Francesca (Hazel Court) is an antagonist in the 1961 episode "The Contessa" for the TV series "Danger Man".
Francesca is the head of a drug smuggling ring.
John Drake (Patrick McGoohan) is investigating this ring, and finds out that the group is sneaking cocaine across borders in padded jackets of seamen. John is able to obtain one of these jackets and poses as one of the smugglers. He is soon knocked out and wakes up in the home of the Contessa Francesca.
The Contessa claims that her husband carried Drake back to her house. When he demands to meet him, she claims he was not home. Soon afterward, Drake passed out due to being drugged by the Contessa.
When Drake woke up, he was removed back to his own hotel room. After spending several nights in opera houses, nightclubs and other haunts of the rich and famous, he was able to find the Contessa at a restaurant.
Claiming not to be the same seaman that was at her house, he went home with the Contessa, claiming he wanted to meet her husband.
After Drake found out that her husband had been dead for the last four years, he learned that Francesca was the one behind the smuggling ring. She decided to run the business with him still in charge figuratively, since a man in charge was easier for cloat of the others involved in the business. She felt that if her associates found out he was dead, they would either overthrow her or go with a different organization.
While at gunpoint, Drake proposed a deal where he could offer his expertise and contacts into making their drug ring more efficient.
Francesca was hesitant to agree, and when her partner, Julio Ventura (John Wyse) arrived, Drake took the opportunity to fake jumping out the balcony to his death. When Julio and Francesca went to investigate the body, they determined Drake had thrown a wad of clothes onto the rocks below.
When they arrived back at the house, Drake turned the lights out, to which Julio fired back at the shadows. Drake rushed Julio and knocked him unconscious. When he turned around, he found Francesca had been shot by a stray bullet from Julio. She died while Drake held her.
Trivia[]
- Hazel Court appeared as Janine DuBois in the 1959 film, "The Man Who Could Cheat Death".
- Hazel Court appeared as Lenore Craven, the evil wife in the 1963 Roger Corman adaptation film of the Edgar Allen Poe poem, "The Raven".
- Hazel Court appeared as Juliana in the 1964 film, "Masque of the Red Death".
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