Frances Fisher is a British actress. She is known for her work on television, in theater and in films, including roles as Strawberry Alice, the
madamA pimp is an agent for prostitutes who collects part of their earnings. The pimp may receive this money in return for advertising services, physical protection, or for providing a location where she may engage clients...
e prostitute in
UnforgivenUnforgiven is a 1992 American Western film produced and directed by Clint Eastwood with a screenplay written by David Webb Peoples. The film tells the story of William Munny, an aging outlaw and killer who takes on one more job years after he had hung up his guns and turned to farming...
(1992), and Ruth DeWitt Bukater, the mother of
Kate WinsletKate Elizabeth Winslet is an English actress and occasional singer. She has received multiple awards and nominations. She was the youngest person to accrue six Academy Award nominations, and won the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Reader...
's character in
TitanicTitanic is a 1997 American epic romance and disaster film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. A fictionalized account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson, Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater and Billy Zane as Rose's fiancé, Cal...
(1997).
Early life and education
Fisher was born in
Milford on SeaMilford on Sea is a large village and civil parish located on the south coast of England in the county of Hampshire. With a population of approximately 4500, Milford has a variety of shops, restaurants and pubs in its high street, which borders the village green.-Overview:Milford on Sea is village...
, Hampshire, England, the daughter of Olga (née Moen), a homemaker, and William I. "Bill" Fisher, Sr., an oil refinery construction superintendent. Before she reached the age of fifteen, she had moved nine times because of her father's job. Upon completing high school in
Orange, TexasOrange is a city in Orange County, Texas, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 18,643. It is the county seat of Orange County, and is the easternmost city in Texas. Located on the Sabine River at the border with Louisiana, it is part of the Beaumont–Port Arthur...
, she worked as a secretary, until she moved to
VirginiaThe Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
to perform at the
Barter TheatreBarter Theatre, located in Abingdon, Virginia, opened on June 10, 1933. It is one of the longest running professional theatres in the nation. In 1933, when the country was in the middle of the Great Depression, most patrons were not able to pay the full ticket price...
.
Career
Fisher first made a name for herself playing Detective Deborah Saxon on the soap opera
The Edge of NightThe Edge of Night is an American television mystery series/soap opera produced by Procter & Gamble. It debuted on CBS on April 2, 1956, and ran as a live broadcast on that network until November 28, 1975; the series then moved to ABC, where it aired from December 1, 1975, until December 28, 1984...
from 1976 to 1981; she later was in the cast of
Guiding LightGuiding Light is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running drama in television and radio history, running from 1937 until 2009...
as Suzette Saxon. She then spent the next 10 years working on stage in New York and in regional theatres all over the East Coast. Fisher was cast as
Lucille BallLucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy...
in the television film
Lucy & Desi: Before the Laughter, which aired to strong ratings and good reviews in 1991.
Fisher has played numerous roles on American television, including parts in the series
Strange LuckStrange Luck is an American television series that aired on FOX, created by Karl Schaefer and starring D. B. Sweeney in the role of Chance Harper, a freelance photographer afflicted with a bizarre tendency to always be in the wrong place at the right time. As Chance himself says, "If I go to a...
,
BeckerBecker is an American television sitcom that ran from 1998 to 2004 on CBS. Set in the New York City borough of The Bronx, the show starred Ted Danson as John Becker, a misanthropic doctor who operates a small practice and is constantly annoyed by his patients, co-workers, friends, and practically...
, and
TitusTitus is an American dark comedy sitcom that debuted on Fox in 2000. The series was created by its star, Christopher Titus, Jack Kenny, and Brian Hargrove...
. She also played a key role in the recent television drama
The Lyon's DenThe Lyon's Den is a 2003 television series set in Washington, D.C. The legal drama starred Rob Lowe as a lawyer called Jack Turner, newly appointed as partner of a long-established law firm that, as the plot revealed, harbored some dark secrets...
and
Glory DaysGlory Days is an American horror/mystery-based television series broadcast from January to March 2002 on The WB Television Network...
