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Don Harvey Francks (a.k.a. Iron Buffalo), actor, jazz musician and vocalist, songwriter, environmental activist (born 28 February 1932 in Burnaby, BC; died 3 April 2016 in Toronto, ON). Don Francks, an adopted child and perennial free spirit, was singing at age six and acting at 10. After working for many years with CBC Radio and in musical theatre, he starred in The Drylanders (1961), the National Film Board’s first feature-length dramatic film. He formed a jazz trio with Ian Henstridge and guitarist Lenny Breau in 1962 and wrote many songs. He acted on and off-Broadway and in American TV series before taking a hiatus to live with his second wife on the Red Pheasant Reserve in Saskatchewan. He returned to show business in the mid-1970s and ultimately amassed nearly 200 screen credits.
Early Life and Career
Don Francks worked briefly as a boy disc jockey in Vancouver. He began his CBC career singing on Lorraine McAllister's radio show Sing for Your Supper and starred with McAllister on The Burns Chuckwagon Show in 1954–55. At Theatre Under the Stars, he played leads in Oklahoma (1954) and Anything Goes (1955).
Moving to Toronto in 1957, he sang with Patti Lewis on CBC Radio's Country Club. He was in the cast for productions of The Fantasticks and as a writer and revue artist in Spring Thaw and other revues. He also co-produced the Toronto production of the controversial US play by Jack Gelber about the drug subculture, The Connection, staged in 1960–61 at the House of Hambourg with Francks as Leach. It also featured the musicians Maury Kaye (piano), P.J. Perry (saxophone), Ian Henstridge (bass), and Archie Alleyne (drums). Concurrently, Francks took roles in many CBC TV dramas and starred in The Drylanders (1961), the National Film Board’s first feature-length dramatic film.
Career Highlights
In 1962, Francks formed a jazz trio with Henstridge and the guitarist Lenny Breau. They appeared in nightclubs in Toronto and New York, including at the Village Vanguard, where they made the LP Jackie Gleason Says No One in This World Is Like Don Francks (1963). Francks wrote the libretto for Ron Collier's Hear Me Talkin' to Ya (1964), basing his text on quotations from jazz musicians and writers. Francks also wrote many songs. His Growing Up, a jazz waltz, has been recorded by Paul Hoffert and Moe Koffman.
Of Francks’s varied career, the Toronto Telegram’s Bob Blackburn wrote in 1963: “He’s furiously driven to communicate with people. He is full of things he wants to say, but so diversely gifted in means of expression that he can’t settle on one way to communicate. He keeps trying them all.”
Remaining in New York, Francks recorded Lost... and Alone (1965) and appeared on Broadway in the musicals Kelly (1965) and Flipside (1968), both unsuccessful productions (Kelly folded after one night). Francks also appeared off-Broadway (1965) in a program of theatre songs by Leonard Bernstein and in American TV series like Jericho and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. In 1967, he played Woody in Francis Ford Coppola’s feature film debut, Finian's Rainbow.
Later Career
Don Francks left show business to live on the Red Pheasant Reserve in Saskatchewan with his second wife, Lili. (See also Reserves in Saskatchewan.) He became an honorary Cree, taking the name Iron Buffalo.
Francks resumed his career in the mid-1970s, appearing in several Canadian cities in jazz clubs and theatres. He also served as a spokesperson for Greenpeace. In 1975, he staged The Insanity of One Man, in Saskatoon using musicians from the Red Pheasant Reserve. Returning to live in Toronto he played Lugerio in 1977 in the musical adaptation by Alan Gordon and Doug Riley of Mandragola for a CBC broadcast performance and cast recording. He again took dramatic roles on CBC TV and radio, winning ACTRA awards for his work in the TV movie Drying Up the Streets and the TV series The Phoenix Team in 1980 and 1981 respectively. He also served as narrator for CBC TV's The Land and was seen in such productions as Riel (1979) and Labor of Love (1985).
Concurrently, Francks performed in Toronto nightclubs, frequently at Basin Street in 1978 and on occasion at George's Spaghetti House. He also appeared at the Ontario Place jazz festivals in 1979 and 1984.
The versatile Francks continued to be seen on such TV programs as Kung Fu, Road to Avonlea, Top Cops, The Diviners, Flamingo Estates and Side Effects. He had a regular role in the series Nikita and appeared in This Is Wonderland, Puppets Who Kill and The Listener. His feature film credits included Ivy League Killers, The Tomorrow Man, Old Fish Hawk, Labour of Love, Good Times at the Rainbow Bar and Grill (which also featured his daughter Cree Summer), The Big Town, Johnny Mnemonic, Paint Cans and I'm Not There. His son, Rainbow Sun, is also an actor. Francks died of cancer in 2016.
A version of this entry originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada.
