Franz, Elizabeth 1941-

views updated

Franz, Elizabeth 1941-

PERSONAL

Original name, Elizabeth Frankovich; born June 18, 1941, in Akron, OH; daughter of Joseph (a factory worker) and Harriet Frankovich; married Edward "Ed" Binns (an actor), 1983 (died December 4, 1990). Education: Trained for the stage at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Addresses:

Agent—Mitchell K. Stubbs & Associates, 8675 West Washington Blvd., Suite 203, Culver City, CA 90232.

Career:

Actress. Worked as a teacher of creative drama for teenagers, Westchester, NY, and as a secretary.

Member:

Actors' Equity Association, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, Screen Actors Guild.

Awards, Honors:

Obie Award, performance, Village Voice, c. 1980, and Drama Desk Award nomination, outstanding actress in a play, 1982, both for Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You; Antoinette Perry Award nomination, best featured actress in a play, 1983, for Brighton Beach Memoirs; Antoinette Perry Award, best performance by a featured actress in a play, Jeff Award, best actress in a supporting role—play, Joseph Jefferson Awards Committee, Drama Desk Award nomination, outstanding actress in a play, and Outer Critics Circle Award nomination, outstanding actress—play, all 1999, Elliot Norton Award, outstanding actress, large company, Boston Theater Critics Association, and Ovation Award, best featured actress in a play, LA Stage Alliance, both 2001, all for the stage production of Death of a Salesman; Emmy Award nomination, outstanding supporting actress in a miniseries or a movie, 2000, and Screen Actors Guild Award nomination, outstanding performance by a female actor in a television movie or miniseries, 2001, both for the television production of Death of Salesman; Antoinette Perry Award nomination, best featured actress in a play, and Drama Desk Award nomination, outstanding featured actress in a play, both 2002, for Mornings at Seven.

CREDITS

Stage Appearances:

In White America, Players Theatre, New York City, 1965.

Ruth Ann Chenier, Death of the Well-Loved Boy, St. Mark's Playhouse, New York City, 1967.

Ambassador, attendant, courtier, and soldier, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Alvin Theatre, New York City, 1967-68.

Girl, One Night Stands of a Noisy Passenger, Actors Theatre, New York City, 1970.

Woman, Atheist in a Foxhole, Westside YWCA, Clark Center, New York City, 1974.

Marilyn, Augusta, Playwrights Horizons, then Theatre de Lys, both New York City, 1975.

Long Day's Journey into Night, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Indianapolis, IN, 1975.

Charlotta Ivanovna, The Cherry Orchard, New York Shakespeare Festival, Lincoln Center, Vivian Beaumont Theater, New York City, 1977.

The Seagull, Yale Repertory Theatre, New Haven, CT, 1979.

Sister Mary Ignatius, Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You, off-Broadway production, beginning 1979, Playwrights Horizons, 1981, then Westside Arts Theatre, New York City, 1981-84.

Children of the Sun, Mirror Repertory Company, Theatre at St. Peter's Church, New York City, 1981.

Sally's Gone, She Left Her Name, Center Stage Theatre, Baltimore, MD, 1981.

Sarah Siddons, The Actor's Nightmare, Playwrights Horizons, 1981, then Westside Arts Theatre, New York City, 1981-84.

Kate Jerome, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Center Theatre Group, Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles, 1982, Alvin Theatre, 1983-85, and Neil Simon Theatre, New York City, 1985-86.

Miss Furnival, Light Comedies, Center Theatre Group, Ahmanson Theatre, 1984.

Lady, The Time of Your Life, Mirror Repertory Company, Theatre at St. Peter's Church, 1985.

Nora (Mrs. Lawrence Hiller), The Octette Bridge Club, Music Box Theatre, New York City, 1985.

The Madwoman of Chaillot, Mirror Repertory Company, Theatre at St. Peter's Church, c. 1985.

Yelena, Children of the Sun, Theatre at St. Peter's Church, 1985-86.

Kate Jerome, Broadway Bound, Broadhurst Theatre, New York City, 1986-88.

Ida, The Cemetery Club, Brooks Atkinson Theatre, New York City, 1990.

