Frances Goffman Bay is a
CanadianCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
-born
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
-based
character actressA character actor is one who predominantly plays a particular type of role rather than leading ones. Character actor roles can range from bit parts to secondary leads...
known for playing a variety of quirky elderly women on film and television.
Personal life
Bay was born in
Mannville, Alberta{{Infobox Settlement|official_name = Mannville, Alberta|other_name =|native_name = |nickname =|settlement_type = Village|motto = All Trails Lead To Mannville...
and raised in
Dauphin, ManitobaDauphin is a city in Manitoba, Canada, with a population of 7,906 as of 2006. Founded in 1898, it became an important centre for the transportation of grain. Farming still plays a central role in the economy of the area, but its role has been greatly reduced. The current mayor of Dauphin is Alex...
. Her younger brother was the noted sociologist
Erving GoffmanErving Goffman , was a Canadian sociologist and writer. The 73rd president of American Sociological Association, Goffman's greatest contribution to social theory is his study of symbolic interaction in the form of dramaturgical perspective that began with his 1956 book The Presentation of Self in...
. Before
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
she acted professionally in Winnipeg and spent the war hosting the Canadian Broadcasting Company's radio show, "Everybody's Program", aimed at service members overseas.
She married businessman Charles (Chuck) Bay in 1934 and moved with him to
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
(where she studied with
Uta HagenUta Thyra Hagen was a three-time Tony Award winning German-born American actress. She originated the role of Martha in the 1963 Broadway premiere of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee...
),
BostonBoston is the capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is considered the economic and cultural center of the region and is sometimes regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England"...
and
Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the municipality of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123.445 inhabitants...
. Charles and Frances had one son, Josh, who died at the age of 23. Soon after the death of her husband in 2002, she was struck by a car in
Glendale, CaliforniaGlendale is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It lies at the eastern end of the San Fernando Valley, is bisected by the Verdugo Mountains, and is a suburb in the Greater Los Angeles Area...
, and as a result she had to have part of her right leg amputated.
Bay was inducted into
Canada's Walk of FameCanada's Walk of Fame, located in Toronto, Ontario, is a walk of fame that acknowledges the achievements and accomplishments of successful Canadians. It consists of a series of stars imbedded in 13 designated blocks worth of sidewalks in Toronto, located in front of Roy Thomson Hall, The Princess...
on September 6 2008, in large part thanks to a petition with 10,000 names that was submitted. However she was not physically able to attend the ceremony. The selection committee also received personal letters from
Adam SandlerAdam Richard Sandler is an American actor, comedian, musician, screenwriter and film producer. He is the founder of Happy Madison Productions, a film production company that also developed the television series Rules of Engagement.After becoming a Saturday Night Live cast member, he went on to...
,
Jerry SeinfeldJerome Allen "Jerry" Seinfeld is an American comedian, actor and writer, whose style is often described as observational comedy...
,
David LynchDavid Keith Lynch is an American filmmaker and visual artist. Lynch has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, for The Elephant Man , Blue Velvet , and Mulholland Drive . He also received a screenplay Academy Award nomination for The Elephant Man...
,
Henry WinklerHenry Franklin Winkler is an American actor, director, producer, and author.Winkler is best known for his role as Fonzie on the 1970s American sitcom Happy Days...
,
Monty HallMonte Halperin, OC, OM , better known by the stage name Monty Hall, is a Canadian-born emcee, producer, actor, singer and sportscaster, best known as host of the television game show Let's Make a Deal.-Life and career:...
and other celebrities.
Early roles
Bay did not appear in films until the age of 60, when she played a small part in 1978's
Foul PlayFoul Play is a 1978 American comic mystery/thriller film written and directed by Colin Higgins. The screenplay focuses on a recently divorced librarian who is drawn into a plot to assassinate the Pope when a mysterious stranger secretes a roll of film in a pack of cigarettes he gives her for...
, a comedy vehicle for
Goldie HawnGoldie Jean Hawn is an American actress, film director and producer, whose career has spanned nearly four decades. Hawn is perhaps best known for her roles in Private Benjamin, Wildcats, Overboard, Bird on a Wire, Death Becomes Her, The First Wives Club, and The Banger Sisters...
and
Chevy ChaseCornelius Crane “Chevy” Chase is an American Emmy Award-winning comedian, writer, and television and film actor. Born into a prominent family, Chase worked as a professional musician as well as other jobs before moving towards comedy and working with the National Lampoon...
. A year earlier, Frances appeared as Mrs. Hamilton in the Christmas television special
Christmastime with Mister Rogers. She went on to play small roles in films like
The Karate KidThe Karate Kid is a drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by Robert Mark Kamen, starring Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita and Elisabeth Shue. It is a martial arts film and an underdog story in the mold of a previous Avildsen success, the 1976 boxing film Rocky. It was a commercial success...
,
Big Top Pee-weeBig Top Pee-wee is the 1988 family comedy sequel to the 1985 film, Pee-wee's Big Adventure, and stars Paul Reubens as Pee-wee Herman, Penelope Ann Miller, Valeria Golino, and Kris Kristofferson. The original music score is composed by Danny Elfman. The film is marketed with the tagline "Hero. Lover...
and
Twins.
Her first major television appearance occurred playing the grandmother to the character of 'Fonzie', in the series
Happy DaysHappy Days is an American television sitcom that originally aired from 1974 to 1984 on ABC. The show presents an idealized vision of life in mid 1950s to mid 1960s America....
. Star
Henry WinklerHenry Franklin Winkler is an American actor, director, producer, and author.Winkler is best known for his role as Fonzie on the 1970s American sitcom Happy Days...
is "just a sweet guy. He lost his own grandmother in the Holocaust, and he wrote me a letter saying I was his virtual grandmother."