. She was the producers' first choice to play
Jill TaylorJillian "Jill" Taylor is a character in the TV sitcom Home Improvement played by Patricia Richardson. Jill is Tim Taylor's wife. Jill helps Tim raise their three sons . Jill Taylor has appeared on critics' lists of "top TV" or "most memorable" moms...
on the
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
sitcom
Home Improvement, but was replaced by
Patricia RichardsonPatricia Castle Richardson is an American television and film actress best known for her portrayal of Jill Taylor on the sitcom Home Improvement.-Early life and education:...
due to a lack of chemistry with
Tim AllenTim Allen is an American comedian, actor, voice-over artist, and entertainer, known for his role in the sitcom Home Improvement...
. She also had a guest spot on
The Young RidersThe Young Riders is an American Western television series created by Ed Spielman that presents a fictionalized account of a group of young Pony Express riders based at the Sweetwater Station in the Nebraska Territory during the years leading up to the American Civil War...
in 1991. Fisher has guest starred as a bartender, Suzanna, at "The Lobo" in the first season of
RoseanneRoseanne is an American sitcom broadcast on ABC from October 18, 1988 to May 20, 1997. Starring Roseanne Barr, the show revolved around the Conners, an Illinois working class family...
. However, her most famous role has been that of society matron Ruth DeWitt Bukater, the mother of Rose DeWitt Bukater (played by
Kate WinsletKate Elizabeth Winslet is an English actress and occasional singer. She has received multiple awards and nominations. She was the youngest person to accrue six Academy Award nominations, and won the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Reader...
), in the 1997
blockbusterBlockbuster, as applied to film or theatre, denotes a very popular or successful production. The entertainment industry use was originally theatrical slang referring to a particularly successful play but is now used primarily by the film industry...
film
TitanicTitanic is a 1997 American epic romance and disaster film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. A fictionalized account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson, Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater and Billy Zane as Rose's fiancé, Cal...
.
In 1999, Fisher portrayed
Audrey HepburnAudrey Hepburn was a British actress and humanitarian. Although modest about her acting ability, Hepburn remains one of the world's most famous actresses of all time, remembered as a film and fashion icon of the twentieth century...
's mother, Ella Hepburn, in the
biographical film of the actress's lifeThe Audrey Hepburn Story is a 2000 television movie biography of actress and humanitarian Audrey Hepburn. Jennifer Love Hewitt, who also produced the film, starred as the actress although her casting drew criticism from some of Hepburn's fans and the media...
. She has appeared in two other Academy Awarded films,
House of Sand and Fog and
UnforgivenUnforgiven is a 1992 American Western film produced and directed by Clint Eastwood with a screenplay written by David Webb Peoples. The film tells the story of William Munny, an aging outlaw and killer who takes on one more job years after he had hung up his guns and turned to farming...
. Her numerous theatre credits make up the bulk of her resume: Most recently, she appeared in the last play written by
Arthur MillerArthur Asher Miller was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include plays such as All My Sons , Death of a Salesman , The Crucible , and A View from the Bridge .Miller was often in the public eye,...
,
Finishing the PictureFinishing the Picture is Arthur Miller's final play. It was produced at the Goodman Theatre, Chicago, Illinois in October 2004,just months before Miller's death on February 10, 2005.-Production:...
at the
Goodman TheatreThe Goodman Theatre is a professional theater company located in Chicago's Loop. A major part of Chicago theatre, it is the city's oldest currently active nonprofit theater organization...
in Chicago, and
The Cherry OrchardThe Cherry Orchard is Russian playwright Anton Chekhov's last play. It premiered at the Moscow Art Theatre 17 January 1904 in a production directed by Constantin Stanislavski. Chekhov intended this play as a comedy and it does contain some elements of farce; however, Stanislavski insisted on...
, at the
Mark Taper ForumThe Mark Taper Forum is a 739 seat thrust stage at the Los Angeles Music Center built by Welton Becket and Associates on the Bunker Hill section of downtown Los Angeles...
in Los Angeles in 2006.
Fisher worked on four films in 2006, including Peter Berg's
The KingdomThe Kingdom is a 2007 film directed by Peter Berg and starring Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, Ashraf Barhom, with Kyle Chandler, Jeremy Piven and Ali Suliman....
