Francine Smith
Francine Lee Smith (née Ling; formerly Dawson) is a fictional character on the animated television series American Dad!. She is the wife of the title character Stan Smith and the mother of Hayley and Steve. Francine is voiced by Wendy Schaal.
| Francine Smith | |
|---|---|
| American Dad! character | |
 | |
| First appearance | "Pilot" (2005) |
| Created by | Seth MacFarlane Mike Barker Matt Weitzman |
| Voiced by | Wendy Schaal |
| In-universe information | |
| Full name | Francine Lee Smith |
| Occupation | Housewife / Amateur Adult Media Star, Real Estate Agent |
| Family | Birth parents: Nicholas and Cassandra Dawson Adoptive Family: Bàba, Māma, and Gwen Ling |
| Spouse | Stan Smith |
| Children | Hayley Smith Steve Smith Libby Corbin-Bates (surrogate) |
| Relatives | Beverley (aunt) |
| Religion | Episcopalian |
| Nationality | American |
While Francine is often seen as the voice of reason in her dysfunctional family, she also has a dark, hypocritical side. This is best displayed by how she constantly badgers her family to uphold certain moral virtues.[1] while at the same time she participates regularly as a very popular, single member in the dynamic Langley Falls Virginia Swinger community while her husband Stan is out of the country on CIA assignment.
Fictional character biography
Francine is 5’8" tall, has a 36DD bust, rarely wears panties as seen in "The Adventures of Twill Ongenbone and His Boy Jabari" and weighs 109 lbs as shown on her driver's license in "Shallow Vows".
Born to a wealthy couple from South Carolina, her birth parents Nicholas and Cassandra Dawson gave her up when she was a baby so they could be upgraded to first class on a flight in "Big Trouble in Little Langley". Daddy issues stemming from her unstable relationship with her birth father led to her losing her virginity at a young age and engaging in risky sexual behaviors to this day, such as her affinity for combining drugs and alcohol with unprotected sex with strangers as seen in season one's "Finances with Wolves" and Season 15 "Stan & Francine & Connie & Ted" .
Not much is known about Francine's younger years beyond the fact that she was brought up in a Roman Catholic orphanage where she was taught that left-handed people were the Devil's minions in "Office Spaceman". Her left handedness was literally beaten out of her by the nuns, as they would regularly beat her with a side of beef and a big fish on Fridays whenever she used her left hand. At the age of 7, she was adopted by a Chinese couple, Bàba and Māma Ling, Chinese Americans making her maiden name Ling. She considers herself Chinese by how she was raised by the Lings and speaks fluent Chinese, often with her parents to disguise their conversations in front of her husband Stan if he becomes a topic of discussion. Through her adopted Chinese parents, Francine has a sister, Gwen, who Stan says enthusiastically is "Playboy hot!" whenever Gwen is brought up in conversation.
Francine developed a fanatical school boy crush on her algebra teacher, Mr. Feeny. When she was found hiding in his closet by his wife, the police were called. Francine lied and said that they were in a relationship. He was sentenced to jail, where he committed suicide.[2]
Francine casually recalled a sexual encounter with a group of popular girls in the school showers to Stan in "1600 Candles". "One day, when I was showering after gym class, these mean pretty girls caught me and kept scrubbing me all over with soap. I mean, they didn't miss a spot! And even though we were all wet and naked and slippery, they were still able to get me on all fours, and shove my face to the floor! Can you imagine, Stan?”
In college Francine stabbed her roommate to death. In "Family Affair" she nonchalantly admits to the crime and expresses surprise that no one in the family knew before. During her college years Francine also developed a well-earned reputation as the number one party girl on campus, based mostly on the campus legend as she became a very successful entrepreneur while in college, developing the web site franny.com featuring her in amateur adult photo and video shoots.
In the late 80s she was a prolific groupie, sleeping with Adam Ant, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, and Dexys Midnight Runners among many, many others. It was during this time that she met Stan, who had just graduated from the CIA academy. The couple met when Francine was hitchhiking drunkenly from a Duran Duran concert and Stan pulled over to give her a lift. During the drive, while enthusiastically Feeling up the semi conscious Francine, Stan unsuccessfully attempted to swerve to avoid hitting a raccoon and jarring Francine awake. To put the raccoon out of its misery, Stan shot the animal, causing Francine to become attracted to Stan for the compassion he had shown. This is the key to the plan in "Francine's Flashback" to get her memory back.
Francine quickly sized Stan up as a boring, yet capable financial provider, able to offer a stable and protected life. She cut off her wild life cold turkey without Stan ever knowing about her promiscuity, and the couple married soon after. Although Francine seems to hold very liberal beliefs, she keeps them mostly to herself and apparently follows her husband's conservative values.
