Frances Hussey Sternhagen (born January 13, 1930) is an American actress; she has appeared on- and

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer th ...

, in movies, and on TV since the 1950s.Joy, Car
"Frances Sternhagen in Talks to Join Company of Broadway Magnolias"
Broadway.com, November 22, 2004.

Early life and education

Sternhagen was born in Washington, D.C., the daughter and only child of

John M. Sternhagen John Meier Sternhagen (March 21, 1888 – September 25, 1954) was a member of the US Board of Tax Appeals and a judge of the Tax Court of the United States, from July 16, 1924, until June 1, 1946.

, a U.S. Tax Court

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

, and Gertrude (née Hussey) Sternhagen. She was educated at the

Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...

and Potomac schools in

McLean, Virginia McLean ( ) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. McLean is home to many diplomats, military, members of Congress, and high-ranking government officials partially due to its prox ...

. At

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely foll ...

, 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 Richard II (6 January 1367 – ), also known as Richard of Bordeaux, was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. He was the son of Edward the Black Prince, Prince of Wales, and Joan, Countess of Kent. Richard's father ...

'', playing none other than Richard himself". She attended the

Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Roman Catholic research university in Washington, D.C. It is a pontifical university of the Catholic Church in the United States and the only institution of higher education founded by U.S. ...

as a grad student, where she met Thomas Carlin, her future husband, to whom she was married from 1956 until his death in 1991; the couple had six children. She also studied at the Perry Mansfield School of the Theatre, and at New York City's

Neighborhood Playhouse A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural a ...

Stage career

Sternhagen started her career teaching acting, singing, and dancing to school children at the

Milton Academy Milton Academy (also known as Milton) is a highly selective, coeducational, independent preparatory, boarding and day school in Milton, Massachusetts consisting of a grade 9–12 Upper School and a grade K–8 Lower School. Boarding is offered ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

, and she first performed in 1948 at a Bryn Mawr summer theater in ''

The Glass Menagerie ''The Glass Menagerie'' is a memory play by Tennessee Williams that premiered in 1944 and catapulted Williams from obscurity to fame. The play has strong autobiographical elements, featuring characters based on its author, his Histrionic persona ...

'' and '' Angel Street''. She went on to work at Washington's

Arena Stage Arena Stage is a not-for-profit regional theater based in Southwest, Washington, D.C. Established in 1950, it was the first racially integrated theater in Washington, D.C. and its founders helped start the U.S. regional theater movement. It is ...

from 1953–54, then made her

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

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 ''Le Bal des Voleurs'' (''Thieves' Carnival'') is a play written by French playwright Jean Anouilh, first staged at Théâtre des Arts, Paris on 17 August 1938. Later productions ''Thieves' Carnival'' was presented on the televised series ''The ...

'', and her TV debut in ''The Great Bank Robbery'' on ''Omnibus'' ( CBS). By the following year, she had won her first

Obie Award The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards originally given by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City. In September 2014, the awards were jointly presented and administered with the ...

for "Distinguished Performance (Actress)" in ''The Admirable Bashville'' (1955–56). She has won two

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual c ...

s, for Best Supporting Actress (Dramatic): in 1974 for the original Broadway production of

Neil Simon Marvin Neil Simon (July 4, 1927 – August 26, 2018) was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly film adaptations of his plays. He has received mo ...

's '' The Good Doctor'' (which also won her a

Drama Desk Award The Drama Desk Award is an annual prize recognizing excellence in New York theatre. First bestowed in 1955 as the Vernon Rice Award, the prize initially honored Off-Broadway productions, as well as Off-off-Broadway, and those in the vicinity. F ...

for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play); 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'' (1975) and '' On Golden Pond'' (1979), as well as for

Lorraine Hansberry Lorraine Vivian Hansberry (May 19, 1930 – January 12, 1965) was a playwright and writer. She was the first African-American female author to have a play performed on Broadway. Her best-known work, the play ''A Raisin in the Sun'', highli ...

's ''

The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window ''The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window'' is the second and last staged play by playwright Lorraine Hansberry, author of ''A Raisin in the Sun''. The play is a story about a man named Sidney, his pitfalls within his personal life, and struggles in ...

'' (1972), the musical ''

Angel In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles ...

'' (1978), which was based on

Thomas Wolfe Thomas Clayton Wolfe (October 3, 1900 – September 15, 1938) was an American novelist of the early 20th century. Wolfe wrote four lengthy novels as well as many short stories, dramatic works, and novellas. He is known for mixing highly origi ...

's '' Look Homeward, Angel'', and the 2002 revival of

Paul Osborn Paul Osborn (September 4, 1901 – May 12, 1988) was an American playwright and screenwriter. Osborn's original plays are '' The Vinegar Tree'', ''Oliver Oliver'', and ''Morning's at Seven'' and among his several successful adaptations, ''On Borr ...

