Tony award-winning Death of a Salesman actress Elizabeth Franz dies aged 84
Elizabeth Franz, best known for starring in Death of a Salesman on Broadway, has died aged 84.
The actress’ death was confirmed by her husband, screenwriter Christopher Pelham, who told The New York Times that she died at their home in Woodbury, Connecticut on November 4 after being diagnosed with cancer.
Born Elizabeth Jean Frankovitch in 1941 in Akron, Ohio, she decided to pursue acting as a child as a way to ‘release emotions she had to hold in’ while dealing with her parents.
After leaving school, Franz worked as a secretary to earn enough money to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, where she eventually enrolled and was accepted.
Her first appearance on Broadway in 1967 in Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.
On stage she appeared in the Royal National Theatre’s show Buried Child, as well as productions of The Glass Menagerie, The Comedy of Errors, The Wizard of Oz and Great Expectations.
However, it was her role as Linda Loman in the 50th anniversary production of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman in 1999 – which then earnt her the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play.
She had initially starred in the adaptation at the Goodman Theater in Chicago before it went to Broadway in February 1999.
Miller, who won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1949 for the play, praised Franz’s portrayal, saying that she ‘has discovered in the role the basic underlying powerful protectiveness, which comes out as fury, and that in the past, in every performance I know of, was simply washed out’.
She also was nominated for Tonys in 1983 and 2002 – for playing Kate Jerome in Neil Simon’s Brighton Beach Memoirs and the youngest of four sisters in a revival of Paul Osborn’s Morning’s at Seven.
Franz went on to appear in a 2000 production of Death of a Salesman for Showtime, which earnt her an Emmy nomination.
On screen, she also became known for playing Alma Rudder on Another World in 1982-1983, as well as Helen Wendall on As the World Turns for a year from 1994.
Other notable roles came in shows including Roseanne, Gilmore Girls, Law & Order, Cold Case, Dear John and Judging Amy.
Meanwhile, on the big screen, Franz was also seen in movies like Sabrina, Christmas with the Kranks, The Substance of Fire, The Pallbearer, and The Secret of My Success.
Her last TV credit was on an episode of Grey’s Anatomy in 2012, while the last movie she appeared in was 2015’s Take Me to the River.
Franz was married to actor Edward Binns from 1983 until his death in 1990. She later married Pelham.
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