Frances Sternhagen
Encyclopedia
Frances Hussey Sternhagen (born January 13, 1930) is an American actress. Sternhagen has appeared on and off Broadway, in movies, and on TV since the 1950s.
, was born in Washington, D.C.
, the daughter of Gertrude (née
Hussey) and John M. Sternhagen, a U.S. Tax Court judge
. He was also a part time singer on the side. Sternhagen was educated at the Madeira and Potomac schools in McLean, Virginia
. At Vassar College
she was elected head of the Drama Club "after silencing a giggling college crowd at a campus dining hall with her interpretation of a scene from Richard II
, playing none other than Richard himself". She also studied at the Perry Mansfield School of the Theatre, and New York
's Neighborhood Playhouse
.
She met her husband, actor and drama teacher Thomas Carlin (who died in 1991), at Catholic University of America. They had six children—Paul (Wife - Becky Timms, Son - Payton Carlin), Amanda, Tony, Sarah, Peter, and John—several of whom are also professional actors and musician
s.
in Massachusetts
, and she herself first performed in 1948 at a Bryn Mawr
summer theater in The Glass Menagerie
and Angel Street. She went on to work at Washington's Arena Stage from 1953–54, then made her Broadway
debut in 1955 as Miss T. Muse in The Skin of Our Teeth
. The same year she had her Off-Broadway
debut in "Thieves' Carnival" and her TV debut in "The Great Bank Robbery" on "Omnibus" (CBS
). By the following year she had won an off-Broadway Obie Award
for "Distinguished Performance (Actress)" in The Admirable Bashville (1955–56).
She has won two Tony award
s, for "Best Supporting Actress (Dramatic)": in 1974 for the original Broadway production of Neil Simon
's The Good Doctor based on Chekhov
stories (which also won her a Drama Desk Award
for "Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play"); and in 1995 for the revival of The Heiress
, based on the Henry James
novella. She has been nominated for Tony award
s five other times, including for her roles in the original Broadway casts of Equus
(1975) and On Golden Pond (1979), both later made into Oscar-nominated movies with other actresses, as well as for Lorraine Hansberry
's The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window (1972), the musical Angel
(1978) which was based on Thomas Wolfe
's Look Homeward, Angel
, and the 2002 revival of Paul Osborne
's Morning's at Seven
.
Her best-known Off-Broadway role was her feisty portrayal of the title character in 1988's Pulitzer prize
-winning drama Driving Miss Daisy
which was originated by Dana Ivey
at Playwrights Horizons
in New York. Sternhagen took over the role after the show moved to the John Houseman Theatre
and played it for more than two years. (Jessica Tandy
later won an Academy Award
playing Daisy in the 1989 movie.)
Off-Broadway
awards include two nominations for the Drama Desk Award for "Outstanding Actress in a Play" in 1998, for a revival of Eugene O'Neill
's Long Day's Journey Into Night
at the Irish Repertory Theaterand in 2005, for the World War I
drama Echoes of the War.
She also won Distinguished Performance Obie Awards for The Room and A Slight Ache (1964–65). In 1998 she won the Dramatists Guild Fund's Madge Evans & Sidney Kingsley Award for Excellence in Theater. She starred in the 2005 revival of Edward Albee
's Seascape
, produced by Lincoln Center Theater at the Booth Theater on Broadway. She had also appeared in the original Broadway production of Edward Albee
's All Over
in 1971, with Colleen Dewhurst
and Jessica Tandy
. Her previous Broadway
role was in the summer 2005 production of Steel Magnolias
with Marsha Mason
, Delta Burke
, Christine Ebersole
, Lily Rabe
and Rebecca Gayheart
.
drama Up the Down Staircase
, which starred Sandy Dennis
. She has worked periodically in Hollywood since then. She had character roles in the 1971 Paddy Chayefsky
's classic The Hospital
, in Two People
(1973) and in Billy Wilder
's Fedora
(1978). She appeared in Starting Over (1979) which starred Burt Reynolds
; with Sean Connery
in Outland
(1981); and with Michael J. Fox
in Bright Lights, Big City
(1988). She played Farrah Fawcett
's mother in See You in the Morning
(1989), Richard Farnsworth
's wife in Misery
(1990), and John Lithgow
's psychiatrist in Raising Cain
(1992). Sternhagen starred in Frank Darabont
's suspense/thriller The Mist
, released on November 21, 2007.
's Boston postman character Cliff Clavin
, on the long-running series Cheers
for which she received two Emmy Award
nominations. She also played Millicent Carter on ER
, Bunny MacDougal, mother of Trey, Charlotte's first husband on Sex and the City
(another Emmy Award
nomination) and in Law & Order
, among other network dramas and sitcoms, and worked for many years in soap opera
s such as Another World
, The Secret Storm
and Love of Life
. She played two roles on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live
. She recorded a voiceover for a May 2002 episode of The Simpsons
("The Frying Game
").
In summer 2006, she finished her 24th Broadway role, then guest-starred on TV's The Closer
, playing the lead character Brenda (played by Kyra Sedgwick
)'s supportive mother, Willie Ray Johnson. Sternhagen has appeared on twelve episodes of The Closer to date.
She is also recognized as "Mrs. Marsh" from a series of television commercials for Colgate toothpaste that aired in the 1970s.
novel Dolores Claiborne
in a 1995 audiobook recording.
Personal life
Sternhagen, who is of German descentGerman American
German Americans are citizens of the United States of German ancestry and comprise about 51 million people, or 17% of the U.S. population, the country's largest self-reported ancestral group...
, was born in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, the daughter of Gertrude (née
Married and maiden names
A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....
Hussey) and John M. Sternhagen, a U.S. Tax Court judge
Federal judge
Federal judges are judges appointed by a federal level of government as opposed to the state / provincial / local level.-Brazil:In Brazil, federal judges of first instance are chosen exclusively by public contest...
. He was also a part time singer on the side. Sternhagen was educated at the Madeira and Potomac schools in McLean, Virginia
McLean, Virginia
McLean is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. The community had a total population of 48,115 as of the 2010 census....
. At Vassar College
Vassar College
Vassar College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, in the United States. The Vassar campus comprises over and more than 100 buildings, including four National Historic Landmarks, ranging in style from Collegiate Gothic to International,...
she was elected head of the Drama Club "after silencing a giggling college crowd at a campus dining hall with her interpretation of a scene from Richard II
Richard II (play)
King Richard the Second is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to be written in approximately 1595. It is based on the life of King Richard II of England and is the first part of a tetralogy, referred to by some scholars as the Henriad, followed by three plays concerning Richard's...
, playing none other than Richard himself". She also studied at the Perry Mansfield School of the Theatre, and New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's Neighborhood Playhouse
Neighborhood Playhouse
The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre is an actor training school at 340 East 54th Street in New York City, generally associated with the Meisner technique of Sanford Meisner.-History:...
.
She met her husband, actor and drama teacher Thomas Carlin (who died in 1991), at Catholic University of America. They had six children—Paul (Wife - Becky Timms, Son - Payton Carlin), Amanda, Tony, Sarah, Peter, and John—several of whom are also professional actors and musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
s.
Stage career
Sternhagen started her career teaching acting, singing and dancing to school children at Milton AcademyMilton Academy
Milton Academy is a coeducational, independent preparatory, boarding and day school in Milton, Massachusetts consisting of a grade 9–12 Upper School and a grade K–8 Lower School. Boarding is offered starting in 9th grade...
in Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, and she herself first performed in 1948 at a Bryn Mawr
Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College is a women's liberal arts college located in Bryn Mawr, a community in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, ten miles west of Philadelphia. The name "Bryn Mawr" means "big hill" in Welsh....
summer theater in The Glass Menagerie
The Glass Menagerie
The Glass Menagerie is a four-character memory play by Tennessee Williams. Williams worked on various drafts of the play prior to writing a version of it as a screenplay for MGM, to whom Williams was contracted...
and Angel Street. She went on to work at Washington's Arena Stage from 1953–54, then made her Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
debut in 1955 as Miss T. Muse in The Skin of Our Teeth
The Skin of Our Teeth
The Skin of Our Teeth is a play by Thornton Wilder which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It opened on October 15, 1942 at the Shubert Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut, before moving to the Plymouth Theatre on Broadway on November 18, 1942...
. The same year she had her Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
debut in "Thieves' Carnival" and her TV debut in "The Great Bank Robbery" on "Omnibus" (CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
). By the following year she had won an off-Broadway Obie Award
Obie Award
The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City...
for "Distinguished Performance (Actress)" in The Admirable Bashville (1955–56).
She has won two Tony award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
s, for "Best Supporting Actress (Dramatic)": in 1974 for the original Broadway production of Neil Simon
Neil Simon
Neil Simon is an American playwright and screenwriter. He has written numerous Broadway plays, including Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and The Odd Couple. He won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Lost In Yonkers. He has written the screenplays for several of his plays that...
's The Good Doctor based on Chekhov
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
stories (which also won her a Drama Desk Award
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
for "Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play"); and in 1995 for the revival of The Heiress
The Heiress
The Heiress is a 1949 American drama film. It was written by Ruth and Augustus Goetz, adapted from their 1947 play of the same title that was based on the 1880 novel Washington Square by Henry James. The film was directed by William Wyler, with starring performances by Olivia de Havilland as...
, based on the Henry James
Henry James
Henry James, OM was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James....
novella. She has been nominated for Tony award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
s five other times, including for her roles in the original Broadway casts of Equus
Equus (play)
Equus is a play by Peter Shaffer written in 1973, telling the story of a psychiatrist who attempts to treat a young man who has a pathological religious fascination with horses....
(1975) and On Golden Pond (1979), both later made into Oscar-nominated movies with other actresses, as well as for Lorraine Hansberry
Lorraine Hansberry
Lorraine Hansberry was an African American playwright and author of political speeches, letters, and essays...
's The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window (1972), the musical Angel
Angel (musical)
Angel is a Broadway musical that opened at the Minskoff Theatre in New York on May 4th 1978.It was based on Ketti Frings’ theatrical adaptation of the best-selling Thomas Wolfe novel Look Homeward, Angel...
(1978) which was based on Thomas Wolfe
Thomas Wolfe
Thomas Clayton Wolfe was a major American novelist of the early 20th century.Wolfe wrote four lengthy novels, plus many short stories, dramatic works and novellas. He is known for mixing highly original, poetic, rhapsodic, and impressionistic prose with autobiographical writing...
's Look Homeward, Angel
Look Homeward, Angel
Look Homeward, Angel: A Story of the Buried Life is a 1929 novel by Thomas Wolfe. It is Wolfe's first novel, and is considered a highly autobiographical American Bildungsroman. The character of Eugene Gant is generally believed to be a depiction of Wolfe himself. The novel covers the span of time...
, and the 2002 revival of Paul Osborne
Paul Osborne
Paul Osborne is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer, administrator and politician. He played first-grade rugby league for the St George Dragons and Canberra Raiders before serving as a member of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly from 1995 until 2001...
's Morning's at Seven
Morning's at Seven
Morning's at Seven is a play by Paul Osborn.Its plot focuses on four aging sisters living in a small Midwestern town in 1938, and it deals with ramifications within the family when two of them begin to question their lives and decide to make some changes before it’s too late.The original Broadway...
.
Her best-known Off-Broadway role was her feisty portrayal of the title character in 1988's Pulitzer prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
-winning drama Driving Miss Daisy
Driving Miss Daisy (play)
Driving Miss Daisy is a 1987 play by Alfred Uhry about the relationship of an elderly Southern Jewish woman, Daisy Werthan, and her African-American chauffeur, Hoke Colburn, from 1948 to 1973...
which was originated by Dana Ivey
Dana Ivey
Dana Robins Ivey is an American character actress, who has performed on Broadway and other stage roles, in film and on television.-Early life and family:Ivey was born in Atlanta, Georgia...
at Playwrights Horizons
Playwrights Horizons
Playwrights Horizons is a not-for-profit Off-Broadway theater located in New York City dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights, composers, and lyricists, and to the production of their new work....
in New York. Sternhagen took over the role after the show moved to the John Houseman Theatre
John Houseman
John Houseman was a Romanian-born British-American actor and film producer who became known for his highly publicized collaboration with director Orson Welles from their days in the Federal Theatre Project through to the production of Citizen Kane...
and played it for more than two years. (Jessica Tandy
Jessica Tandy
Jessie Alice "Jessica" Tandy was an English-American stage and film actress.She first appeared on the London stage in 1926 at the age of 16, playing, among others, Katherine opposite Laurence Olivier's Henry V, and Cordelia opposite John Gielgud's King Lear. She also worked in British films...
later won an Academy Award
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
playing Daisy in the 1989 movie.)
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
awards include two nominations for the Drama Desk Award for "Outstanding Actress in a Play" in 1998, for a revival of Eugene O'Neill
Eugene O'Neill
Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into American drama techniques of realism earlier associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish...
's Long Day's Journey Into Night
Long Day's Journey Into Night
Long Day's Journey Into Night is a 1956 drama in four acts written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill. The play is widely considered to be his masterwork...
at the Irish Repertory Theaterand in 2005, for the World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
drama Echoes of the War.
She also won Distinguished Performance Obie Awards for The Room and A Slight Ache (1964–65). In 1998 she won the Dramatists Guild Fund's Madge Evans & Sidney Kingsley Award for Excellence in Theater. She starred in the 2005 revival of Edward Albee
Edward Albee
Edward Franklin Albee III is an American playwright who is best known for The Zoo Story , The Sandbox , Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? , and a rewrite of the screenplay for the unsuccessful musical version of Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's . His works are considered well-crafted, often...
's Seascape
Seascape (play)
Seascape is a play by American playwright Edward Albee. Directed by Albee himself, the production opened on Broadway on January 26, 1975, at the Sam S. Shubert Theatre, starring Deborah Kerr, Barry Nelson, Maureen Anderman and Frank Langella, who won a Tony Award for his performance as Leslie...
, produced by Lincoln Center Theater at the Booth Theater on Broadway. She had also appeared in the original Broadway production of Edward Albee
Edward Albee
Edward Franklin Albee III is an American playwright who is best known for The Zoo Story , The Sandbox , Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? , and a rewrite of the screenplay for the unsuccessful musical version of Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's . His works are considered well-crafted, often...
's All Over
All Over
-Production history:The play premiered on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre in March 1971 and closed on May 1, 1971 after 40 performances. The director was John Gielgud, and the cast featured Jessica Tandy , Madeline Sherwood and Colleen Dewhurst...
in 1971, with Colleen Dewhurst
Colleen Dewhurst
Colleen Rose Dewhurst was a Canadian-American actress known for a while as "the Queen of Off-Broadway." In her autobiography, Dewhurst wrote: "I had moved so quickly from one Off-Broadway production to the next that I was known, at one point, as the 'Queen of Off-Broadway'...
and Jessica Tandy
Jessica Tandy
Jessie Alice "Jessica" Tandy was an English-American stage and film actress.She first appeared on the London stage in 1926 at the age of 16, playing, among others, Katherine opposite Laurence Olivier's Henry V, and Cordelia opposite John Gielgud's King Lear. She also worked in British films...
. Her previous Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
role was in the summer 2005 production of Steel Magnolias
Steel Magnolias
Steel Magnolias is a 1989 American comedy-drama film directed by Herbert Ross that stars Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine, Olympia Dukakis, Dolly Parton, Daryl Hannah and Julia Roberts....
with Marsha Mason
Marsha Mason
Marsha Mason is an American actress and television director.She received four Academy Award nominations as Best Actress for her performances in Cinderella Liberty, The Goodbye Girl, Chapter Two, and Only When I Laugh. She is also known for starring in the 1986 film Heartbreak Ridge.-Life:Mason was...
