Frances Rich

Frances Rich (born Irene Frances Lither Deffenbaugh; January 8, 1910 – October 14, 2007) was an American actress, sculptor, and artist. She was born in Spokane, Washington, to silent screen actress Irene Frances Luther Rich and salesman Elvo Elcourt Deffenbaugh. Her stepfather, Charles Rich, adopted her following his marriage to her mother. Rich graduated from Smith College in 1931.

Rich appeared on Broadway in Brief Moment, which ran from November 1931 through February 1932. Her film work began in 1933 with Diamond Trail, followed that same year by Zoo in Budapest and Pilgrimage.

Alongside her acting career, Rich pursued sculpture with sustained dedication. In 1933 she met sculptor Malvina Hoffman and subsequently spent two years studying with her in Paris. After returning to the United States, she undertook intensive study at the Boston Museum School and established her own studio in New York City. Between 1937 and 1940 she was a resident student at Cranbrook Academy of Art, where she met sculptor Carl Milles and went on to work with him for eighteen years.

Rich's sculptural output was wide-ranging. Her portrait busts include subjects such as Lotte Lehmann, Margaret Sanger, Diego Rivera, and Katharine Hepburn, as well as portrait busts held at Smith College. Among her public works are the Army-Navy Nurse Monument at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C., a bronze pelican installed in front of the Pelican Building at the University of California, Berkeley, and a marble bust of Alice Stone Blackwell for the Boston Central Library, which is featured on the Boston Women's Heritage Trail. Her architectural sculpture includes six monumental limestone bas reliefs executed in 1938 for the student union building at Purdue University.

Rich died in Payson, Arizona, on October 14, 2007, at the age of 97.