Frances Conroy
Frances Conroy is an accomplished American actress, born on November 13, 1953, in Monroe, Georgia. She pursued her passion for acting at the New York's Neighborhood Playhouse and the prestigious Juilliard School, where she trained under noted theater figures. Conroy's career began with significant involvement in the New York Shakespeare Festival, leading to small roles in films and television, including a notable part in Woody Allen's 1979 film "Manhattan." She gained widespread fame for her role as Ruth Fisher in HBO's critically acclaimed series "Six Feet Under," which aired from 2001 to 2005, earning her multiple awards and nominations.
Throughout her career, Conroy has displayed a remarkable range, with performances in various theatrical productions and television shows, including "American Horror Story," where she portrayed multiple characters across different seasons. She has worked alongside notable actors and directors in both film and television, contributing to her reputation as a versatile and skilled performer. In addition to her on-screen work, Conroy has also made a significant impact in theater, particularly through her collaborations with playwright Arthur Miller. Her extensive body of work showcases her talent and dedication to the craft of acting.
Subject Terms
Frances Conroy
Actor
- Born: November 13, 1953
- Birthplace: Monroe, Georgia
Contribution: Frances Conroy is an Emmy-nominated actor best known for her roles on the hit HBO series Six Feet Under and the FX horror series American Horror Story.
Background
Frances Conroy was born on November 13, 1953, in Monroe, Georgia. Her family moved to New York City when she was young, and she attended high school on Long Island. From an early age, Conroy wanted to act, and her parents happily encouraged and accommodated this goal, after high school sending her to train at New York’s Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre and then the Juilliard School’s drama division, where she worked under theater veterans John Houseman and Marian Seldes.
Career
Following graduation from Juilliard, Conroy acted in numerous productions of the New York Shakespeare Festival, including Measure for Measure in 1976 and alongside Richard Dreyfuss in Othello in 1979. Her work in the prominent festival earned her enough recognition to acquire a small part in Woody Allen’s 1979 film Manhattan, in which she played a Shakespearean actress.
In 1980, Conroy debuted on Broadway, acting in The Lady from Dubuque and subsequently rising in prominence in both Broadway and off-Broadway productions. She did this for the next several years, and by 1983 was acting in small roles on television, notably in the political-drama miniseries Kennedy, in which Conroy portrayed Jean Kennedy Smith. In 1984, she secured a small role in the romance-drama Falling in Love, starring Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep. Conroy gained further national attention with a starring role in a 1986 segment of the revived The Twilight Zone.
Conroy’s talent slowly grew in eminence throughout the mid-1980s, and by the latter half of the decade, she was working alongside legendary and iconic actors such as Gregory Peck in Amazing Grace and Chuck (1987), Burt Lancaster in Rocket Gibraltar (1988), and Michael Caine and Steve Martin in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988). Also in 1988, she had a small role in Woody Allen’s little-seen Another Woman.
Returning to the stage, Conroy then acted in the part of Mrs. Gibbs in a 1989 PBS production of Our Town. That same year, she made her way back to Broadway, where she performed in the role of Marion French in a production of The Secret Rapture. She won a Drama Desk Award for her work.
In 1992, Conroy’s career made a major leap forward when she befriended playwright Arthur Miller. She first encountered Miller when she appeared in an off-Broadway production of his play The Last Yankee, winning an OBIE Award for her performance. The success of the pair’s work together would lead to more collaboration throughout the remainder of the 1990s. In 1994, she acted in Miller’s play Broken Glass at Broadway’s Booth Theater. Two years later she appeared in the film adaptation of his play The Crucible, for which Miller also wrote the screenplay. In 1998, Conroy again worked with Miller when she performed in a production of his The Ride down Mount Morgan. She took on this play again two years later on Broadway, a performance for which she was nominated for a Tony Award.
Though during the 1990s, Conroy was mainly known for performing in Miller-authored stage plays, she continued working in a steady stream of supporting roles in both film and television throughout the decade. In 1992, she appeared in the Al Pacino hit Scent of a Woman, while the next year saw her acting in an adaptation of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and the Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan hit Sleepless in Seattle. Conroy also made a guest appearance on a 1999 episode of the hugely popular television crime drama Law & Order.
Already acclaimed for her extensive work in theater, Conroy received her big break in television in 2001 when she was cast on HBO’s dark comedy Six Feet Under. The show revolved around the lives of Conroy’s quirky and neurotic Ruth Fisher, the distraught widow of an undertaker, and her dysfunctional family, who operate an independent funeral home in Los Angeles. The series was widely lauded for the entirety of its five-season run, with special praise directed toward Conroy. By the time the series ended in 2005, she had won Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards and had been nominated for an Emmy each year from 2002 to 2006.
