteers try to recover the gold stolen by a gang in its effort to ruin the banker/mayor who ordered them to leave town.

Ghost Town Gold

1936

The Adventures of Frank Merriwell poster
5.7

A 12-episode serial in which scholastic sports star Frank Merriwell leaves school to search for his missing father. His adventures involve a mysterious inscription on a ring, buried treasure, kidnaping and Indian raids. He saves his father and returns to school just in time to win a decisive baseball game with his remarkable pitching and hitting.

The Adventures of Frank Merriwell

1936

Loose Ankles poster
4.3

A grandmother's will leaves her fortune to a few, mostly to her great-niece Ann. Ann will only receive her inheritance once she marries, with the approval of three of her stuffed-shirt relatives, and without scandal. Otherwise, the estate goes to the cat and dog hospital. Ann, not needing the money, rebels by seeking scandal with a gigolo.

Loose Ankles

1930

Exclusive poster
7.0

Two rival newspaper editors try to scoop each other through their different methods of integrity on reporting the news.

Exclusive

1937

No artwork available
8.0

Edgar impulsively invites his boss, Mr. Markham, to his home for dinner when his boss compliments him for giving coffee money to a down and out man. At the train station Edgar intervenes, keeping another man from beating a young man named Frankie, and Edgar takes Frankie home with him, even though the stranger warns Edgar that the young man is nothing but trouble.

Tramp Trouble

1937

The Miracle Man poster
5.9

A gang of crooks evade the police by moving their operations to a small town. There the gang's leader, John Madison, encounters a faith healer and uses him to scam the gullible public of funds for a supposed chapel. But when a real healing takes place, a change comes over the gang.

The Miracle Man

1932

Panama Lady poster
6.3

A weary dance-hall girl in a Panama saloon is given the choice of jail or going with a rough-and-tumble oil driller's jungle oil-field in order to pay him back for being slipped a mickey and robbed.

Panama Lady

1939

Partners poster
9.0

A rancher is arrested for murdering his young partner's grandfather, but he escapes to try to prove his innocence.

Partners

1932

Give Us This Night poster
7.0

After being introduced to the world of opera, a fisherman (Jan Kiepura) falls for a woman (Swarthout) whose guardian is a noted composer (Philip Merivale). They met when the fisherman evaded the police by seeking refuge in the village church. While there, they are each captivated by hearing the other singing Mass. The beautiful woman falls in love with the fisherman with the wonderful voice.

Give Us This Night

1936

The Shadow Gang poster
NR

A re-edited, digitally colourised and re-scored version of vintage black and white Western 'The Star Packer', complete with contemporary, pulse pounding music. The re-edit brings 'The Star Packer' down to a 22 minute short version. John Travers and Yak, his faithful Indian sidekick, pick up where a murdered sheriff leaves off, and try to nab the mysterious Shadow.

The Shadow Gang

1934

No artwork available
7.0

Jack, an outlaw on the run, discovers a child whose parents have been killed by raiders. But the sheriff knows something about the baby that Jack doesn't.

The Sheriff’s Secret

1931

No artwork available
7.0

Edgar finds some gold in his attic and the guy working on his roof tells him he could go to jail for having it!! This is because President Franklin Roosevelt has actually campaigned Congress to make gold ownership illegal in order to force people off the gold standard as well as to try to get more currency into circulation.

Dumb's the Word

1937

The Marshal Of Mesa City poster
7.5

A retired lawman gets back into action to fight political corruption.

The Marshal Of Mesa City

1939

Forgotten Women poster
8.0

Acting on a tip from former stage actress Fern Madden, who is now working as a movie extra, Jimmy Burke, a Hollywood reporter, publishes an article revealing an independent film producer to have mob connections. As a result of the story, Jimmy becomes city editor.

Forgotten Women

1931

Western Racketeers poster
10.0

Cattlemen use Alamo Pass in order to get their cattle to market. A gang has taken it over and charges a toll to go through it. When one rancher doesn't have enough money to pay the toll, he winds up dead. A local rancher, Bill Bowers, investigates the killing, but his neighbor and rival Molly Spellman decides to take her cattle around the pass instead of through it to avoid the toll. The gangsters kidnap her, and Bill gathers the other ranchers in the area for a final showdown with the gang.

Western Racketeers

1934

Vagabond Lady poster
7.2

Josephine Spiggins is thinking of marrying John Spear, the stuffed-shirt son of a department store owner. When John's free-spirit brother Tony returns from touring the South Seas in his boat, the "Vagabond Lady," Jo is attracted to him instead.