's '' Morning's at Seven''. She portrayed the title character in 1988's

Pulitzer prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made ...

-winning drama ''

Driving Miss Daisy '' Driving Miss Daisy'' is a 1989 American comedy-drama film directed by Bruce Beresford and written by Alfred Uhry, based on his 1987 play of the same name. The film stars Jessica Tandy, Morgan Freeman, and Dan Aykroyd. Freeman reprised his r ...

'', which was originated by

Dana Ivey Dana Robins Ivey (born August 12, 1941) is an American actress. She is a five-time Tony Award nominee for her work on Broadway, and won the 1997 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play for her work in both ''Sex and Longin ...

Playwrights Horizons Playwrights Horizons is a not-for-profit Off-Broadway theater located in New York City dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights, composers, and lyricists, and to the production of their new work. Under the ...

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. Her 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 Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama techniques of realism, earli ...

's '' Long Day's Journey into Night'' (which starred her own son, Paul Carlin, as her character's son, Jamie Tyrone) for the

Irish Repertory Theatre The Irish Repertory Theatre is an Off Broadway theatre founded in 1988. History The Irish Repertory Theatre was founded by Ciarán O'Reilly and Charlotte Moore, which opened its doors in September 1988,http://www.nyc-arts.org/organizations/ ...

and in 2005, for the

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

drama ''Echoes of the War''. She also won Distinguished Performance

Obie Awards The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards originally given by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City. In September 2014, the awards were jointly presented and administered with the A ...

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. Sternhagen appeared as the Daughter in the original 1971 Broadway production of

Edward Albee Edward Franklin Albee III ( ; March 12, 1928 – September 16, 2016) was an American playwright known for works such as '' The Zoo Story'' (1958), '' The Sandbox'' (1959), '' Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' (1962), '' A Delicate Balance'' (196 ...

's ''

All Over ''All Over'' is a two-act play written in 1970 by Edward Albee. He had originally developed it in 1967 as a short play entitled ''Death'', the second half of a projected double bill with another play called ''Life'' (which later became ''Seascape ...

'' with

Colleen Dewhurst Colleen Rose Dewhurst (3 June 1924 – 22 August 1991) was a Canadian-American actress mostly known for theatre roles. She was a renowned interpreter of the works of Eugene O'Neill on the stage, and her career also encompassed film, early drama ...

and

Jessica Tandy Jessie Alice Tandy (7 June 1909 – 11 September 1994) was a British-American actress. Tandy appeared in over 100 stage productions and had more than 60 roles in film and TV, receiving an Academy Award, four Tony Awards, a BAFTA, a Golden Globe ...

. In the summer of 2005, she starred in the

production of '' Steel Magnolias'' along with Marsha Mason, Delta Burke,

Christine Ebersole Christine Ebersole (born February 21, 1953) is an American actress and singer. She has appeared in film, television, and on stage. She starred in the Broadway musicals '' 42nd Street'' and ''Grey Gardens'', winning two Tony Awards. She has c ...

, Lily Rabe, and

Rebecca Gayheart Rebecca Gayheart (born August 12, 1971) is an American actress and model. She began her career as a teen model in the 1980s and subsequently appeared in a student short film by Brett Ratner, with whom she had an extensive relationship. In the ea ...

. She also starred in the 2005 revival of

's ''

Seascape A seascape is a photograph, painting, or other work of art which depicts the sea, in other words an example of marine art. The word originated as a formation from landscape, which was first used of images of land in art. By a similar dev ...

'', produced by Lincoln Center Theater at the Booth Theater on Broadway. In 2013, Sternhagen was awarded the

for Lifetime Achievement. She is included in the New Rochelle Walk of Fame.

Film roles

Sternhagen made her film debut in '' Up the Down Staircase'' (1967)."Frances Sternhagen Credits"
hollywood.com; accessed August 27, 2011. She has worked periodically in Hollywood since then. She had character roles in

Paddy Chayefsky Sidney Aaron "Paddy" Chayefsky (January 29, 1923 – August 1, 1981) was an American playwright, screenwriter and novelist. He is the only person to have won three solo Academy Awards for writing both adapted and original screenplays. He was ...

's '' The Hospital'' (1971), in '' Two People'' (1973), and in

Billy Wilder Billy Wilder (; ; born Samuel Wilder; June 22, 1906 – March 27, 2002) was an Austrian-American filmmaker. His career in Hollywood spanned five decades, and he is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Classic Holly ...

