Elizabeth Franz

Franz was born Betty Frankovitch in Akron, Ohio.{{cite news |last1=Greene |first1=Alexis |title=When Franz is onstage, 'attention must be paid' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/1117013841/?match=1&terms=%22Betty%20Frankovitch%22 |access-date=December 6, 2024 |work=The Sunday Star-Ledger |date=February 7, 1999 |page=Section 4, page 3|via = Newspapers.com |url-access=subscription }} Her Serbo-Croatian father, Joe Frankovitch, worked at an Akron, tire factory. Her half Irish, half Native American mother, Harriet, had mental problems that sometimes frightened Franz when she was a child. In childhood she decided to become an actress as a way of releasing emotions that she had to hold in while dealing with her parents. She had two brothers and a sister, and she graduated from Copley High School in Copley Township, Ohio, in 1959.{{cite news |last1=Nichols |first1=Kenneth |title=Real-Life Drama, Too |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/153214582/?match=1&terms=%22Elizabeth%20Franz%22%20Frankovitch |access-date=December 6, 2024 |work=Akron Beacon Journal |date=June 23, 1967 |page=B 24|via = Newspapers.com |url-access=subscription }}

Although her mother never thought Franz would succeed as an actress, she wanted to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA) and worked as a secretary at Ohio Edison to save enough money to enroll there.{{cite news |last1=Josephson |first1=Sanford |title='Sister Ignatius' explains it all; Ex-Akronite emerges from off-Broadway obscurity |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/155023409/?match=1&terms=%22Elizabeth%20Franz%22%20Frankovitch |access-date=December 6, 2024 |work=The Akron Beacon Journal |date=March 31, 1982 |page=11|via = Newspapers.com |url-access=subscription }} An AADA teacher warned her that despite being a good actress, she might not get roles before she reached age 40.{{cite news |last1=Smith |first1=Dinitia |title=American Academy of Dramatic Arts |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/05/09/theater/theater-i-have-a-lot-of-willy-lomans-in-my-life.html |access-date=December 5, 2024 |work=The New York Times |date=May 9, 1999 |page=48|url-access=subscription }}

Billed as Betty Frankovitch, Franz acted at the Weathervane Theater in Akron. She acted with The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis 1968-1970.{{cite news |last1=Newmark |first1=Judith |title=Veteran of Rep's early days returns |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/140938597/?match=1&terms=%22Elizabeth%20Franz%22%20Frankovitch |access-date=December 6, 2024 |work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch |date=November 16, 2000 |page=30|via = Newspapers.com |url-access=subscription }}

In 2004–05, she 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 American premiere of Frank McGuinness's Bird Sanctuary. She also appeared in Long Day's Journey into Night, The Glass Menagerie, The Comedy of Errors, Madwoman of Chaillot, The Lion in Winter, A View from the Bridge, The Matchmaker, The Wizard of Oz, Great Expectations, The Model Apartment, and Woman in Mind.

Her "subtly layered performance" as Grandma Kurnitz in the 2017 Weston Playhouse Theatre Company production of Neil Simon's Lost in Yonkers was duly noted by Rutland Herald critic Jim Lowe, who deemed Franz's portrayal the "dramatic backbone" of the production, "allowing only traces of the octogenarian's love and humanity to seep through."Lowe, Jim (July 25, 2017). "'Lost in Yonkers' Deeply Satisfying ; [https://www.newspapers.com/article/rutland-daily-herald/160587834/ Review (Continued from Page B1)"]. pp. B1, B2. Retrieved December 9, 2024.

Franz's Tony-winning performance as Linda Loman in the 50th anniversary production of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman proved a revelation to audiences and author alike, as evidenced by Miller's brief but pointed tribute.

She has discovered in the role the basic underlying powerful protectiveness, which comes out as fury, and that in the past, in every performance that I know of, was simply washed out.{{Cite news|title=Best Attentions; Elizabeth Franz's new approach to Linda Loman in 'Death of a Salesman' has won her a Tony--and praise from playwright Arthur Miller.: [Home Edition]|author=Haithman, Diane|date=October 11, 2000|work=Los Angeles Times|page=1|quote=Franz's creative choices took even playwright Miller by surprise [as revealed] in a 1999 interview. 'I don't think [Miller] thought of it as being done that way, ever,' Franz says in a quiet, almost tremulous voice during an interview backstage at the Ahmanson.|id={{ProQuest|421570814}}}}

On television, Franz is most notably a character actor. She became best known for her role as the villainous Alma Rudder on Another World, which she portrayed from 1982–83, while she was performing Brighton Beach Memoirs on Broadway. She played Helen Wendall on As the World Turns from 1994–95, and appeared as free-spirited beauty salon owner Marsha in three episodes of Roseanne.

She appeared 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 has appeared in such feature films and motion pictures as Sabrina, Christmas with the Kranks, The Substance of Fire, The Pallbearer, Thinner, The Secret of My Success, School Ties and Jacknife.

Franz married actor Edward Binns in 1983, and they remained wed until his death in 1990.

{{Reflist}}

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

• {{IBDB name}}
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• [http://theater2.nytimes.com/2007/11/19/theater/reviews/19pian.html?ex=1353474000&en=60fc5d393a57d14d&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink The Piano Teacher (review)], nytimes.com; accessed November 8, 2016.
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{{TonyAward PlayFeaturedActress 1976-2000}}

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Category:American film actresses

Category:American stage actresses

Category:American television actresses

Category:Living people

Category:Tony Award winners

Category:Obie Award recipients

Category:20th-century American actresses

Category:21st-century American actresses

Category:1941 births

Category:Actresses from Akron, Ohio