Frances Grant

Stella Fortier McCarron, better known by her performance name Frances Grant, (March 15, 1913 – February 20, 1982) was an American actress, dancer, and dance teacher. Born Stella Theophane Fortier, she began her career using the stage name Theo Phane (taken from her middle name) which she used while working as a dancer on Broadway, including in the Ziegfeld Follies. She changed her stage name to Frances Grant when appearing in the 1931 Broadway drama Cold in Sables, and it is under this name that she had a career as a film actress. She appeared as the leading lady of Gene Autry in Red River Valley (1936) and Oh, Susanna! (1936) and other B-films such as Thunder Mountain (1935) and Cavalry (1936). After marrying the American boxer Jimmy McCarron, she became a well known dance teacher in Massachusetts from the late 1940s until her retirement in 1970. She founded her own dance school in Boston, the Stella Fortier McCarron School of Dance, and also operated dance studios in Lexington and Concord. She died in Lexington at the age of 68.