Relatively new to Hollywood, young Robert Francis, 25, was a rising young actor on the verge of film stardom in 1955 after making a solid debut as a ranking officer in The Caine Mutiny (1954) – alongside a formidable, normally intimidating group of veterans such as Humphrey Bogart, José Ferrer, Van Johnson and Fred MacMurray. Handsome, clean-cut, solid-bodied, rather quiet and sporting a typical 50s brush-cut, the up-and-comer showed exceptional poise and restraint in his next few co-leads, finding an early niche as loyal military types. And, then, on July 31, 1955, he was suddenly killed, along with a friend, actress Ann Russell, after a private plane he was piloting crashed. He had just taken off from the Burbank airport, when the plane suddenly lost power and crashed onto an abandoned parking lot. All on board were killed instantly. He was buried at Forest Lawn two days later. The plane was owned by Joe Kirkwood Jr.. He had appeared in only four films.