, and
Paul HaggisPaul Edward Haggis is a Canadian screenwriter, producer, and director. He spent his early career producing and directing various American and Canadian television network series.-Early life and education:...
'
In the Valley of ElahIn the Valley of Elah is a 2007 film written and directed by Paul Haggis, starring Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, and Susan Sarandon. The film’s title refers to the Biblical valley where the battle between David and Goliath is said to have taken place....
, in addition to a pilot for
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
/USA entitled
To Love and DieTo Love and Die is the title of an American television action dramedy starring Shiri Appleby and Tim Matheson, and created by Sara Goodman. The pilot, killed in 2006, was greenlit to series on the USA Network in July 2007, with a 12-episode order that was planned to air in 2008. The 2-hour pilot...
. In 2008, she appeared in a guest-starring role on the
Sci-Fi ChannelSyfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...
television series
EurekaEureka is an American science fiction television series that premiered on Syfy on July 18, 2006. Since then four seasons have aired, and a fifth is currently being filmed. The second half of season 4 began on SyFy on July 11, 2011 and ended on September 19, 2011...
, portraying the character of Eva Thorne. In 2011, she appeared in
Torchwood: Miracle Day.
Personal life
Fisher has a daughter, Francesca Ruth Fisher-Eastwood, with actor
Clint EastwoodClinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
. She and Eastwood had fallen in love during the filming of "Unforgiven".
She served on the national board of directors of the
Screen Actors GuildThe Screen Actors Guild is an American labor union representing over 200,000 film and television principal performers and background performers worldwide...
.
Filmography
This filmography is currently incomplete.
- 1976: The Edge of Night
The Edge of Night is an American television mystery series/soap opera produced by Procter & Gamble. It debuted on CBS on April 2, 1956, and ran as a live broadcast on that network until November 28, 1975; the series then moved to ABC, where it aired from December 1, 1975, until December 28, 1984...
(1976–1981)
- 1983: Can She Bake a Cherry Pie?
Can She Bake a Cherry Pie? is a 1983 American comedy film directed by Henry Jaglom. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Michael Emil - Eli* Karen Black - Zee* Michael Margotta - Larry...
- 1985: Guiding Light
Guiding Light is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running drama in television and radio history, running from 1937 until 2009...
- 1987: Big
Big is a 1988 romantic comedy film directed by Penny Marshall and stars Tom Hanks as Josh Baskin, a young boy who makes a wish "to be big" to a magical fortune-telling machine and is then aged to adulthood overnight...
(only in 2007 released Directors Cut)
- 1988: Patty Hearst
Patty Hearst is a 1988 biographical film directed by Paul Schrader and stars Natasha Richardson as Hearst Corporation heiress Patricia Hearst and Ving Rhames as Symbionese Liberation Army leader Cinque...
- 1989: Pink Cadillac
- 1990: Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael
Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael is a 1990 American comedy-drama film starring Winona Ryder and Jeff Daniels.-Plot:The film's main character is a 15-year-old girl named Dinky Bossetti . Dinky was adopted as a baby. She appears to have little acceptance in her social circle, although it is not obvious...
- 1991: L.A. Story
L.A. Story is a 1991 American romantic comedy film, written by and starring Steve Martin. Set in Los Angeles, California, it relates a series of episodes in the romantic life of an L.A. TV weatherman. It includes surreal sequences in which he is offered romantic advice flashed to him by a freeway...
- 1991: Lucy & Desi: Before the Laughter (TV movie)
- 1991: The Young Riders
The Young Riders is an American Western television series created by Ed Spielman that presents a fictionalized account of a group of young Pony Express riders based at the Sweetwater Station in the Nebraska Territory during the years leading up to the American Civil War...
- 1992: Unforgiven
Unforgiven is a 1992 American Western film produced and directed by Clint Eastwood with a screenplay written by David Webb Peoples. The film tells the story of William Munny, an aging outlaw and killer who takes on one more job years after he had hung up his guns and turned to farming...
- 1993: Law & Order
Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...
