R.I.P. Frances Sternhagen

[Big Magilla]

My favorite role of hers was as Kyra Sedgwick's mother in The Closer. I liked all the episodes in the series that ran from 2006-2012, but especially those that featured Sternhagen. She had such a strong presence that I didn't realize her last film was almost ten years ago.

[Big Magilla]

The multi-talented stage, screen, and TV actress who originated the roles in On Golden Pond and Driving Miss Daisy that later won Oscars for Katharine Hepburn and Jessica Tandy was 93.

Didn't that mean she played Ethel Thayer when she was in her forties and Daisy Werthan when she was in her fifties?

Yes.

[Big Magilla]

Hat tip, Magilla: it was Dana Ivey who originated the role in the original off-Broadway production of Driving Miss Daisy; Sternhagen was a later-in-the-run replacement.

I kind of remember her taking the role over from someone else, didn't recall it was Dana Ivey.

[Greg]

The multi-talented stage, screen, and TV actress who originated the roles in On Golden Pond and Driving Miss Daisy that later won Oscars for Katharine Hepburn and Jessica Tandy was 93.

Didn't that mean she played Ethel Thayer when she was in her forties and Daisy Werthan when she was in her fifties?

[Mister Tee]

Hat tip, Magilla: it was Dana Ivey who originated the role in the original off-Broadway production of Driving Miss Daisy; Sternhagen was a later-in-the-run replacement.

But the wonderful Sternhagen had plenty of other great stage credits. I didn't see either of her Tony-winning efforts, but was privileged to see her in both Equus and Jules Feiffer's Grown-ups.

Her film career was reasonably active -- she never got the plum roles she did on stage, but appeared in some prominent movies, like Up the Down Staircase, Misery, and Julie and Julia. It was only years later that I realized I'd seen her in The Hospital.

A fine working actress; sad to see her gone.

[flipp525]

My college friend is Frances’s cousin and I texted her earlier when I heard the news. She said that the whole family thinks of her as a “legend.” And she was! My favorite is her role in Misery but she had so many memorable roles to choose from. R.I.P.

[Big Magilla]

The multi-talented stage, screen, and TV actress who originated the roles in On Golden Pond and Driving Miss Daisy that later won Oscars for Katharine Hepburn and Jessica Tandy was 93.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/29/thea ... -dead.html