Dividing the Estate, Great Lakes Theater Festival, Cleveland, OH, 1990.

Mrs. Bridgenorth, Getting Married, Circle in the Square Theatre, New York City, 1991.

Abbess, The Comedy of Errors, New York Shakespeare Festival, Public Theater, Delacorte Theater, New York City, 1992.

Almira Gulch and the Wicked Witch of the West, The Wizard of Oz (musical), Paper Mill Playhouse, Millburn, NJ, 1992.

Mademoiselle Gabrielle, The Madwoman of Chaillot, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Main Stage, Williamstown, MA, 1993.

Eleanor of Aquitaine, The Lion in Winter, Cleveland Play House, Cleveland, OH, c. 1993.

Dolly Levi (title role), The Matchmaker, McCarter Theatre, Princeton, NJ, 1994.

Maria Vasilyevna Voinitskaya, Uncle Vanya, Circle in the Square Theatre, New York City, 1995.

Mother, Minutes from the Blue Route, Atlantic Theater Company, New York City, 1997.

Woman in Mind, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Main Stage, Stockbridge, MA, 1997.

Kate, The Cripple of Inishmaan, New York Shakespeare Festival, Joseph Papp Public Theater, Newman Theater, New York City, 1998.

Linda Loman, Death of a Salesman, Eugene O'Neill Theatre, New York City, 1999, Center Theatre Group, Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles, 2000, also produced in the Chicago and Boston areas.

Lola, Model Apartment, Long Wharf Theatre, New Haven, CT, 2001.

Aaronetta Gibbs, Mornings at Seven, Lyceum Theatre, New York City, 2002.

Cassandra and Lucy, such small hands (solo show), Syracuse Stage, Syracuse, NY, 2003.

Halie, Buried Child, National Theatre, Lyttelton Theatre, London, 2004.

Eleanor, The Bird Sanctuary, Pittsburgh Public Theater, O'Reilly Theater, Pittsburgh, PA, 2005.

Miss Haversham, Great Expectations, 2005.

Ellie, Howard Katz, Roundabout Theatre Company, Laura Pels Theatre, New York City, 2007.

Mary Ellis, The Autumn Garden, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Main Stage, 2007.

Appeared as Eliza Doolittle, My Fair Lady (musical), and as Alma, Summer and Smoke, both Dorset Playhouse, Dorset, VT; appeared as Amanda, The Glass Menagerie; appeared in The Real Inspector Hound and Yesterday Is Over, both New York City; appeared in other productions, including Agnes of God, Hamlet, and A View from the Bridge. Appeared in productions with the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, 1968; Trinity Square Players, Providence, RI, 1972-73; Arena Stage, Washington, DC, 1977-78; Mirror Theatre Company, New York City; and with the Akron Shakespeare Festival, Akron, OH.

Film Appearances:

Dear Dead Delilah, Avco-Embassy, 1972.

Doctor, Pilgrim, Farewell, Post Mills, 1980.

Grace Foster, The Secret of My Success (also known as The Secret of My Succe$s), Universal, 1987.

Pru Buckman, Jacknife, Cineplex Odeon Films, 1989.

Jane Dillon, School Ties (also known as Codigo de honor, Der Aussenseiter, La difference, Scuola d'onore, and Zar Ba'Migrash), Paramount, 1992.

Joanna, Sabrina (also known as Sabrina (y sus amores)), Paramount, 1995.

Aunt Lucille, The Pallbearer (also known as Happy Blue, Amigo desconhecido, Der Zufallslover, El funebrero, Identitate furata, Le porteur, Mi desconocido amigo, Tre amici un matrimonio e un funerale, and Vaenner och flickvaenner), Miramax, 1996.

Leda Rossington, Thinner (also known as Stephen King's "Thinner," La peau sur les os, L'occhio del male, Maldicao, Sorvadj El, Stephen King's "Thinner "—Der Fluch, and Vainottu), Paramount, 1996.

Miss Barzakian, The Substance of Fire (also known as La esencia del fuego, L'essencia del foc, Plaagadav skuld, Revers de fortune, and Syyllisyyden taakka), Miramax, 1996.

Mrs. Bundrass (a social worker), Twisted, Leisure Time Features, 1996.

