Even if you don’t immediately recognize the name Frances Sternhagen, there’s still a good chance that you’ve seen her acting in something at some point over the decades. Sternhagen has stage and screen credits going back decades, and over that time she racked up Emmy nominations and Tony wins. Sadly, it’s being reported today that she passed away of natural causes this past Monday, at the age of 93.
Sternhagen earned her first screen credit on the TV show Producers’ Showcase in 1955, and went on to work on 75 other projects, including the Burt Reynolds comedy Starting Over, the Sean Connery sci-fi classic Outland, Independence Day – the 1983 drama, not the alien invasion movie; Dudley Moore’s Romantic Comedy, the John Lithgow / Morgan Freeman drama Resting Place, the Michael J. Fox drama Bright Lights, Big City and the Michael J. Fox comedy Doc Hollywood, Tales from the Crypt, The Outer Limits, Law & Order, The Simpsons, the Christopher Walken horror film Communion, the Kirstie Alley comedy Sibling Rivalry, Brian De Palma’s Raising Cain, The Laramie Project, Dolphin Tale, Julie & Julia, and the Stephen King adaptations Misery and The Mist. She’s probably best known for her recurring roles on popular TV shows: she was Willie Ray Johnson on 16 episodes of The Closer, Millicent Carter on 21 episodes of ER, Bunny MacDougal on 10 episodes of Sex and the City (for which she earned an Emmy nomination), and Cliff Clavin’s mom Esther on 7 episodes of Cheers (she got two Emmy nominations for that role).
As for her accomplishments on the stage, Variety notes, “Sternhagen was seven times a Tony nominee, winning in 1974 for featured actress in a play for Neil Simon’s The Doctor and in 1995 for featured actress in a play for a revival of The Heiress. Her other Tony nominations were for Lorraine Hansberry’s The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, featured actress, in 1972; Equus, featured actress, 1975; Angel, actress in a musical, 1978; On Golden Pond, actress in a play, 1979; and Paul Osborn’s Morning’s at Seven, featured actress in a play, 2002. Starring on Broadway in the original production of On Golden Pond in 1979, Sternhagen created the role of the mother, Ethel Thayer, played by Katharine Hepburn in the 1981 feature adaptation.“
Sternhagen was born in Washington, D.C. on January 13, 1930. She studied drama at Vassar College and was even the head of the drama club before she graduated in 1951. She also studied at the Perry Mansfield School of the Theatre and with Sanford Meisner at the Group Theater, and taught acting, singing and dancing at the Milton Academy in Massachusetts. She made her Broadway debut in Thornton Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth in 1955, the same year she first appeared on TV.
She was married to actor Thomas Carlin from 1956 until he passed away in 1991. She is survived by her children Paul, Tony, Peter, John, Amanda, and Sarah, as well as nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Our sincere condolences go out to Frances Sternhagen’s family, friends, and fans.