In addition to her amateur adult media career, before meeting Stan she had a brief acting career in an episode of the television show Scarecrow and Mrs. King with George Clooney, in the episode, "Tears of a Clooney". George stole her only line in the show, ruining her acting career. Since that time she has carried an obsession bordering on insanity to kill him, or at least, make him cry.
Personality
Although she enjoys being a housewife, Francine occasionally yearns for more fulfillment. She was briefly a successful realtor and became a surgeon for an organized-crime syndicate made up of handicapped people. She owned a muffin kiosk at the Langley Falls mall in "Finances With Wolves". When Stan refuses to use any of his CIA bonus money to help her bankroll the store, Francine turned to an Earth Wind and Fire cover band singer for financial support. His terms were acceptable to the bored wife; back door sex and lots of it. What Francine did not know was that her financier was actually Klaus in a new body.
Once she joined an ultra-chic local ladies club by faking an affair with a valet.[3] She was saved from the murderous Lady Bugs by her neighbor Linda Memari
Francine maintains a "Sex Garden" in honor of all her sexual trysts in "Merlot Down Dirty Shame". A magnificent garden stretching as far as the eye can see contains a single rose bush for each of her previous lovers. When showing the garden to Stan, it's revealed that guided tours of the garden take place, and there is rumored to be a tribe of natives that have never seen a white man living deep in the garden.
While she drinks wine, and occasionally smokes cigarettes, Francine is an aficionado of marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy and Ambien, to the point she steals $50 each week from the family budget to support her habit. As seen in "Dr. Klaustus", when in need of more funds, she enters amateur night contests at seedy strip clubs as in "N.S.A. (No Snoops Allowed)".
Francine is comfortable with weapons, though whether or not this is because she is married to Stan is never established. She came to realize in "Casino Normale" that she becomes sexually excited when a loaded gun is placed to her temple. She is shown to carry machetes with her in the pilot and has pulled a gun on Stan on more than one occasion. She was also able to make a weapon out of a government-issued rubber shoe Roger had to wear as part of his stint as a prison therapist.
While initially portrayed as a devoted housewife and unconditionally-loving mother who tries to have her family bond with one another, Francine's morality slowly deteriorates in later seasons. She talks insultingly and heartlessly of others, including her own children, proving herself just as selfish and shallow as her husband.
There are times when Francine has demonstrated that she might be mentally unstable, including her vendetta against George Clooney and her extreme empty nest syndrome. In "Family Affair" she nonchalantly admits she stabbed her college roommate to death and expresses surprise that no one in the family knew before. In "Max Jets" she is visibly excited by the idea of Charles Manson being released from jail and "finishing what he started". In "Live and Let Fry" she tells Hayley that she can't handle much, and when someone rings the doorbell she screams "It's too much!". She also becomes violent and angry seemingly at random, one point sweeping Klaus' bowl onto the floor screaming 'Humans are talking!' because he interrupted her. Similarly, in the episode "Stan of Arabia: Part 2," Francine resorts to physical violence when challenging Stan's Arabian wife, Thundercat, for Stan's affection; saying "you want to dance bitch; then let's dance" and proceeds to fight her reasonably well. In "Every Which Way But Lose", Francine also admits that she doesn't know how to vote as it confuses her too much. She just enters a booth, waits ten seconds, then comes out and yells "Democracy!"
Age
Francine was originally 43, but she became 40 years old in the episode "Tears of a Clooney". The episode starts with her 39th birthday (putting her birthdate in 1961, since the episode came out in 2005), she attempts to get revenge on George Clooney for a year, and the episode ends with her 40th birthday. It's unknown whether or not the other characters aged as well, except for presumably Stan. He says in one episode that she is 2 years and ten months younger than he is. However, in "May the Best Stan Win", Francine's year of birth is listed as being in 1966, and Stan's is shown to be 1962. This episode also retcons her turning 45, as it was made in 2010, and her being born in 1966 would make her 44. In "Shallow Vows", it says Francine's birthday is 26 September 1967 on her driver's license. This also retcons her age, as the episode was made in 2009, making her 42 at the time. In the same episode, she later tells Stan she was indeed born on 26 September, making her a Libra.[4]
References
- McFarland, Kevin (7 January 2013). ""Finger Lenting Good" | American Dad | TV Club | TV". The A.V. Club.
- Ron Hughart (director); Seth McFarlane, Mike Barker, Matt Weitzman (writers). "Pilot". American Dad!. Season 1. Episode 1. 21 minutes in. FOX.
- Written by Dan Vebber. Directed by Brent Woods. "Not Particularly Desperate Housewives". American Dad!. Season 1. Episode 16. FOX.
- Written by Alison McDonald. Directed by Brent Woods. "Bullocks to Stan". American Dad!. Season 1. Episode 8. FOX.
External links
- Francine Smith at Fox.com