Frances Sternhagen


Frances Hussey Sternhagen is an American actress. Sternhagen has appeared On- and Off-Broadway, in movies, and on TV since the 1950s.

Early life and education

Sternhagen was born in Washington, D.C., the daughter of John M. Sternhagen, a U.S. Tax Court judge, and Gertrude. 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.

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. 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". By the following year, she had won an off-Broadway Obie Award for "Distinguished Performance " in The Admirable Bashville.
She has won two Tony awards, for "Best Supporting Actress ": in 1974 for the original Broadway production of Neil Simon's The Good Doctor ; and in 1995 for the revival of The Heiress. She has been nominated for Tony awards five other times, including for her roles in the original Broadway casts of Equus and On Golden Pond as well as for Lorraine Hansberry's The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window, the musical Angel which was based on Thomas Wolfe's Look Homeward, Angel, and the 2002 revival of Paul Osborne's Morning's at Seven.
She portrayed 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. 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 and in 2005, for the World War I drama Echoes of the War. She also won Distinguished Performance Obie Awards for The Room and A Slight Ache. In 1998 she won the Dramatists Guild Fund's Madge Evans & Sidney Kingsley Award for Excellence in Theater.
Sternhagen appeared as The Daughter in the original Broadway production of Edward Albee's All Over in 1971 with Colleen Dewhurst and Jessica Tandy. In the summer of 2005, she starred in the Broadway production of Steel Magnolias along with Marsha Mason, Delta Burke, Christine Ebersole, Lily Rabe, and Rebecca Gayheart. She also starred in the 2005 revival of Edward Albee's Seascape, produced by Lincoln Center Theater at the Booth Theater on Broadway.
In 2013, Sternhagen also won the Obie Award for Lifetime Achievement. Sternhagen is a member of New Rochelle, New York's New Rochelle Walk of Fame.

Film roles

Sternhagen made her film debut in 1967's New York City high school drama Up the Down Staircase, which starred Sandy Dennis. She has worked periodically in Hollywood since then. She had character roles in the 1971 Paddy Chayefsky's The Hospital, in Two People and in Billy Wilder's Fedora. She appeared in Starting Over which starred Burt Reynolds; with Sean Connery in Outland ; and with Michael J. Fox in Bright Lights, Big City. She played Farrah Fawcett's mother in See You in the Morning, Richard Farnsworth's wife in Misery, Lillian in Doc Hollywood and John Lithgow's psychiatrist in Raising Cain. Sternhagen starred in Frank Darabont's 2007 science fiction horror film The Mist. She also appeared in the family film Dolphin Tale and And So It Goes.

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 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.
In summer 2006, she finished her 24th Broadway role, then appeared on TV's The Closer, playing Willie Rae Johnson, the mother of Brenda Leigh Johnson, the lead character. Sternhagen appeared in 12 episodes of the program. 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.

Filmography

YearTitleRoleNotes
1967Up the Down StaircaseCharlotte Wolf
1967'Lady on Bus
1971'Mrs. Cushing
1973Two PeopleMrs. McCluskey
1978FedoraMiss Balfour
1979Starting OverMarva Potter
1981OutlandDr. Marian LazarusSaturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
1983Independence DayCarla Taylor
1983Romantic ComedyBlanche Dailey
1986Resting PlaceEudora McCallister
1988Bright Lights, Big CityClara Tillinghast
1989CommunionDr. Janet Duffy
1989See You in the MorningNeenie
1990Sibling RivalryRose Turner
1990MiseryVirginiaNominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
1991Doc HollywoodLillian
1991Walking the DogAntique DealerShort film
1992Raising CainDr. Lynn WaldheimNominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
1998It All Came TrueAmy
2000Midnight GospelRuthShort film
2001LandfallEmily Thornton
2001'Ruth Wilder
2002HighwayMrs. Murray
2007'Irene Reppler
2009Julie & JuliaIrma Rombauer
2011Dolphin TaleGloria Forrest
2014And So It GoesClaire

