Frances Sternhagen
| Frances Sternhagen | |
|---|---|
 Frances Sternhagen (1962). | |
| Born |
Frances Hussey Sternhagen January 13, 1930 Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1951–2014 |
| Spouse(s) | Thomas Carlin (1956–1991; his death; 6 children) |
Frances Hussey Sternhagen (born January 13, 1930) is an American actress. Sternhagen has appeared On- and Off-Broadway, in movies, and on TV since the 1950s.[1]
Early life
Sternhagen was born in Washington, D.C., the daughter of John M. Sternhagen, a U.S. Tax Court judge, and Gertrude (née Hussey).[2] Sternhagen was educated at the Madeira and Potomac schools in McLean, Virginia. At Vassar College she was elected head of the Drama Club "after silencing a giggling college crowd at a campus dining hall with her interpretation of a scene from Richard II, playing none other than Richard himself". She also studied at the Perry Mansfield School of the Theatre, and New York City's Neighborhood Playhouse.[1]
Stage career
Sternhagen started her career teaching acting, singing and dancing to school children at Milton Academy in Massachusetts, and she herself first performed in 1948 at a Bryn Mawr summer theater in The Glass Menagerie and Angel Street.[1] She went on to work at Washington's Arena Stage from 1953–54, then made her Broadway debut in 1955 as Miss T. Muse in The Skin of Our Teeth. The same year she had her Off-Broadway debut in "Thieves' Carnival" and her TV debut in "The Great Bank Robbery" on "Omnibus" (CBS). By the following year she had won an off-Broadway Obie Award for "Distinguished Performance (Actress)" in The Admirable Bashville (1955–56).
She has won two Tony awards, for "Best Supporting Actress (Dramatic)": in 1974 for the original Broadway production of Neil Simon's The Good Doctor based on Chekhov stories (which also won her a Drama Desk Award for "Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play"); and in 1995 for the revival of The Heiress, based on the Henry James novella. She has been nominated for Tony awards five other times, including for her roles in the original Broadway casts of Equus (1975) and On Golden Pond (1979), both later made into Oscar-nominated movies with other actresses, as well as for Lorraine Hansberry's The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window (1972), the musical Angel (1978) which was based on Thomas Wolfe's Look Homeward, Angel, and the 2002 revival of Paul Osborne's Morning's at Seven.
Her best-known Off-Broadway role was her feisty portrayal of the title character in 1988's Pulitzer prize-winning drama Driving Miss Daisy which was originated by Dana Ivey at Playwrights Horizons in New York. Sternhagen took over the role after the show moved to the John Houseman Theatre and played it for more than two years. (Jessica Tandy later won an Academy Award playing Daisy in the 1989 movie.)
Off-Broadway awards include two nominations for the Drama Desk Award for "Outstanding Actress in a Play" in 1998, for a revival of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night at the Irish Repertory Theatre[3] and in 2005, for the World War I drama Echoes of the War.[1]
She also won Distinguished Performance Obie Awards for The Room and A Slight Ache (1964–65). In 1998 she won the Dramatists Guild Fund's Madge Evans & Sidney Kingsley Award for Excellence in Theater. She starred in the 2005 revival of Edward Albee's Seascape, produced by Lincoln Center Theater at the Booth Theater on Broadway. She had also appeared in the original Broadway production of Edward Albee's All Over in 1971, with Colleen Dewhurst and Jessica Tandy. Her previous Broadway role was in the summer 2005 production of Steel Magnolias with Marsha Mason, Delta Burke, Christine Ebersole, Lily Rabe and Rebecca Gayheart.
Film roles
Sternhagen made her film debut in 1967's New York City high school drama Up the Down Staircase, which starred Sandy Dennis.[4] She has worked periodically in Hollywood since then. She had character roles in the 1971 Paddy Chayefsky's classic The Hospital, in Two People (1973) and in Billy Wilder's Fedora (1978). She appeared in Starting Over (1979) which starred Burt Reynolds; with Sean Connery in Outland (1981); and with Michael J. Fox in Bright Lights, Big City (1988). She played Farrah Fawcett's mother in See You in the Morning (1989), Richard Farnsworth's wife in Misery (1990), and John Lithgow's psychiatrist in Raising Cain (1992). Sternhagen starred in Frank Darabont's suspense/thriller The Mist, released on November 21, 2007. She also appeared in the family film Dolphin Tale (2011).
Television roles
She may be best known to TV audiences as Esther Clavin, mother of John Ratzenberger's Boston postman character Cliff Clavin, on the long-running series Cheers for which she received two Emmy Award nominations. She also played Millicent Carter on ER, Bunny MacDougal, mother of Trey, Charlotte's first husband on Sex and the City (another Emmy Award nomination) and in Law & Order, among other network dramas and sitcoms, and worked for many years in soap operas such as Another World, The Secret Storm and Love of Life. She played two roles on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live. She recorded a voiceover for a May 2002 episode of The Simpsons ("The Frying Game").