In 1983, she played the grandmother in
Little Red Riding HoodLittle Red Riding Hood is a famous fairy tale about a young girl's encounter with a wolf. The story has been changed considerably in its history and subject to numerous modern adaptations and readings....
in
Faerie Tale TheatreFaerie Tale Theatre, fully Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre, is a live action children's television series retelling popular fairy tales. Shelley Duvall serves as narrator, host and executive producer of the program, and occasionally stars in episodes...
for
ShowtimeShowtime is a subscription television brand used by a number of channels and platforms around the world, but primarily refers to a group of channels in the United States...
.
In 1994, she played Mrs.Pickman in John Carpenter's "In the Mouth of Madness".
Work with David Lynch
In 1986, Bay appeared as the doddery aunt of
Kyle MacLachlanKyle Merritt MacLachlan is an American actor.He graduated from the University of Washington in 1982 and, shortly afterward, moved to Hollywood, California to pursue his career...
's character in
David LynchDavid Keith Lynch is an American filmmaker and visual artist. Lynch has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, for The Elephant Man , Blue Velvet , and Mulholland Drive . He also received a screenplay Academy Award nomination for The Elephant Man...
's
Blue Velvet. This role seems to have endeared the actress to Lynch, who recast her in several subsequent works, including as a foul-mouthed madam in
Wild at HeartWild at Heart is a 1990 American film written and directed by David Lynch, and based on Barry Gifford's 1989 pulp novel Wild at Heart: The Story of Sailor and Lula...
, and as the eerie "Mrs. Tremond" on
Twin PeaksTwin Peaks is an American television serial drama created by David Lynch and Mark Frost. The series follows the investigation, headed by Special Agent Dale Cooper , of the brutal murder of a popular teenager and homecoming queen, Laura Palmer...
and its movie spin-off,
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me.
Notable roles
Bay may also be familiar from her performance in the music video for
Jimmy FallonJames Thomas "Jimmy" Fallon, Jr. is an American comedian, actor, musician, and talk show host known for his work on Saturday Night Live...
's comedy song,
Idiot Boyfriend. Bay is perhaps best known today, however, for her performance as the hapless, but loving grandmother of
Adam SandlerAdam Richard Sandler is an American actor, comedian, musician, screenwriter and film producer. He is the founder of Happy Madison Productions, a film production company that also developed the television series Rules of Engagement.After becoming a Saturday Night Live cast member, he went on to...
's character in the 1996 film
Happy GilmoreHappy Gilmore is a 1996 American sports comedy film directed by Dennis Dugan and starring Adam Sandler as the title character. This film is number 97 on Bravo's 100 funniest movies.-Plot:...
. Additionally, she has the distinction of appearing in the final episodes of three long-running sitcoms:
Happy DaysHappy Days is an American television sitcom that originally aired from 1974 to 1984 on ABC. The show presents an idealized vision of life in mid 1950s to mid 1960s America....
,
Who's the Boss?Who's the Boss? is an American television sitcom starring Tony Danza, Judith Light, Alyssa Milano, Danny Pintauro, and Katherine Helmond...
and
SeinfeldSeinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. The eponymous series was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, with the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...
. Bay had the opportunity to play Cousin Winifred in the fourth last episode of
Road To AvonleaRoad to Avonlea is a Emmy Award Winning television series which was first broadcast in Canada and the United States between 1990 and 1996. It was created by Kevin Sullivan and produced by Sullivan Films in association with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the Disney Channel, with...
. She also played in a movie called In the mouth of madness.
In the
Dukes of HazzardThe Dukes of Hazzard is an American television series that originally aired on the CBS television network from 1979 to 1985. It was inspired by the 1975 film Moonrunners.-Overview:...
episode, "The Return of Hughie Hogg," Bay played Hortense Coltrane, Boss Hogg's sister-in-law; the previously unmentioned sister of Lulu Coltrane Hogg and Rosco P. Coltrane.
In an earlier episode of
Seinfeld, she played Mabel Choate, a wealthy, irritable old woman from whom
JerryJerome "Jerry" Seinfeld is the main protagonist of the American television sitcom Seinfeld . The straight man among his group of friends, this semi-fictionalized version of comedian Jerry Seinfeld was named after, co-created by, based on, and played by Seinfeld himself.The series revolves around...
steals a loaf of marbled rye bread. In that episode, entitled "The Rye", Bay appeared with her former
Twin Peaks co-stars
Grace ZabriskieGrace Zabriskie is an American actress. She has appeared in many popular American films and television series.-Life and career:Zabriskie was born in New Orleans, Louisiana...
and
Warren FrostWarren Frost is an American actor. His work has mainly been in the theatre, but has worked in movie and television sporadically since 1958. He is known for roles in Twin Peaks, Matlock, The Larry Sanders Show, and Seinfeld...
. In a future episode, the consequences of Jerry's act causes his father to be impeached as president of his retirement community in
FloridaFlorida is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the north. It was the 27th state admitted to the United States...
.
She also appeared in an episode of
CharmedCharmed is an American television series that originally aired from October 7, 1998, until May 21, 2006, on The WB Television Network. The series was created in 1998 by writer Constance M...
as an older version of the character
Phoebe HalliwellPhoebe Halliwell is a fictional character from the American television program Charmed, and one of the four leading characters featured during the series' run. The character is primarily portrayed by actress Alyssa Milano, as well as a few other notable actresses during different stages of the...
, and in an episode of Grey's Anatomy as an elderly patient that "just wouldn't die" in 2009.
External links
{{The Karate Kid}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bay, Frances}}