YearTitleRoleNotes
1956Westinghouse Studio OneBettyEpisode: "The Arena"
1957Westinghouse Studio OneMaryEpisode: "My Mother and How She Undid Me"
1957Goodyear Television PlayhouseElizabeth BarnesEpisode: "The House"
1959Play of the WeekEvaEpisode: "Thieves Carnival"
1961Play of the WeekEpisode: "In a Garden"
1962'Theatre-GoerTV movie
1962'Mrs. HarrisEpisode: "The Lady Made of Stone"
1964'Louise KileyEpisode: "May Day! May Day!"
1964Profiles in CourageMiss KoellerEpisode: "Mary S. McDowell"
1967NET PlayhouseEpisode: "Infancy and Childhood"
1967Hallmark Hall of FameAbigailEpisode: "Soldier in Love"
1967–1968Love of LifeToni Prentiss DavisTV series
1970The DoctorsPhyllis CorriganTV series
1971NET PlayhouseSegment: "Foul!"
1971Another WorldJane OverstreetTV series
1972Great PerformancesWilma AtkinsEpisode: "The Rimers of Eldritch"
1974'Jessie ReddinTV series
1974Great PerformancesPaulinaEpisode: "Enemies"
1977The Andros TargetsMrs. MasonEpisode: "In the Event of My Death"
1978Who'll Save Our Children?Nellie HendersonTV movie
1980Mother and Daughter: The Loving WarMrs. LloydTV movie
1980'Mary RichardsTV short
1983PrototypeDorothy ForresterTV movie
1984'VariousTV movie
1985SpencerMillie Sprague7 episodes
1986–1993CheersEsther Clavin7 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
1987At Mother's RequestBerenice BradshawTV movie
1987Once AgainTV movie
1990Follow Your HeartCloe SixburyTV movie
1991American ExperienceEpisode: "Coney Island"
1991'DoraEpisode: "Here's a High Dive Into a Shallow Pool"
1991Golden YearsGina Williams7 episodes
1991Law & OrderMargaret LangdonEpisode: "The Serpent's Tooth"
1992She Woke UpNoelleTV movie
1992Tales from the CryptEffie GluckmanEpisode: "None But the Lonely Heart"
1993Labor of Love: The Arlette Schweitzer StoryMary RaffertyTV movie
1994Vault of Horror ITV movie
1994'Charlotte Babineaux6 episodes
1994ReunionTobie YatesTV movie
1995'Jean AndersonEpisode: "The Choice"
1997Law & OrderEstelle MullerEpisode: "Legacy"
1997–2003ERMillicent Carter19 episodes
1998'HadabelleTV movie
1998To Live AgainConstance HolmesTV movie
2000–2002Sex and the CityBunny MacDougal10 episodes
Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series
2002'Marge MurrayTV movie
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film
2002'Mrs. Bellamy Episode: "The Frying Game"
2004BeckerNaomiEpisode: "Subway Story"
2006–2012'Willie Ray Johnson15 episodes
2012ParenthoodBlanche BravermanEpisode: "Road Trip"

YearTitleRole
1955'Miss T. Muse
1955'Widow Yang
1960Viva Madison Avenue!Dee Jones
1962Great Day in the MorningAlice McAnany
1965–1966'Mrs. Ashton Dilke
1967'Nora
1967–1969You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's RunningHarriet / Edith / Muriel
1968–1969'Lavinia Chamberlayne
1969Cock-A-Doodle DandyLoreleen
1970Blood Red RosesVarious
1971'Widow Quin
1971All OverThe Daughter, The Mistress
1971Mary StuartMary Stuart, Queen Elizabeth
1972'Mavis Parodus Bryson
1972EnemiesPaulina
1973–1974'Performer
1974–1977EquusDora Strang
1978AngelEliza Gant
1979–1980On Golden PondEthel Thayer
1981'Laura
1981–1982Grown UpsHelen
1983–1984You Can't Take It with You
1985Home FrontMaurine
1995'Lavinia Penniman
1999'
2002Morning's at SevenIda Bolton
2005Steel MagnoliasClairee
2005–2006SeascapeNancy
2013The MadridRose