(Uncredited) Walking to the Waterline, Goldheart Pictures, 1998.

Bea Greenberg, A Fish in the Bathtub, Curb Entertainment, 1999.

Bev Scheel, Christmas with the Kranks (also known as John Grisham's "Skipping Christmas," Skipping the Holidays, Christmas geonneodwigi, Fuga del Natale, Julfritt, Um Natal muito, muito louco, Un Noel de folie!, Una Navidad de locos, and Verrueckte Weihnachten), Columbia, 2004.

Doris Highsmith, Loopy (short film), 2004.

Sissel, The Reader (short film), Freshwater Films, 2005.

Some sources cite an appearance in Story of a Bad Boy (also known as El despertar de la innocencia), 1999.

Television Appearances; Series:

Alma Rudder, Another World (also known as Another World: Bay City), NBC, 1982-83.

Helen Wendall, As the World Turns, CBS, 1994-95.

Television Appearances; Miniseries:

Josephine McCormack, "The Three Sisters," A Girl Thing, Showtime, 2001.

Television Appearances; Movies:

Mother, Love and Other Sorrows, PBS, 1989.

Becky Brown, Face of a Stranger (also known as Das Fremde Gesicht, Kohtalon sormi, and Vieraat kasvot), CBS, 1991.

Maryanne's mother, Shameful Secrets (also known as Going Underground), ABC, 1993.

Mrs. Stromberg, It's Nothing Personal (also known as Bounty Hunter and La vengeance au coeur), NBC, 1993.

Dorothy, An Unexpected Love (also known as This Much I Know, Un amor inesperado, and Un amour inattendu), Lifetime, 2003.

Television Appearances; Specials:

Grace Stepney, "The House of Mirth," Great Performances, PBS, 1981.

Mrs. Rice, "The Rise and Rise of Daniel Rocket," American Playhouse, PBS, 1986.

"The Joy That Kills," American Playhouse, PBS, 1986.

Dottie McCann (title role), "Dottie," American Playhouse, PBS, 1987.

Augusta, Saint Gaudens: Masque of the Golden Bowl, PBS, 1988.

Cecile Nelson, "A Town's Revenge," ABC Afterschool Specials, ABC, 1989.

Alice Kelly, "Notes for My Daughter," ABC Afterschool Specials, ABC, 1995.

Broadway '99: Launching the Tony Awards, PBS, 1999.

Linda Loman, Death of a Salesman, Showtime, 2000.

Television Appearances; Awards Presentations:

The 50th Annual Tony Awards, PBS, 1999.

Seventh Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards (also known as Screen Actors Guild Seventh Annual Awards), TNT, 2001.

Television Appearances; Episodic:

Mrs. O'Rourke, "Original Sin," Spenser: For Hire, ABC, 1985.

"The Mother Instinct," Monsters, syndicated, 1989.

Marsha, "Hair," Roseanne, ABC, 1990.

Marsha, "I'm Hungry," Roseanne, ABC, 1990.

Gladys Lear (Norma's mother), "Life Upside-Down," Sisters, NBC, 1994.

Gladys Lear (Norma's mother), "Deceit," Sisters, NBC, 1995.

Vivian Galloway, "Convictions," Judging Amy, CBS, 2000.

Mia, "The Ins and Outs of Inns," Gilmore Girls (also known as Gilmore Girls: Beginnings and The Gilmore Way), The WB, 2001.

Vivian Galloway, "The Treachery of Compromise," Judging Amy, CBS, 2001.

Evelyn Shelby, "Look Again," Cold Case, CBS, 2003.

Alison Bishop, "Married with Children," Law & Order (also known as Law & Order Prime), NBC, 2004.

Jeannette Henley, "Scavenger," Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (also known as Law & Order's Sex Crimes, Law & Order: SVU, and Special Victims Unit), NBC, 2004.

Appeared as Emma, Dear John (also known as Dear John: USA, Divorciados, John Ha-Yakar, Mein Lieber John, and Querido John), NBC; and in The Equalizer, CBS.

Radio Work:

Worked as a production assistant on Celebrity Corner.

More From encyclopedia.com