In summer 2006, she finished her 24th Broadway role, then guest-starred on TV's The Closer, playing Willie Rae Johnson, the mother of Brenda Leigh Johnson, the lead character. Sternhagen appeared on twelve episodes of The Closer, which is no longer in production. She is also recognized as "Mrs. Marsh" from a series of television commercials for Colgate toothpaste that aired in the 1970s.
Voice acting
She read as the title character in the Stephen King novel Dolores Claiborne in a 1995 audiobook recording. She also voiced characters in 13 episodes of CBS Radio Mystery Theater in the 1970s and 1980s.
Personal life
Sternhagen met her husband, actor and drama teacher Thomas Carlin (who died in 1991), at The Catholic University of America. They had six children – Paul, Amanda, Tony, Sarah, Peter, and John – several of whom are also professional actors and musicians.
Sternhagen is a longtime resident of New Rochelle, New York, where she lives in the Sutton Manor historic district and is honored on the community's "Walk of Fame".
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1967 | Up the Down Staircase | Charlotte Wolf | |
| 1967 | Tiger Makes Out, TheThe Tiger Makes Out | Lady on Bus | |
| 1971 | Hospital, TheThe Hospital | Mrs. Cushing | |
| 1973 | Two People | Mrs. McCluskey | |
| 1978 | Fedora | Miss Balfour | |
| 1979 | Starting Over | Marva Potter | |
| 1981 | Outland | Dr. Lazarus | Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress |
| 1983 | Independence Day | Carla Taylor | |
| 1983 | Romantic Comedy | Blanche Dailey | |
| 1986 | Resting Place | Eudora McCallister | |
| 1988 | Bright Lights, Big City | Clara | |
| 1989 | Communion | Dr. Janet Duffy | |
| 1989 | See You in the Morning | Neenie | |
| 1990 | Sibling Rivalry | Rose Turner | |
| 1990 | Misery | Virginia | Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress |
| 1991 | Doc Hollywood | Lillian | |
| 1991 | Walking the Dog | Antique Dealer | Short film |
| 1992 | Raising Cain | Dr. Lynn Waldheim | Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress |
| 1998 | It All Came True | Amy | |
| 2000 | Midnight Gospel | Ruth | Short film |
| 2001 | Landfall | Emily Thornton | |
| 2001 | Rising Place, TheThe Rising Place | Ruth Wilder | |
| 2002 | Highway | Mrs. Murray | |
| 2007 | Mist, TheThe Mist | Irene Reppler | |
| 2009 | Julie & Julia | Irma Rombauer | |
| 2011 | Dolphin Tale | Gloria Forrest | |
| 2014 | And So It Goes | Claire |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | Westinghouse Studio One | Betty | Episode: "The Arena" |
| 1957 | Westinghouse Studio One | Mary | Episode: "My Mother and How She Undid Me" |
| 1957 | Goodyear Television Playhouse | Elizabeth Barnes | Episode: "The House" |
| 1959 | Play of the Week | Eva | Episode: "Thieves Carnival" |
| 1961 | Play of the Week | Episode: "In a Garden" | |
| 1962 | Broadway of Lerner and Loewe, TheThe Broadway of Lerner and Loewe | Theatre-Goer | TV movie |
| 1962 | Nurses, TheThe Nurses | Mrs. Harris | Episode: "The Lady Made of Stone" |
| 1964 | Defenders, TheThe Defenders | Louise Kiley | Episode: "May Day! May Day!" |
| 1964 | Profiles in Courage | Miss Koeller | Episode: "Mary S. McDowell" |
| 1967 | NET Playhouse | Episode: "Infancy and Childhood" | |
| 1967 | Hallmark Hall of Fame | Abigail | Episode: "Soldier in Love" |
| 1967–1968 | Love of Life | Toni Prentiss Davis | TV series |
| 1970 | The Doctors | Phyllis Corrigan | TV series |
| 1971 | NET Playhouse | Segment: "Foul!" | |
| 1971 | Another World | Jane Overstreet | TV series |
| 1972 | Great Performances | Wilma Atkins | Episode: "The Rimers of Eldritch" |
| 1974 | Secret Storm, TheThe Secret Storm | Jessie Reddin | TV series |
| 1974 | Great Performances | Paulina | Episode: "Enemies" |
| 1977 | The Andros Targets | Mrs. Mason | Episode: "In the Event of My Death" |
| 1978 | Who'll Save Our Children? | Nellie Henderson | TV movie |
| 1980 | Mother and Daughter: The Loving War | Mrs. Lloyd | TV movie |
| 1980 | Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg, TheThe Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg | Mary Richards | TV short |
| 1983 | Prototype | Dorothy Forrester | TV movie |
| 1984 | Dining Room, TheThe Dining Room | Various | TV movie |
