Elizabeth Franz

Elizabeth Franz
Born	Betty Jean Frankovich (1941-06-18) June 18, 1941 Akron, Ohio
Years active	1981–present
Spouse(s)	Edward Binns (1984-1990) (his death)

Elizabeth Franz (born June 18, 1941) is an American stage and television actress.

Life and career

Franz was born Betty Jean Frankovich in Akron, Ohio, the daughter of a factory worker.

On the stage, Franz has won a Tony Award, for her role as Linda Loman in the 1999 production of Death of a Salesman, which also earned her nominations for Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards, and she won Chicago's Joseph Jefferson Award, Boston's Elliot Norton Award, and Los Angeles' Ovation Award for a tour of the same production. She has also won an Obie Award and Drama Desk nomination for her role in the 1980 Off-Broadway production Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You and the Lucille Lortel Award for the 2007 production of Julia Cho's The Piano Teacher at the Vineyard Theatre in New York. Franz has also been nominated two other times for a Tony Award, for 1983's Brighton Beach Memoirs and 2002's Morning's at Seven, for which she also received Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations. In 2004 and 2005, Franz appeared at the Royal National Theatre in London, in the Sam Shepard play Buried Child. She has starred in numerous Off-Broadway and regional theater productions, including the world premiere of Kelly Masterson's Against the Rising Sea, the American premiere of Frank McGuinness's Bird Sanctuary, Long Day's Journey into Night with Sam Waterston, Autumn Garden, The Glass Menagerie, The Cripple of Inishman, The Comedy of Errors, Minutes from the Blue Route, Madwoman of Chaillot, Lion in Winter, A View from the Bridge, The Matchmaker, The Wizard of Oz, Great Expectations, The Model Apartment, and Woman in Mind. In 2003 she received the Dramatist Guild Fund's Lifetime Achievement in the Theater award.

On television, Franz is most notably a character actor. She became best known for her role as the villainess Alma Rudder on the soap opera Another World, which she portrayed from 1982 to 1983, while she was performing Brighton Beach Memoirs on Broadway. She also played the role of Helen Wendall on As the World Turns from 1994 to 1995, and guest-starred in several episodes of Roseanne, as free-spirited beauty salon owner Marsha. She also made guest appearances in the series Gilmore Girls, as the inn owner, Mia, and in Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Cold Case, Dear John and Judging Amy. She was nominated for an Emmy Award and a SAG Award for the Showtime production of Death of a Salesman and got another Emmy nomination for the TV movie A Town's Revenge. Other TV movies include A Girl Thing, An Unexpected Love, The Rise and Rise of Daniel Rocket, Dottie, Love and Other Sorrows, and House of Mirth.

In the movies Franz has appeared in the remake of Sabrina, Christmas with the Kranks, The Substance of Fire, The Pallbearer, Stephen King’s Thinner, Fish in a Bathtub, The Secret of My Success, School Ties and Jacknife. In 2005 Franz won the Best Actress Award from the NYC Home Film Festival for her appearance in a short film The Reader.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1981	The House of Mirth	Grace Stepney	Television movie
1987	The Secret of My Success	Grace Foster
1989	Jacknife	Pru Buckman
1992	School Ties	Jane Dillon
1993	It's Nothing Personal	Unknown
1995	Sabrina	Joanna
1996	The Pallbearer	Aunt Lucille
1996	The Substance of Fire	Miss Barzakian
1996	Thinner	Leda Rossington
1996	Twisted	Mrs. Bundrass
1999	A Fish in the Bathtub	Bea Greenberg
2000	Death of a Salesman	Linda Loman	Television movie
2004	Christmas with the Kranks	Bev Scheel

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	American Playhouse	Doctor	Episode: "Pilgrim, Farewell"
1982	Another World	Alma Rudder	Episode: "July 30, 1982"
1985	Spenser: For Hire	Mrs. O'Rourke	Episode: "Original Sin"
1986	American Playhouse	Mrs. Rice	Episode: "The Rise and Rise and Daniel Rocket"
1987	The Equalizer	Mrs. Thomas	2 episodes
1987	American Playhouse	Dottie McCann	Episode: "Dottie"
1989	ABC Afterschool Special	Cecile Nelson	Episode: "A Town's Revenge"
1989	American Playhouse	Unknown	Episode: "Love and Other Stories"
1990	Roseanne	Marsha	3 episodes
1994-1995	Sisters	Gladys Lear	2 episodes
1995	ABC Afterschool Special	Alice Kelly	Episode: "Notes for My Daughter"
2000-2001	Judging Amy	Vivian Galloway	2 episodes
2001	Gilmore Girls	Mia	Episode: "The Ins and Outs of Inns"
2003	Cold Case	Evelyn Shelby	Episode: "Look Again"
2004	Law & Order	Alison Bishop	Episode: "Married with Children"
2004	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Jeannette Henley	Episode: "Scavenger"
2011	Homeland	Isabel Samler	Episode: "Marine One"
2012	Grey's Anatomy	Emma Carroll	Episode: "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Nominated work	Result
1982	Drama Desk Awards	Outstanding Actress in a Play	Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You	Nominated
1983	Tony Awards	Best Featured Actress in a Play	Brighton Beach Memoirs	Nominated
1990	Daytime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Performer in a Children's Special	ABC Afterschool Special	Nominated
1999	Drama Desk Awards	Outstanding Actress in a Play	Death of a Salesman	Nominated
1999	Tony Awards	Best Featured Actress in a Play	Death of a Salesman	Won
2000	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie	Death of a Salesman	Nominated
2001	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie	Death of a Salesman	Nominated
2002	Drama Desk Awards	Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play	Morning's at Seven	Nominated
2002	Tony Awards	Best Featured Actress in a Play	Morning's at Seven	Nominated

References

• Isherwood, Charles (November 19, 2007). "In a Quiet Suburb, a Quiet Life Darkened". The New York Times

External links

• Elizabeth Franz at the Internet Broadway Database
• Elizabeth Franz at the Internet Movie Database
• The New York Times" theatre Review of The Piano Teacher