's ''

Fedora A fedora () is a hat with a soft brim and indented crown.Kilgour, Ruth Edwards (1958). ''A Pageant of Hats Ancient and Modern''. R. M. McBride Company. It is typically creased lengthwise down the crown and "pinched" near the front on both side ...

'' (1978). She appeared in '' Starting Over'' (1979), opposite

Sean Connery Sir Sean Connery (born Thomas Connery; 25 August 1930 – 31 October 2020) was a Scottish actor. He was the first actor to portray fictional British secret agent James Bond on film, starring in seven Bond films between 1962 and 1983. Origina ...

in '' Outland'' (1981), and in Michael J. Fox's '' Bright Lights, Big City'' (1988). She played

Farrah Fawcett Farrah Leni Fawcett (born Ferrah Leni Fawcett; February 2, 1947 – June 25, 2009) was an American actress. A four-time Primetime Emmy Award nominee and six-time Golden Globe Award nominee, Fawcett rose to international fame when she played ...

's mother in '' See You in the Morning'' (1989), Richard Farnsworth's wife in '' Misery'' (1990), Lillian in ''

Doc Hollywood ''Doc Hollywood'' is a 1991 American romantic comedy film directed by Michael Caton-Jones and written by Daniel Pyne along with Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman, based on Neil B. Shulman's book ''What? Dead...Again?'' The film stars Michael J. ...

'' (1991) and

John Lithgow John Arthur Lithgow ( ; born , 1945) is an American actor. Lithgow studied at Harvard University and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art before becoming known for his work on the stage and screen. He has been the recipient of numerous ...

's psychiatrist in '' Raising Cain'' (1992). Sternhagen starred in

Frank Darabont Frank Árpád Darabont (born Ferenc Árpád Darabont, January 28, 1959) is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and a Golden Globe Award. In his early career, he was primarily a ...

's 2007 science-fiction horror film '' The Mist''. She also appeared in the family films '' Dolphin Tale'' (2011) and '' And So It Goes'' (2014), her last acting role before retirement.

Television roles

She may be best known to TV audiences as Esther Clavin, mother of

John Ratzenberger John Dezso Ratzenberger (born April 6, 1947)About John
from Ratzenberger's official website is an Americ ...

's Boston postman character

Cliff Clavin Clifford C. Clavin, Jr. (born 1947 or 1949) is a fictional character on the American television show ''Cheers'' played by John Ratzenberger. A postal worker, he is the bar's know-it-all and was a contestant on the game show '' Jeopardy!'' Clif ...

, on the long-running series ''

Cheers ''Cheers'' is an American sitcom television series that ran on NBC from September 30, 1982, to May 20, 1993, with a total of 275 half-hour episodes across 11 seasons. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions in association w ...

'', for which she received two Emmy Award nominations. She also played Millicent Carter on '' ER''; Bunny MacDougal, mother of Trey,

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

's first husband on ''

Sex and the City ''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO. An adaptation of Candace Bushnell's newspaper column and 1996 book anthology of the same name, the series premiered in the United Stat ...

'' (another Emmy Award nomination); a memorable Willie Rae Johnson (mother of Brenda Leigh Johnson, played by Kyra Sedgwick) on ''

The Closer ''The Closer'' is an American television police procedural starring Kyra Sedgwick as Brenda Leigh Johnson, a Los Angeles Police Department deputy chief. A CIA-trained interrogator originally from Atlanta, Georgia, Brenda has a reputation as a c ...

''; and ''

Law & Order ''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment, launching the '' Law & Order'' franchise. ''Law & Order'' aired its entire run on NBC, premiering ...

'', among other network dramas and

sitcoms A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use new ...

. She worked for many years in soap operas such as '' Another World'', '' The Secret Storm'', '' Love of Life'' and played two roles on ''

One Life to Live ''One Life to Live'' (often abbreviated as ''OLTL'') is an American soap opera broadcast on the ABC television network for more than 43 years, from July 15, 1968, to January 13, 2012, and then on the internet as a web series on Hulu and iTunes ...

''. She recorded a voice-over for a May 2002 episode of ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, ...

'' (" The Frying Game"). She is also recognized as Mrs. Marsh from a series of television commercials for

Colgate toothpaste Colgate is an American brand principally used for oral hygiene products such as toothpastes, toothbrushes, mouthwashes and dental floss. Manufactured by Colgate-Palmolive, Colgate's oral hygiene products were first sold by the company in 1873, ...

that aired in the 1970s.

Voice acting

She read as the title character in the

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...

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

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sternhagen, Frances 1930 births Living people American film actresses American stage actresses American television actresses American people of German descent Drama Desk Award winners Catholic University of America alumni Obie Award recipients Tony Award winners Vassar College alumni Madeira School alumni Actresses from Virginia Actresses from Washington, D.C. Actresses from New Rochelle, New York 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses