Frank Shields


Francis Xavier Alexander "Frank" Shields Sr. was an amateur American tennis player of the 1920s and 1930s and an actor known for Hoosier Schoolboy.

Tennis career

Between 1928 and 1945 he was ranked eight times in the U.S. Top Ten, reaching No. 1 in 1933, and No. 2 in 1930. He was ranked World No. 5 in 1930 by A. Wallis Myers of The Daily Telegraph. Shields beat Wilmer Allison and Sidney Wood before losing to John Doeg in the final of the 1930 U. S. championships. Shields defaulted to Sidney Wood in the singles final of Wimbledon in 1931 due to an ankle injury he had sustained in winning his semi-final match against France's "Musketeer" Jean Borotra, and this was the only time in the history of a Grand Slam event singles final that the event was won by default.

Davis Cup

He competed for the Davis Cup in 1931, 1932, and 1934, winning 19 of 25 matches. He was left off the team for his erratic playing in 1933. Shields was the non-playing captain in 1951, when the team won four matches.
Shields had his issues both with interactions with other players, and with alcohol. In the late 1930s, Shields was known for making fun of the US tennis star Bryan Grant, the smallest American to win an international championship, saying "the little shaver" was hiding behind the net. Once a drunk Shields held Grant upside down, outside a hotel window.

Grand Slam finals

Singles (2 runners-up)

Doubles (1 runner-up)

Mixed doubles (1 runner-up)

Marriages

In 1932, Shields married Rebecca Tenney. Shields and Tenney divorced in 1940 on the grounds of his "habitual intemperance and cruelty" and in 1947 she married lawyer Donald Agnew.
In 1940, he married his second wife, Marina Torlonia di Civitella-Cesi. Marina was the daughter of Marino Torlonia, 4th prince of Civitella-Cesi and Mary Elsie Moore, an American heiress. Marina's brother was Alessandro Torlonia, 5th Prince di Civitella-Cesi, the husband of the Spanish Infanta Beatriz de Borbón. Shields had two children with Marina Torlonia:
Shields and Torlonia divorced and in 1950 she married Edward W. Slater.
In 1949, he married Katharine Mortimer, the daughter of financier Stanley Grafton Mortimer, Sr. She had previously been married to Oliver Cadwell Biddle, with whom she had a daughter, Christine Mortimer Biddle, who became a stepdaughter to Shields. Shields had three children with Mortimer:
Shields and Mortimer divorced and in 1962 she married Richard Gillespie Blaine.

Later life

In his later years he was frequently drunk, at which times he became destructive and bullying with his strength. After two heart attacks and a stroke, he died at 65 of a third heart attack, in a Manhattan taxi. He was the grandfather of Brooke Shields, Morgan Christina Shields, and Holton Joseph Shields.

Acting career

Shields appeared in the following films:
Shields was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island in 1964.

Career highlights