The phenomenal success that Conroy enjoyed with Six Feet Under immediately opened the doors to Hollywood for her. In 2004, she received an offer to play Katharine Hepburn’s mother in Martin Scorsese’s Howard Hughes biopic, The Aviator. Also in that year, she appeared alongside Halle Berry in the big-budget but ultimately disastrous superhero film Catwoman. Conroy followed this with a string of performances in poorly received films, including the Nicolas Cage vehicle The Wicker Man (2006) and The Seeker: The Dark is Rising (2007). In 2008, she made her animated film debut with a voice role in The Tale of Despereaux.
Conroy’s work for the remainder of the decade would come mostly in the form of guest and recurring roles on television shows. Also in 2008, Conroy was cast as recurring character Virginia Hildebrand in a three-episode stint of the ABC drama Desperate Housewives. She followed this with several episodes of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother (2009–14) and the 2010 ABC mystery-drama Happy Town, which was cancelled two months after its premiere.
From 2011 through 2018, Conroy has played various characters on eight seasons of FX’s ensemble horror-thriller series American Horror Story. For her role in 2011 as housekeeper Moira O’Hara in the first season, subtitled Murder House, Conroy was nominated for an Emmy Award for outstanding supporting actress. The season’s ghostly scenes provided a challenge for Conroy, whose character, along with others, was the target of physical abuse. In the show's second season, Asylum, she plays the Angel of Death, Shachath, She was nominated for a 2014 Emmy Award for outstanding supporting actress for her performance in the series' third season, subtitled Coven, as the councilor witch Myrtle Snow. In the fourth season, Freak Show, she plays a socialite named Gloria Mott. She was not part of the cast of the fifth season, but returned to the show in the sixth season, Roanoke, as an actor portraying matriarch Mama Polk on My Roanoke Nightmare a documentary-within-the-show. For the seventh season, Cult, she took on the supporting role of Bebe Babbitt, an extremist cult member. She returned as a guest-star to the show as Myrtle Snow and Moira O'Hara for the eighth season, Apocalypse.
While working on American Horror Story, Conroy appeared in several television and film projects. These included the series Royal Pains (2013), The Mist (2017), Casual (2015–18), and Castle Rock, 2018. From 2018 to 2019 she played Lottie Dottie Da on Arrested Development. She portrayed Penny Fleck, mother of comedian Arthur Fleck, a.k.a., The Joker (Joaquin Phoenix), in the Todd Phillips's film Joker, part of the DC Comics Batman franchise.
Impact
Trained in the classics by masters of acting at Juilliard, Frances Conroy quickly found success in theater, where critics applauded her versatility. Her rise to prominence allowed her to enter the world of screen acting, where she excelled as offbeat characters such as her most famous role, that of Ruth Fisher in Six Feet Under. With numerous stage and screen credits, awards, and nominations behind her, Conroy has proven herself to be a veteran of the craft.
Personal Life
While working in television and film in 1992, Conroy met actor Jan Munroe, whom she married that year.
Principal Works
Film
Scent of a Woman, 1992
Sleepless in Seattle, 1993
The Crucible, 1996
The Aviator, 2004
The Joker, 2019
Television
Six Feet Under, 2001–05
Desperate Housewives, 2008
American Horror Story, 2011–18
Royal Pains, 2013
Casual, 2015–18
The Mist, 2017
Castle Rock, 2018
Arrested Development, 2018–19
Bibliography
Conroy, Frances. “Interview: Frances Conroy Discusses the HBO series Six Feet Under.” NPR. NPR, 17 Jan. 2004. Web. 21 July 2013.
“Frances Conroy Biography (1953– ).” IMDb. IMDb.com, 2013. Web. 19 July 2013.
Goldberg, Lesley. “Emmys 2012: Frances Conroy Finds Life after Death in ‘American Horror Story.’” Hollywood Reporter. Hollywood Reporter, 21 Aug. 2012. Web. 19 July 2013.
Gordon, Devin. “Mother Superior: As Six Feet Under Begins Its Splendid Third Season, the Family Matriarch Frances Conroy Cuts Loose at Last.” Newsweek 3 Mar. 2003 US ed.: 56+. Print.
Wieselman, Jarett. “Five Questions with Frances Conroy.” ETonline. CBS, 8 Mar. 2013. Web. 19 July 2013.