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Arlene Francis
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== Personal life == Francis was married twice. Her first marriage, from 1935 to 1945, was to Neil Agnew, an executive with [[Paramount Pictures]]; they divorced in 1945.<ref name="independent" /> She wrote of this experience in her 1978 autobiography: {{blockquote|Having made the actual physical break, it was easier for me than I had thought to explain to Neil some of what I felt, what I had been feeling for so long a time. Not all, of course. There were areas which I couldn't discuss even then, which would be too hurtful to him, I felt. I saw him fairly often, and he courted me as though we had just met, but I was building up strengths which enabled me to resist not only his blandishments (including a lovely little house which he bought in New York as an enticement to get me to change my mind) but those of my parents, who also would have given anything to see me go back to the status which had been quo.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Arlene Francis: A Memoir|last1=Francis|first1=Arlene|last2=Rome|first2=Florence|publisher=Simon & Schuster|year=1978|isbn=0-671-22808-0|page=59}}</ref>}} As she disclosed in her autobiography, she admitted she never should have married Neil Agnew because she was not in love with him. During the marriage, she met producer and actor [[Martin Gabel]] and fell in love with him. He encouraged her to divorce Agnew, which was one of the sources of her torment because her parents loved Agnew like a son. After Francis divorced him to marry Gabel, they initially did not like Gabel for several reasons, including her divorce. Francis's marriage to Gabel lasted from 1946 until his death in 1986.<ref name="independent" /> Gabel was a frequent guest panelist on ''What's My Line?''. The couple, who often exchanged endearments on the show, had a son, [[Peter Gabel]],<ref name="nytobit">{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-04-20-ca-25103-story.html|title=Bravo for 'Normal Heart'|last=Smith|first=Liz|date=April 20, 1993|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref> born January 28, 1947, a legal scholar associated with [[New College of California]] in San Francisco. Peter Gabel was an associate editor of ''[[Tikkun (magazine)|Tikkun]]'', a Jewish-community commentary magazine. While working as a tour guide at the [[1964 New York World's Fair]], Peter surprised his mother as a contestant on ''What's My Line?''.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIG4td7p47c YouTube]; retrieved June 24, 2024.</ref> Francis and her husband settled a lawsuit for $185,000 in June 1962 that had been filed by the widow of a Detroit man who was killed when a [[dumbbell]] fell from the Gabel family's eighth-floor [[Ritz Tower]] apartment and struck him on the head while he was visiting New York to celebrate his birthday.<ref name="The New York Times">{{Cite news|title=Stroller Is Felled by Dumbbell Dropping 8 Floors in 57th St. |date=June 24, 1960|work=The New York Times|page=10}} {{Cite news|title=Arlene Francis Sued; She and Husband Named in Death by Falling Dumbbell |date=January 12, 1962|work=The New York Times|page=16}}</ref> Francis, Gabel, and their son Peter were vacationing in Connecticut when the 1960 incident happened.<ref name="The New York Times" /> Francis had instructed their maid to shampoo the carpet while they were away.<ref name="Francis 1978" /> The maid propped a window open with a dumbbell to minimize the smell of the shampoo. The dumbbbell became dislodged and fell to the ground.<ref name="Francis 1978" /> The dumbbell was part of the equipment that Francis used for her regular exercise of weightlifting. On May 26, 1963, Francis was involved in a serious car accident while driving alone from a theater on Long Island to the Manhattan studio where she was expected for a live telecast of ''What's My Line?''. The force from a car that struck her car caused her to skid on the wet surface of the [[Northern State Parkway]], jump the highway's concrete divider, and collide with a car containing five passengers, one of whom was killed.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{Cite news|title=Arlene Francis Hurt in Crash; Woman in Second Auto Killed|date=May 27, 1963|work=The New York Times|page=14}}</ref> Francis suffered a broken [[Clavicle|collarbone]], a [[concussion]] and many cuts and bruises.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> Francis was known for wearing a heart-shaped diamond pendant, a gift from Gabel, which she wore on nearly all of her ''What's My Line'' appearances. A mugger robbed her of the pendant as she was leaving a New York City taxi in 1988.<ref>{{cite news|title=Thief Steals Arlene Francis' Heart |agency=[[Associated Press]]|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lvwwAAAAIBAJ&pg=5199%2C537768|newspaper=[[Kentucky New Era]]|date=July 7, 1988|page=4D|access-date=December 17, 2017}}</ref>
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