Frances Gaar was born on August 3, 1918 in Hagerstown, Maryland. She was an actress, known for The Defenders (1961) and Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates (1958). She was elected to The Lambs in 1998 as a Professional member.
A champion swimmer in college, she declined the offer to be a stand-in for Esther Williams in order to study acting.
Gaar staged an underwater ballet in scuba gear at the 1965 World’s Fair’s “Sea Hunt” exhibition. She operated a scuba-diving school out of her home in Chelsea. Founder of the Aqua Lung School of NY where she trained thousands of instructors and students Fran became PADI’s first woman master instructor. In 2001 she was elected to the Women Divers Hall of Fame.
She was executive secretary of the American Guild of Variety Artists and as a Trustee of the Union’s Welfare Fund for many years.
Frances Gaar died on June 9, 2008, in New York City.