Vagabond Lady

1935

Come On, Tarzan poster
6.7

Ken Maynard's exceptionally intelligent horse, Tarzan the Wonder Horse, is the star of this western about evil cowboy Steve Frazer (Welch) who gathers horses for slaughter, whose meat is sold to pet food manufacturers. The wild horse Tarzan frees the doomed horses from their corrals, and Frazer convinces the Sheriff that Tarzan is a threat and can be shot on sight. Local cowboy Ken Benson (Maynard) and rancher Pat Riley (Kennedy) work together to clear Tarzan's good name and put Frazier behind bars for his evil deeds.

Come On, Tarzan

1932

No artwork available
10.0

Two incompetent private detectives pose as swamis in order to infiltrate a gang of bank robbers.

Dumb Dicks

1932

The Dummy Owner poster
7.0

Leon's boss buys a racehorse, but doesn't want word to get out that he is the owner, so he has the papers filled out showing Leon as the owner of record. At first, Leon is excited, but the arrangement soon creates difficulty for him. First, he knows nothing about horses except how to bet on them, and second, when his wife finds out, she is furious.

The Dummy Owner

1938

War of the Range poster
8.0

Jim Warren is starting a range war by getting his boss Duke Bradley to fence off part of the range used by other ranchers. This pits father against son when Tom Bradley sides with a newly arrived nester family. Then after stealing Duke Bradley's money, Warren frames Duke's son Tom for the theft.

War of the Range

1933

1920s · 20 titles

The Chef poster
8.5

Billy and his pal are bank robbers who decide to lay low by taking jobs in a diner as a chef and waiter.

The Chef

1921

The Blacksmith poster
6.7

Buster clowns around in a blacksmith's shop until he and the smithy get in a fight which sends the smithy to jail. Buster helps several customers with horses, then destroys a Rolls Royce while fixing the car parked next to it.

The Blacksmith

1922

Out All Night poster
10.0

A young man marries an actress, but meanwhile her uncle has signed a contract binding her to spinsterhood, many complications arise.

Out All Night

1927

Skirts poster
8.0

Clyde is a handyman around a circus. His mother is the bearded lady in the side-show; his father is a millionaire separated from his family. Clyde is endeavoring to get the old man's fortune, with the strong man of the circus scheming to beat him to it.

Skirts

1921

She's a Sheik poster
8.0

The daughter of a desert chief kidnaps a member of the French Foreign Legion in the hopes of wooing him.

She's a Sheik

1927

She's a Prince poster
NR

Starring comedienne Alice Ardell, whose persona included wearing traditionally masculine garb, who finds herself initiated into a secret flapper society full of bizarre rituals. This zany film again features cross-dressing, including men wearing girdles and donning lipstick.

She's a Prince

1926

No artwork available
NR

Slapstick comedians doing what they can with various uniforms on.

Salute

1925

Cheyenne poster
8.0

Cal Roberts can ride anything with four legs. He enters the contests held at big rodeo. He wins all honors and meets a girl who races horses to help her father clear pressing debts. Complications follow, but Cal wins the girl.

Cheyenne

1929

The Broadway Hoofer poster
4.0

Broadway dancing star Adele Dorey who, overworked and exhausted, suddenly ups and leaves New York in favor of a country village. But when promoter Bobby Lewis (Egan) of the barnstorming Gay Girlies Burlesque Company arrives in town, he picks an incognito Adele among all the pretty village girls to star in his new show. On a lark, Adele introduces her maid Jane (Louise Fazenda) as her mother and accepts a contract. When Adele's identity is finally revealed, the slumming star apologizes for her deception by offering Bobby a Broadway job.

The Broadway Hoofer

1929

No Children poster
NR

Parents pretend they are in show business and their kids are ventriloquist dummies.

No Children

1929

Under the Tonto Rim poster
7.0

Gold miner Edd Denmeade loves Lucy Watson, the sister of the official mining claim recorder. Denmeade suspects Watson of killing his father, who after a poker game was shot by a gambler "who shuffles with one hand." The real murderer, Sam Spralls, has convinced Watson that he killed Denmeade and threatens to expose him unless Watson assigns him all the gold claims. Spralls assembles a band of killers to jump the claims when Watson complies. Eventually, Denmeade learns the identity of the killer when he sees Spralls shuffle a deck of cards. He forms a vigilante party and rids the community of Spralls and his gang.

Under the Tonto Rim

1928

Circus Lure poster
8.0

Joe Henry, head of a one-ring circus, plays a small town and after the departure of the troupe a young girl, fascinated by the prospects of being a star, follows. She is engaged and her presence causes jealousy on the part of Joe's sweetheart.

