Theater veteran Elizabeth Franz, who won a Tony Award for her bold reinvention as the title character's wife in the 1999 Broadway revival of Arthur Miller's “Death of a Salesman,” has died. She was 84 years old.
The actress died Nov. 4 at her home in Woodbury, Connecticut, after a battle with cancer, her husband, screenwriter Christopher Pelham, confirmed to The Times. Pelham told the New York Times that Franz's cause of death was cancer and a severe reaction to the medication used to treat her.
The Ohio-born actor's portrayal of Linda Loman, the wife of Brian Dennehy's Willy Loman, in the 50th anniversary production of “Death of a Salesman,” was a departure from the character's usual defeated energy that took even playwright Miller by surprise: “She has discovered in the role the powerful underlying basic protection, which manifests itself as fury, and which in the past, in every performance I know, was simply removed,” Miller said in a 1999 interview with the New York Times. The production, which originated at the Goodman Theater in Chicago before Broadway, eventually came to the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles.
Alongside Dennehy, Franz later reprized the role of Linda in the 2000 Showtime television adaptation of the play, which earned her an Emmy Award nomination.
She previously received a Tony nomination in 1983 for her role as Matthew Broderick's onstage mother in Neil Simon's “Brighton Beach Memoirs.” And then she earned another nomination in 2002 for “Morning's at Seven,” in which she played the youngest of four Midwestern sisters. Her other theater credits include “The Cherry Orchard,” “The Cemetery Club” and, in her last Broadway role in 2010, “The Miracle Worker.”
Franz's television credits included “Judging Amy,” “Grey's Anatomy,” “Roseanne” and “Homeland.” However, a generation came to know her as Mia Bass, the owner of the Independence Inn on Stars Hallow, in a season two episode of “Gilmore Girls.” The minor, but essential character in the story, was later recast in the seventh season. He also appeared in the films “Sabrina,” “School Ties,” “A Fish in the Bathtub” and “Christmas With the Kranks.”
In addition to Pelham, Franz is survived by a brother, Joe.
