Frances Helen Allison (November 20, 1907 – June 13, 1989) was an American television and radio comedienne, personality, and singer.
She is best known for her starring role on the weekday NBC-TV puppet show Kukla, Fran and Ollie, which ran from 1947 to 1957, occasionally returning to the air until the mid-1980s.
"[4] She moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1937, where she was hired as a staff singer and personality on NBC Radio.
[5] A July 26, 1937, newspaper item reported, "Fran Allison, singer of WMT, Waterloo, Ia., makes her network debut in the WJZ-NBC club matinee at 3.
"[6] Beginning in 1937, she was a regular performer on The Breakfast Club,[3] a popular Chicago originating national radio show, and was a fixture for 25 years as "Aunt Fanny", a gossipy small-town spinster.
[citation needed] Her television career continued after the initial run of Kukla, Fran and Ollie: in the late 1950s, she hosted The Fran Allison Show, a panel discussion TV program in Chicago; and appeared in television musical specials displaying her singing abilities, including Many Moons (1954), Pinocchio with Mickey Rooney (1957),[10] Damn Yankees (1967) with Phil Silvers and lastly Miss Pickerell (1972).
[14] In 2002, she was a Silver Circle honoree of the Chicago/Midwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
[19] from myelodysplasia in Sherman Oaks, California,[20] She was buried in Mount Calvary Cemetery in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
[23] She appeared with puppets Kukla and Ollie on a 44¢ US commemorative postage stamp in the "Early TV Memories" series, issued on August 11, 2009.