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Robert Charles Francis (February 26, 1930 - July 31, 1955) was an American actor.

Francis was born in Glendale, California and made his motion picture debut in 1954. He appeared in three films in his first year, notably a significant role in The Caine Mutiny (1954) as Willie Keith. He made one more film in 1955 before being killed when the small aircraft he was piloting crashed near Los Angeles. Francis is buried in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills).

The opening paragraph of Life magazine's pictorial survey of popular male movie stars in 1954 said that "some stars like Burt Lancaster are tough, with an 'unshaved brute force', while others like Robert Francis are tender, with an 'innocent clean-shaven face.' "^[1]

The actor seems to have had homosexual leanings. According to Hollywood biographer Lawrence J. Quirk, Mike Connolly, gay gossip columnist for the Hollywood Reporter from 1951 to 1966, "would put the make on the most prominent young actors, including Robert Francis, Guy Madison, Anthony Perkins, Nick Adams, and James Dean. Quirk said there was gossip at gay parties regarding not only Connolly's escapades with these actors but also a noteworthy pornography collection he would display to those he favored."^[2]

"Hollywood had been shocked and saddened when Robert Francis, the Willie Keith of The Caine Mutiny, had been killed on 31 July in a plane crash at Burbank. Dean said, 'I'll be next.' "^[3]

1. ^ Steven Cohan, Masked Men: Masculinity and the Movies in the Fifties (1997), p.164.
2. ^ See Val Holley, Mike Connolly and the Manly Art of Hollywood Gossip (2003), p.22.
3. ^ Warren Newton Beath, The Death of James Dean (1988), p.9.

FAA records show no record of a Pilots license being issued to (A):a Robert Francis or (B)a Robert Charles Frances DOB 2/26/1930.