Francis Xavier Alexander Shields Sr. (November 18, 1909 – August 19, 1975) was an American amateur tennis player of the 1920s and 1930s, and an actor known for Hoosier Schoolboy (1937).

Shields was runner-up in the 1929 Canadian Open Championships at the Toronto Lawn Tennis Club on red clay, losing the final to Dr. Wright, who had earlier beaten John Doeg in the semifinal.

[4] Shields defaulted to Sidney Wood in the singles final of Wimbledon in 1931 due to an ankle injury he had sustained in winning his semi-final match against France's "Musketeer" Jean Borotra, and this was the only time in the history of a Grand Slam event the singles final of that event was won by default.

During the Wimbledon period, Shields played in the Eastern Clay Court Championships in Jackson Heights, Queens, N.Y. finishing runner-up to J. Gilbert Hall in the final.

He also won the Southampton Invitation (Long Island) on grass defeating Bitsy Grant in the semifinal and Frank Parker in the final, both in three straight sets.

Shields won the Newport Casino Invitational on grass, where he defeated Ellsworth Vines in the semifinal and Wilmer Allison in the final.

Shields defended his Mason & Dixon title at The Greenbrier resort by defeating Grant in the final in a close five set match.

He competed at the 1951 U.S. National Championships in New York City, but was defeated in the first round by South African Syd Levy in straight sets.

[11][12][13] In the late 1930s, Shields was known for making fun of the US tennis star Bryan Grant, the smallest American to win an international championship, saying "the little shaver" was hiding behind the net.

[15] Shields and Tenney divorced in 1940 on the grounds of his "habitual intemperance and cruelty"[16] and in 1947 she married lawyer Donald Agnew.

[17] Marina was the daughter of Marino Torlonia, 4th prince of Civitella-Cesi (1861–1933) and Mary Elsie Moore (1888–1941), an American heiress.

Marina's brother was Alessandro Torlonia, 5th Prince di Civitella-Cesi (1911–1986), the husband of the Spanish Infanta Beatriz de Borbón (1909–2002).