, Delta Burke
Delta Burke
Delta Ramona Leah Burke is an American television and film actress. Her television work includes a leading role as Suzanne Sugarbaker in the CBS sitcom Designing Women...
, Christine Ebersole
Christine Ebersole
Christine Ebersole is an American actress and singer.-Early life:Ebersole was born in Winnetka, Illinois, where she attended New Trier High School...
, Lily Rabe
Lily Rabe
Lily Rabe is an American actress. She is the daughter of the late actress Jill Clayburgh and playwright David Rabe and attended Northwestern University and the Hotchkiss School....
and Rebecca Gayheart
Rebecca Gayheart
-Early life:Gayheart was born in Hazard, Kentucky and raised in Pine Top, Kentucky, the daughter of Floneva , who worked as a Mary Kay independent beauty consultant, and Curtis Gayheart, a miner and coal truck driver. She is of Irish, Italian, and German descent...
.
Film roles
Sternhagen made her film debut in 1967's New York City high schoolHigh school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
drama Up the Down Staircase
Up the Down Staircase
Up the Down Staircase is a humorous novel written by Bel Kaufman, and published in 1965.-Plot summary:The plot revolves around Sylvia Barrett, an idealistic English teacher at an inner-city high school who hopes to nurture her students' interest in classic literature and writing...
, which starred Sandy Dennis
Sandy Dennis
Sandra Dale “Sandy” Dennis was an American theater and film actress. In 1966, she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?.-Early life:...
. She has worked periodically in Hollywood since then. She had character roles in the 1971 Paddy Chayefsky
Paddy Chayefsky
Sidney Aaron "Paddy" Chayefsky , was an American playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. He is the only person to have won three solo Academy Awards for Best Screenplay....
's classic The Hospital
The Hospital
The Hospital is a 1971 black comedy film directed by Arthur Hiller and starring George C. Scott as Dr. Herbert Bock. The script was written by Paddy Chayefsky, who was awarded the 1972 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.-Plot:...
, in Two People
Two People
"Two People" was the third single from American singer Tina Turner's sixth solo album Break Every Rule, released in 1986. The song was written and produced by Terry Britten and Graham Lyle, the team behind "What's Love Got to Do with It" and "We Don't Need Another Hero". "Two People" peaked at US...
(1973) and in Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder was an Austro-Hungarian born American filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, artist, and journalist, whose career spanned more than 50 years and 60 films. He is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Hollywood's golden age...
's Fedora
Fedora (film)
Fedora is a 1978 American drama film directed by Billy Wilder. The screenplay by Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond is based on a novella by Tom Tryon included in his collection Crowned Heads, published in 1976.-Plot:...
(1978). She appeared in Starting Over (1979) which starred Burt Reynolds
Burt Reynolds
Burton Leon "Burt" Reynolds, Jr. is an American actor. Some of his memorable roles include Bo 'Bandit' Darville in Smokey and the Bandit, Lewis Medlock in Deliverance, Bobby "Gator" McCluskey in White Lightning and sequel Gator, Paul Crewe and Coach Nate Scarborough in The Longest Yard and its...
; with Sean Connery
Sean Connery
Sir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...
in Outland
Outland (film)
Outland is a 1981 British science fiction thriller film written and directed by Peter Hyams.Set on Jupiter's moon Io, it has been described as a space Western, and bears thematic resemblances to High Noon....
(1981); and with Michael J. Fox
Michael J. Fox
Michael J. Fox, OC is a Canadian American actor, author, producer, activist and voice-over artist. With a film and television career spanning from the late 1970s, Fox's roles have included Marty McFly from the Back to the Future trilogy ; Alex P...
in Bright Lights, Big City
Bright Lights, Big City (film)
Bright Lights, Big City is a 1988 drama film starring Michael J. Fox, Kiefer Sutherland and Phoebe Cates, based on the novel of the same name by Jay McInerney. It was the last film directed by James Bridges before his death in 1993.-Plot:...