Circus Lure

1924

The Cameraman poster
8.0

Billy is hired by the local newspaper as a cameraman. Billy gets involved in many messes and despite his efforts he cannot escape the presence of the Whitling Man.

The Cameraman

1920

No artwork available
3.0

A slapstick comedy starring Al St. John.

Trouble

1920

No artwork available
7.0

A delivery man is mistaken for a plumber; violence ensues!

The Plumber

1921

The Iron Mule poster
5.9

A train known as the Iron Mule is loaded with passengers, and starts off on its trip. Along the way, the train faces numerous obstacles and delays. The engineer is prepared for most of them, but the real challenges come when the train is ambushed by Indians.

The Iron Mule

1925

The False Alarm poster
10.0

Jim is torn between his family's legacy of bravery and his own fear, which leads to his disgrace. He works in a steel mill before overcoming his fear, eventually rescuing his treacherous brother and the woman he was harming.

The False Alarm

1926

Romance of a Rogue poster
10.0

A low-key silent drama of a man seeking vengeance on the villain whose lies sent him to prison on the night of his wedding.

Romance of a Rogue

1928

Moran of the Mounted poster
7.0

Suspected of having killed the father of the girl he loves, Trooper Moran of the Northwest Mounted Police is given a week to find the culprit or else do away with himself.

Moran of the Mounted

1926

No artwork available
9.0

A slapstick comedy about a hobo and his moonshine.

The Moonshiner

1920

1910s · 7 titles

She Wrote a Play and Played It poster
6.0

Gale Henry, at that time famous as big-nosed, lugubrious-faced purveyor of silent screen slapstick. Here as a prominent villager too interested writing a play to be bothered with lovers. When a wandering director arrives in town, learns of her play and agrees to produce it for her, with the author in the leading role, she is delighted. But the play proves a frost.

She Wrote a Play and Played It

1916

No artwork available
7.0

First episode in the Lady Baffles and Detective Duck one-reel comedy series. The city is being terrorized by a mysterious female Raffles. At last, in desperation, the chief of police sends for his friend, the famous sleuth, Detective Duck. While these two are sitting in conference, Raffles, in her search for loot, enters the home of Mrs. Gotta Millun. Raffles' eyes sparkle as she takes in with delight the rich Oriental knick-knacks and furnishings. Mrs. Millun is a connoisseur. Raffles hides under a table when Mrs. Millun comes in. Mrs. Millun has just received a gift from her brother in far-off India. It is a jewel case containing eight beautiful and rare pearls as large as hen eggs. In a note accompanying them her brother explains that the jewels were part of the loot of the Britishers when they raided Oski Wow Wow, and that they were taken from a famous Indian Princess who had sworn eternal vengeance on all who thereafter possessed them.

Lady Baffles and Detective Duck in the Great Egg Robbery

1915

No artwork available
8.0

Ira, who is employed at the oil station, falls in love with Flossie, wife of Jack, as they drive by. Ira later announces to his father that he is going to the city, and does. Mary, his ex-fiancée, learns he has gone to the city and consoles the father of Ira by announcing that she, too, is going to bring Ira home. In the city Ira meets Hank, a property man in a theater, who invites him to come with him behind the scenes. (Only 2 minutes survive. Held on 35mm in the Library of Congress).

Why They Left Home

1917

No artwork available
NR

A Joker studio comedy.

I've Got Yer Number

1916

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

First Aid

1918

Lady Baffles and Detective Duck in When the Wets Went Dry poster
7.0

This is another comedy, in which trick photography plays a large part. It is a travesty on the temperance question, siding with the dry element. On the refusal of the Governor to sign a bill in favor of the liquor interest, the political boss tries to force the executive to his will. The Governor, after a series of thrilling experiences, thwarts the efforts of the politicians. The latter calls on Lady Baffles, who impersonates the Governor's wife and secures the executive's signature to the bill. Detective Duck, however, captures the politicians in a clever manner and beats Lady Baffles at her own game. (Moving Picture World Synopsis)

Lady Baffles and Detective Duck in When the Wets Went Dry

1915

No artwork available
6.5

It was all because John was the image of Frank, the health inspector. John lost his purse and Frank found it. Then he went to the former's house and Matilda thought her hubby was crazy because he did not recognize her. Frank had forgotten his badge, and so could not prove his identity, and was taken to the insane asylum. But Bess discovered that Frank left his badge and went to the first house on his list to give it to him. At the corner she met John looking for the wallet. He liked her and said that he would take her to lunch. When he arrived home he thought that Matilda was crazy, and sent to the asylum for help.

The Inspector's Double

1916

Behind the camera