Broadway Star Elizabeth Franz Dies at 84 Following Cancer Battle
elizabeth Franz, a celebrated Broadway actress known for her Tony-nominated performance in Death of a salesman and her role as Mrs. Kimble on Gilmore Girls, has died at the age of 84. Franz passed away November 14, 2023, after a battle with cancer, her son Joe confirmed too the Associated Press.
Born Elizabeth Jean Frankovitch in Akron, Ohio, Franz pursued her acting dreams in New York City, building a distinguished career spanning stage, television, and film. She gained prominence for her portrayal of Linda Loman in the 1999 Broadway revival of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, earning a Tony Award nomination and critical acclaim. Miller himself lauded her performance, stating she “has discovered in the role the basic underlying powerful protectiveness, which comes out as fury, and that in the past, in every performance I know of, was simply washed out.”
franz revisited the role of Linda Loman in a 2000 television adaptation of Death of a Salesman, receiving an Emmy nomination. Her extensive television credits include appearances on As the World Turns, Another World, Roseanne, The Equalizer, and Sisters. She also appeared in the 1995 remake of Sabrina starring Harrison Ford and Greg Kinnear.
Her first marriage was to character actor Edward Binns, who died in 1990. The pair had shared the stage in productions of Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night (1975) and arthur Miller’s A view from the Bridge (1981).
Franz is survived by her husband, Pelham, and her brother, Joe.
