Elizabeth Franz

Franz was born Elizabeth Jean Frankovitch in Akron, Ohio, on July 18, 1941.^[1][2][3] Her father, Joseph Frankovitch, worked in a 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.^[1] She had two brothers and a sister, and she graduated from Copley High School in Copley Township, Ohio, in 1959.^[4]

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.^[5] An AADA teacher warned her that despite being a good actress, she might not get roles before she reached age 40.^[6]

Billed as Betty Frankovitch, Franz acted at the Weathervane Theater in Akron.^[4] She acted with The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis 1968–1970.^[7]

In 2004–05, she appeared at the Royal National Theatre in London, in the Sam Shepard play Buried Child. She 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."^[8]

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.^[9]

On television, Franz was 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.

Franz 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.^[6][10] She died from cancer at her home in Woodbury, Connecticut on November 4, 2025, at the age of 84.^[1] At the time of her death, she was married to Christopher Pelham.^[1][10][11]