(1988). She played Farrah Fawcett
Farrah Fawcett
Farrah Fawcett was an American actress and artist. A multiple Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominee, Fawcett rose to international fame when she first appeared as private investigator Jill Munroe in the first season of the television series Charlie's Angels, in 1976...
's mother in See You in the Morning
See You in the Morning (film)
See You in the Morning is a 1989 romantic comedy film written and directed by Alan J. Pakula, and starring Jeff Bridges, Alice Krige and Farrah Fawcett. It features music by Nat "King" Cole and Cherri Red. The original music score was composed by Michael Small.-Plot:Larry Livingstone falls in love...
(1989), Richard Farnsworth
Richard Farnsworth
Richard W. Farnsworth was an American actor and stuntman. His film career began in 1937; however, he achieved his greatest success for his performances in The Grey Fox and The Straight Story , for which he received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actor.- Early life :Farnsworth was born...
's wife in Misery
Misery (film)
Misery is a 1990 American Psychological Horror Film based on Stephen King's 1987 novel of the same name. Directed by Rob Reiner, the film received critical acclaim for Kathy Bates' performance as the psychopathic Annie Wilkes...
(1990), and John Lithgow
John Lithgow
John Arthur Lithgow is an American actor, musician, and author. Presently, he is involved with a wide range of media projects, including stage, television, film, and radio...
's psychiatrist in Raising Cain
Raising Cain
Raising Cain is a 1992 psychological thriller film written and directed by Brian De Palma, and starring John Lithgow, Lolita Davidovich and Steven Bauer.-Plot:Dr. Carter Nix is a respected child psychologist, the son of a giant in the field...
(1992). Sternhagen starred in Frank Darabont
Frank Darabont
Frank Darabont is a Hungarian-American film director, screenwriter and producer who has been nominated for three Academy Awards and a Golden Globe. He has directed the films The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and The Mist, all based on stories by Stephen King...
's suspense/thriller The Mist
The Mist (film)
The Mist is a 2007 American science-fiction horror film based on the 1980 novella of the same name by Stephen King. The film is written and directed by Frank Darabont, who had previously adapted Stephen King's works The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile...
, released on November 21, 2007.
Television roles
She may be best known to TV audiences as Esther Clavin, mother of John RatzenbergerJohn Ratzenberger
John Deszo Ratzenberger is an American actor, voice actor, and entrepreneur. He is best known for his role as Cliff Clavin in Cheers.-Early life:...
's Boston postman character Cliff Clavin
Cliff Clavin
Clifford C. Clavin, Jr. is a character on the American television show Cheers, co-created and portrayed by John Ratzenberger.- Character history :...
, on the long-running series Cheers
Cheers
Cheers is an American situation comedy television series that ran for 11 seasons from 1982 to 1993. It was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television for NBC, and was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles...
for which she received two Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
nominations. She also played Millicent Carter on ER
ER (TV series)
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...
, Bunny MacDougal, mother of Trey, Charlotte's first husband on Sex and the City
Sex and the City
Sex and the City is an American television comedy-drama series created by Darren Star and produced by HBO. Broadcast from 1998 until 2004, the original run of the show had a total of ninety-four episodes...
(another Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
nomination) and in Law & Order
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,...
, among other network dramas and sitcoms, and worked for many years in soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
s such as Another World
Another World (TV series)
Another World is an American television soap opera that ran on NBC from May 4, 1964 to June 25, 1999. It ran for a total of 35 years. It was created by Irna Phillips along with William J...
