Frances Sternhagen was an award-winning actress on stage and screen who won Tony Awards for her work in “The Good Doctor” and “The Heiress,” as well as Emmy Award nominations for her recurring roles on “Cheers” and “Sex and the City.”
- Died: November 27, 2023 (Who else died on November 27?)
- Details of death: Died in New Rochelle, New York, at the age of 93.
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Frances Sternhagen’s legacy
Sternhagen was elected head of the Drama Club when she attended Vassar College, on the strength of an impromptu scene from “Richard II.” That performance became the first among many that drew attention to her talent as an actress. Sternhagen continued to study theater at the Catholic University of America, the Perry Mansfield School of the Theatre, and at New York City’s Neighborhood Playhouse before transitioning to stage work at theaters in Massachusetts, Washington, and by 1955, on Broadway. In 1956, she won her first Obie Award for her role in “The Admirable Bashville.”
Many more roles followed. Though Sternhagen expanded into screen work, too, appearing in dozens of productions as a character actress, the stage remained a major part of her career. Her performance in the 1974 Broadway production of “The Good Doctor” earned her a Tony Award. Twenty years later, in 1995, she earned a second Tony, this time for “The Heiress.” She was nominated five other times between 1975 and 2002, including for “On Golden Pond” and “Equus.”
On screen, Sternhagen became known for her supporting roles in sitcoms and Stephen King movies. She played Cliff Clavin’s mother on the TV sitcom “Cheers,” earning two Emmy Award nominations. She also had a recurring role as Trey’s mother, Bunny MacDougal, on “Sex and the City.” On the big screen, she appeared in several Stephen King adaptations, including “Misery” and “The Mist,” and she received a Saturn Award nomination for her work in the Brian De Palma thriller “Raising Cain.” Her final stage role was “The Madrid” in 2013. Her last screen role was in “And So it Goes” in 2014, alongside Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton.
Tributes to Frances Sternhagen
Full obituary: Broadway World