(TV series)
- 1993: Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman
Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman is a 1993 made-for-TV movie based on the 1958 film of the same name. Directed by Christopher Guest and starring Daryl Hannah and Daniel Baldwin, the film premiered on HBO on December 11, 1993, and was later theatrically released in the UK, France, and Germany.- Plot:The...
- 1994: Molly & Gina
Molly & Gina is a 1994 movie directed by Paul Leder and written by Leder and his son, Reuben. It stars Frances Fisher, Natasha Gregson Wagner, and Peter Fonda. It is also the feature film debut of Elizabeth Berkley. The plot deals with a secretary and an actress who attempt to find the killers of...
- 1995: Strange Luck
Strange Luck is an American television series that aired on FOX, created by Karl Schaefer and starring D. B. Sweeney in the role of Chance Harper, a freelance photographer afflicted with a bizarre tendency to always be in the wrong place at the right time. As Chance himself says, "If I go to a...
(TV series)
- 1996: Striptease
-Release:Striptease was distributed by Sony and was finally released in the United States on June 28, 1996, after a June 23 premiere in New York City. It opened in Australia, France and Germany in August, and Argentina, Italy, Bolivia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Brazil and Japan in...
- 1996: Waiting for Guffman
Waiting for Guffman is a mockumentary starring, co-written and directed by Christopher Guest that was released in 1997. Its cast included Catherine O'Hara, Eugene Levy, Fred Willard, Parker Posey and others who would appear in several of the subsequent mockumentaries directed by Guest.The title of...
(uncredited)
- 1997: Wild America
Wild America is a 1997 adventure comedy film directed by William Dear, written by David Michael Wieger, and starring Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Devon Sawa and Scott Bairstow.-Plot:...
- 1997: Titanic
Titanic is a 1997 American epic romance and disaster film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. A fictionalized account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson, Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater and Billy Zane as Rose's fiancé, Cal...
- 1999: The Audrey Hepburn Story
The Audrey Hepburn Story is a 2000 television movie biography of actress and humanitarian Audrey Hepburn. Jennifer Love Hewitt, who also produced the film, starred as the actress although her casting drew criticism from some of Hepburn's fans and the media...
- 1999: The Big Tease
The Big Tease is a 1999 comedy film starring Craig Ferguson, directed by Kevin Allen, and written by Ferguson and Sacha Gervasi.- Plot :Ferguson plays Crawford Mackenzie, a Scottish hairdresser who, while being filmed as part of a fly-on-the-wall documentary, is invited to the World Hairdresser...
- 2000: Gone in 60 Seconds
- 2001: The X-Files
The X-Files is an American science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. The program originally aired from to . The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans became popular culture touchstones in the 1990s...
(TV series)
- 2002: Blue Car
Blue Car is a 2002 drama film directed and written by Karen Moncrieff. It was her first film that she had directed and written.-Plot:A gifted 16-year-old named Megan has been abandoned by her father and soon neglected by her mother. Her mother has been working hard and long lately because she needs...
- 2002: Titus
Titus is an American dark comedy sitcom that debuted on Fox in 2000. The series was created by its star, Christopher Titus, Jack Kenny, and Brian Hargrove...
(TV Series)
- 2003: The Lyon's Den
The Lyon's Den is a 2003 television series set in Washington, D.C. The legal drama starred Rob Lowe as a lawyer called Jack Turner, newly appointed as partner of a long-established law firm that, as the plot revealed, harbored some dark secrets...
(TV series)
- 2003: House of Sand and Fog
- 2004: Laws of Attraction
Laws of Attraction is a 2004 romantic comedy film directed by Peter Howitt, based on a story by Aline Brosh McKenna and screenplay by Robert Harling, Howitt and McKenna. It stars Pierce Brosnan and Julianne Moore. It grossed $17.8 million in the United States, on a budget of $32 million...
- 2004: Boston Legal
Boston Legal is an American legal dramedy created by David E. Kelley, which was produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television for the ABC...
- 2005: ER
ER is an American medical drama television series created by novelist Michael Crichton that aired on NBC from September 19, 1994 to April 2, 2009. It was produced by Constant c Productions and Amblin Entertainment, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
(TV series)
- 2006: Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy is an American medical drama television series created by Shonda Rhimes. The series premiered on March 27, 2005 on ABC; since then, seven seasons have aired. The series follows the lives of interns, residents and their mentors in the fictional Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital in...
