Theater veteran Elizabeth Frantz, who won a Tony Award for her bold portrayal of the wife of the title character in the 1999 Broadway version of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, has died. She was 84.
The actress died Nov. 4 at her home in Woodbury, Connecticut, after a battle with cancer, her husband, screenwriter Christopher Pelham, confirmed to The Times. Pelham told New York Times that Franz's cause of death was cancer and a severe reaction to the drugs used to treat her.
Actor born in Ohio take on Linda LohmanBrian Dennehy's Willy Loman's wife, in the 50th anniversary production of Death of a Salesman, was a departure from the character's usual defeated energy that took even playwright Miller by surprise: “She discovered in the role an underlying, powerful defense that comes out in rage, that in the past, in every performance I know, has simply been washed away,” Miller said in a 1999 interview. New York Times. The show, which originated at Chicago's Goodman Theater before Broadway, eventually made its way to the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles.
Along with Dennehy, Franz later reprized the role of Linda in Showtime's television adaptation of the play in 2000, which earned her an Emmy Award nomination.
She previously received a Tony nomination in 1983 for her role as Matthew Broderick's stage mother in Neil Simon's “Brighton Beach Memoirs.” She later won another award in 2002 for Morning at Seven, in which she played the youngest of four Midwestern sisters. Her other stage credits include The Cherry Orchard, The Graveyard Club and, in her final Broadway role in 2010, The Miracle Worker.
Franz's television credits include Judging Amy, Grey's Anatomy, Roseanne and Homeland. However, a generation came to know her as Mia Bass, the owner of the Independence Inn in “Star Girls,” in an episode of the second season of “Gilmore Girls.” The minor but story-important character was later recast in the seventh season. She also appeared in the films Sabrina, School Ties, Fish in the Bath and Christmas with the Kranks.
In addition to Pelham, Franz is survived by his brother, Joe.