, The Secret Storm
The Secret Storm
The Secret Storm is a soap opera which ran on CBS from February 1, 1954 to February 8, 1974. The series was created by Roy Winsor, who also created the long-running soap operas Search for Tomorrow and Love of Life...
and Love of Life
Love of Life
Love of Life is an American soap opera which aired on CBS Daytime from September 24, 1951 to February 1, 1980. It was created by Roy Winsor, whose previous creation Search for Tomorrow had premiered three weeks before Love of Life, and who would go on to create The Secret Storm two and a half years...
. She played two roles on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live
One Life to Live
One Life to Live is an American soap opera which debuted on July 15, 1968 and has been broadcast on the ABC television network. Created by Agnes Nixon, the series was the first daytime drama to primarily feature racially and socioeconomically diverse characters and consistently emphasize social...
. She recorded a voiceover for a May 2002 episode of The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
("The Frying Game
The Frying Game
"The Frying Game" is the twenty-first episode of The Simpsons thirteenth season. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 19, 2002. In the episode, after accidentally killing an endangered screamapillar, Homer is sentenced to two weeks of community service. As part of...
").
In summer 2006, she finished her 24th Broadway role, then guest-starred on TV's The Closer
The Closer
The Closer is an American crime drama, starring Kyra Sedgwick as Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson, a Georgia police detective who often closes her cases using sometimes-questionable methods...
, playing the lead character Brenda (played by Kyra Sedgwick
Kyra Sedgwick
Kyra Minturn Sedgwick is an American actress.Sedgwick is best known for her starring role as Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson on the TNT crime drama The Closer. Sedgwick's role in the series won her a Golden Globe Award in 2007 and an Emmy Award in 2010...
)'s supportive mother, Willie Ray Johnson. Sternhagen has appeared on twelve episodes of The Closer to date.
She is also recognized as "Mrs. Marsh" from a series of television commercials for Colgate toothpaste that aired in the 1970s.
Voice acting
She read as the title character in the Stephen KingStephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
novel Dolores Claiborne
Dolores Claiborne
Dolores Claiborne is a 1992 psychological thriller novel by Stephen King. The novel is narrated by the title character. Atypically for a King novel, it has no chapters, double-spacing between paragraphs, or other section breaks; thus the text is a single continuous narrative which reads like a...
in a 1995 audiobook recording.
Television
- The Secret Garden (1973–1974)
- Enemies (1974)
- The Rimers of EldritchThe Rimers of EldritchThe Rimers of Eldritch is a play by Lanford Wilson. Set in the mid-20th century in Eldritch, Missouri, a decaying Bible Belt town that once was a prosperous coal mining community, it focuses on the murder of aging hermit Skelly by a woman who mistakenly thought he was committing rape when he...
(1974) - Who'll Save Christmas (1978)
- Mother and Daughter: The Loving War (1980)
- The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg (1980)
- Prototype (1983)
- The Dining Room (1984)
- Spencer (1985)
- Resting Place (1986)
- At Mother's Request (1987)
- Once Again (1987)
- Golden Years (1991)
- Law & OrderLaw & OrderLaw & 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,...
(1991) as Estelle Muller - She Woke Up (1992)
- Tales from the CryptTales from the Crypt (TV series)Tales from the Crypt, sometimes titled HBO's Tales from the Crypt, is an American horror anthology television series that ran from 1989 to 1996 on the premium cable channel HBO...
(1992) - CheersCheersCheers is an American situation comedy television series that ran for 11 seasons from 1982 to 1993. It was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television for NBC, and was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles...
(1986–1993) - Labor of Love: The Arlette Schweitzer Story (1993)
- The Road Home (1994)
- The Outer LimitsThe Outer Limits (1995 TV series)The Outer Limits is an American television series that originally aired on Showtime,the Sci Fi Channel and in syndication between 1995 and 2002...
' (1995) - Law & OrderLaw & OrderLaw & 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,...
(1997) as Margaret Langdon - The SimpsonsThe SimpsonsThe Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
(2002) - Sex and the CitySex and the CitySex and the City is an American television comedy-drama series created by Darren Star and produced by HBO. Broadcast from 1998 until 2004, the original run of the show had a total of ninety-four episodes...
(2000–2002) - ERER (TV series)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...