(TV series)
- 2006: The Night of the White Pants
The Night of the White Pants is a 2006 comedy drama film directed by Amy Talkington. It was shot on location in Dallas, Texas on digital video.-Plot outline:The film follows Max Hagan, a Dallas oil tycoon who is going through another rough divorce...
- 2007: Sex and Death 101
Sex and Death 101 is a 2007 dark comedy science fiction film written and directed by Daniel Waters released in the United States on April 4, 2008...
- 2007: The Kingdom
The Kingdom is a 2007 film directed by Peter Berg and starring Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, Ashraf Barhom, with Kyle Chandler, Jeremy Piven and Ali Suliman....
- 2007: In the Valley of Elah
In the Valley of Elah is a 2007 film written and directed by Paul Haggis, starring Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, and Susan Sarandon. The film’s title refers to the Biblical valley where the battle between David and Goliath is said to have taken place....
- 2007: My Sexiest Year
My Sexiest Year is a 2007 romantic comedy/drama starring Frankie Muniz and Harvey Keitel and was written and directed by Howard Himelstein. The film is a romantic coming-of-age story in which the kindness bestowed by a glamorous model is returned 30 years later by the young man in whom she inspired...
- 2008: The Perfect Game
The Perfect Game is a 2009 American drama film directed by William Dear, and based upon the 2008 book of the same name written by W. William Winokur...
- 2008: The Shield
The Shield is an American television drama series starring Michael Chiklis which premiered on March 12, 2002 on FX in the United States and concluded on November 25, 2008 after seven seasons...
(TV series)
- 2008: Eureka
Eureka is an American science fiction television series that premiered on Syfy on July 18, 2006. Since then four seasons have aired, and a fifth is currently being filmed. The second half of season 4 began on SyFy on July 11, 2011 and ended on September 19, 2011...
(TV series)
- 2008: A Single Woman
A Single Woman is a 2009 film made by Nevada Shakespeare Company and Heroica Films. It was directed by Kamala Lopez and produced by Cameron Crain, Richard Shelgren and Kamala Lopez. The screenplay was by Jeanmarie Simpson based on her play with the same title.-Artists:The film stars Jeanmarie...
- 2008: Jolene
Jolene is a 2008 American drama film directed by Dan Ireland. It stars Jessica Chastain as the titular character. It is based on the short story, Jolene: A Life by E. L. Doctorow, itself inspired by Dolly Parton's song, Jolene. It premiered on 13 June, 2008 at the Seattle International Film...
- 2009: The Mentalist
The Mentalist is an American police procedural television series which debuted on September 23, 2008, on CBS. The show was created by Bruno Heller, who is also the show's executive producer...
- 2010: Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men is an American television sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 22, 2003. Starring Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, and Angus T. Jones, the show was originally about a hedonistic jingle writer, Charlie Harper; his uptight brother, Alan; and Alan's growing son, Jake...
- 2010: Private Practice
- 2010: The Good Guys
The Good Guys is an American action-comedy series about an old-school cop and a modern-day detective that premiered with a preview episode on Fox on May 19, 2010, and began airing regularly on June 7...
- 2011: Days of our Lives
Days of our Lives is a long running daytime soap opera broadcast on the NBC television network. It is one of the longest-running scripted television programs in the world, airing nearly every weekday in the United States since November 8, 1965. It has since been syndicated to many countries around...
- 2011: The Roommate
The Roommate is a 2011 thriller film directed by Christian E. Christiansen and starring Minka Kelly, Leighton Meester, Cam Gigandet, Danneel Harris, Matt Lanter, and Aly Michalka. It was theatrically released on February 4, 2011. The film is a unofficial remake of the 1992 film Single White...
- 2011: Sedona
- 2011: The Lincoln Lawyer
The Lincoln Lawyer is a 2011 American thriller film adapted from the novel of the same name by Michael Connelly, starring Matthew McConaughey, Ryan Phillippe, William H. Macy and Marisa Tomei...
- 2011: Torchwood: Miracle Day (TV series)
External links