| 1985 | Spencer | Millie Sprague | 7 episodes |
| 1986–1993 | Cheers | Esther Clavin | 7 episodes Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series |
| 1987 | At Mother's Request | Berenice Bradshaw | TV movie |
| 1987 | Once Again | TV movie | |
| 1990 | Follow Your Heart | Cloe Sixbury | TV movie |
| 1991 | American Experience | (voice) | Episode: "Coney Island" |
| 1991 | Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, TheThe Days and Nights of Molly Dodd | Dora | Episode: "Here's a High Dive Into a Shallow Pool" |
| 1991 | Golden Years | Gina Williams | 7 episodes |
| 1991 | Law & Order | Margaret Langdon | Episode: "The Serpent's Tooth" |
| 1992 | She Woke Up | Noelle | TV movie |
| 1992 | Tales from the Crypt | Effie Gluckman | Episode: "None But the Lonely Heart" |
| 1993 | Labor of Love: The Arlette Schweitzer Story | Mary Rafferty | TV movie |
| 1994 | Vault of Horror I | TV movie | |
| 1994 | Road Home, TheThe Road Home | Charlotte Babineaux | 6 episodes |
| 1994 | Reunion | Tobie Yates | TV movie |
| 1995 | Outer Limits, TheThe Outer Limits | Jean Anderson | Episode: "The Choice" |
| 1997 | Law & Order | Estelle Muller | Episode: "Legacy" |
| 1997–2003 | ER | Millicent Carter | 19 episodes |
| 1998 | Con, TheThe Con | Hadabelle | TV movie |
| 1998 | To Live Again | Constance Holmes | TV movie |
| 2000–2002 | Sex and the City | Bunny MacDougal | 10 episodes Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series |
| 2002 | Laramie Project, TheThe Laramie Project | Marge Murray | TV movie Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film |
| 2002 | Simpsons, TheThe Simpsons | Mrs. Bellamy (voice) | Episode: "The Frying Game" |
| 2004 | Becker | Naomi | Episode: "Subway Story" |
| 2006–2012 | Closer, TheThe Closer | Willie Ray Johnson | 15 episodes |
| 2012 | Parenthood | Blanche Braverman | Episode: "Road Trip" |
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1955 | Skin of Our Teeth, TheThe Skin of Our Teeth | Miss T. Muse |
| 1955 | Carefree Tree, TheThe Carefree Tree | Widow Yang |
| 1960 | Viva Madison Avenue! | Dee Jones |
| 1962 | Great Day in the Morning | Alice McAnany |
| 1965–1966 | Right Honourable Gentleman, TheThe Right Honourable Gentleman | Mrs. Ashton Dilke |
| 1967 | Doll's House, AA Doll's House | Nora |
| 1967–1969 | You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running | Harriet / Edith / Muriel (standby) |
| 1968–1969 | Cocktail Party, TheThe Cocktail Party | Lavinia Chamberlayne |
| 1969 | Cock-A-Doodle Dandy | Loreleen |
| 1970 | Blood Red Roses | Various (standby) |
| 1971 | Playboy of the Western World, TheThe Playboy of the Western World | Widow Quin |
| 1971 | All Over | The Daughter, The Mistress (standby) |
| 1971 | Mary Stuart | Mary Stuart, Queen Elizabeth (understudy) |
| 1972 | Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window, TheThe Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window | Mavis Parodus Bryson |
| 1972 | Enemies | Paulina |
| 1973–1974 | Good Doctor, TheThe Good Doctor | Performer |
| 1974–1977 | Equus | Dora Strang |
| 1978 | Angel | Eliza Gant |
| 1979–1980 | On Golden Pond | Ethel Thayer |
| 1981 | Father, TheThe Father | Laura |
| 1981–1982 | Grown Ups | Helen |
| 1983–1984 | You Can't Take It with You | |
| 1985 | Home Front | Maurine |
| 1995 | Heiress, TheThe Heiress | Lavinia Penniman |
| 1999 | Exact Center of the Universe, TheThe Exact Center of the Universe | |
| 2002 | Morning's at Seven | Ida Bolton |
| 2005 | Steel Magnolias | Clairee |
| 2005–2006 | Seascape | Nancy |
| 2013 | The Madrid | Rose |
References
- 1 2 3 4 Joy, Cara."Frances Sternhagen in Talks to Join Company of Broadway Magnolias" Broadway.com, November 22, 2004
- ↑ "Frances Sternhagen Biography". filmreference. 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-21.
- ↑ Lefkowitz, David."Brian Murray & Frances Sternhagen Take Irish Journey, Mar. 22" Playbill.com, March 22, 1998
- ↑ "Frances Sternhagen Credits" hollywood.com, accessed August 27, 2011
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Frances Sternhagen. |
- Frances Sternhagen at the Internet Broadway Database
- Frances Sternhagen at the Internet Movie Database