Born Arline Kazanjian to an Armenian immigrant photographer, she became the wittiest woman in the American living room — 25 years on What's My Line? and a first among women TV hosts.
Arlene Francis (1907–2001), born Arline Francis Kazanjian in Boston to an Armenian immigrant father, was one of the most visible women in the history of American television — a Broadway actress, radio star, and for 25 years the sparkling panelist of What's My Line?
Her father, photographer Aram Kazanjian, had come to America from the Ottoman Empire; his daughter became a fixture of the American living room. She appeared on Broadway across five decades, hosted her own radio and television programs, and in 1954 became host of NBC's Home show — making her one of the first women to anchor a network daytime program.
But it was What's My Line? (1950–1975) that made her beloved: elegant, quick, and warm behind the trademark heart-shaped diamond pendant, she logged more appearances than nearly anyone in American panel-show history.
For a quarter century, the wittiest woman on American television was the daughter of an Armenian immigrant.
— On Arlene Francis and What's My Line?Arlene Francis proved a woman could be television's wittiest presence decades before the industry caught up, and she never hid the Kazanjian behind the stage name. She died in 2001 in San Francisco, a founding face of American TV.
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