(1997–2003) - BeckerBecker (TV series)Becker 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...
(2004) - The CloserThe CloserThe Closer is an American crime drama, starring Kyra Sedgwick as Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson, a Georgia police detective who often closes her cases using sometimes-questionable methods...
(2006–2010)
Films
- The HospitalThe HospitalThe Hospital is a 1971 black comedy film directed by Arthur Hiller and starring George C. Scott as Dr. Herbert Bock. The script was written by Paddy Chayefsky, who was awarded the 1972 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.-Plot:...
(1971) - Two PeopleTwo People (film)Two People is a 1973 American drama film produced and directed by Robert Wise. It stars Peter Fonda and Lindsay Wagner. The screenplay by Richard De Roy focuses on the brief relationship shared by a Vietnam War deserter and a fashion model.-Plot:...
(1973) - FedoraFedora (film)Fedora is a 1978 American drama film directed by Billy Wilder. The screenplay by Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond is based on a novella by Tom Tryon included in his collection Crowned Heads, published in 1976.-Plot:...
(1978) - Starting Over (1979)
- OutlandOutland (film)Outland is a 1981 British science fiction thriller film written and directed by Peter Hyams.Set on Jupiter's moon Io, it has been described as a space Western, and bears thematic resemblances to High Noon....
(1981) - Independence DayIndependence Day (1983 film)Independence Day is a 1983 film directed by Robert Mandel from a script by the novelist Alice Hoffman. It was designed by Stewart Campbell and shot by Charles Rosher...
(1983) - Romantic Comedy (1983)
- Bright Lights, Big CityBright Lights, Big City (film)Bright Lights, Big City is a 1988 drama film starring Michael J. Fox, Kiefer Sutherland and Phoebe Cates, based on the novel of the same name by Jay McInerney. It was the last film directed by James Bridges before his death in 1993.-Plot:...
(1988) - See You in the MorningSee You in the Morning (film)See You in the Morning is a 1989 romantic comedy film written and directed by Alan J. Pakula, and starring Jeff Bridges, Alice Krige and Farrah Fawcett. It features music by Nat "King" Cole and Cherri Red. The original music score was composed by Michael Small.-Plot:Larry Livingstone falls in love...
(1989) - Communion (1989)
- Sibling Rivalry (1990)
- MiseryMisery (film)Misery is a 1990 American Psychological Horror Film based on Stephen King's 1987 novel of the same name. Directed by Rob Reiner, the film received critical acclaim for Kathy Bates' performance as the psychopathic Annie Wilkes...
(1990) - Doc HollywoodDoc HollywoodDoc Hollywood is a 1991 American romantic comedy film based on the book, What? Dead...Again?, by Neil B. Shulman, M.D. The film stars Michael J. Fox, Julie Warner, Woody Harrelson and Bridget Fonda. It was directed by Michael Caton-Jones. The filming took place in Micanopy, Florida.-Plot:Dr....
(1991) - Walking The Dog (1991)
- Raising CainRaising CainRaising Cain is a 1992 psychological thriller film written and directed by Brian De Palma, and starring John Lithgow, Lolita Davidovich and Steven Bauer.-Plot:Dr. Carter Nix is a respected child psychologist, the son of a giant in the field...
(1992) - Curtain Call (1999)
- Midnight Gospel (2000)
- Landfall (2001)
- The Rising (2001)
- The Laramie ProjectThe Laramie ProjectThe Laramie Project is a play by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project about the reaction to the 1998 murder of University of Wyoming gay student Matthew Shepard in Laramie,...
(2002) - Highway (2002)
- The MistThe Mist (film)The Mist is a 2007 American science-fiction horror film based on the 1980 novella of the same name by Stephen King. The film is written and directed by Frank Darabont, who had previously adapted Stephen King's works The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile...
(2007) - Julie & JuliaJulie & JuliaJulie & Julia is a 2009 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Nora Ephron starring Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci, Amy Adams, and Chris Messina...
(2009)