Veteran actress Elizabeth Franz has died aged 84 at her home in Woodbury, Connecticut, after a battle with cancer and complications from treatment. She passed away on November 4 her husband, screenwriter Christopher Pelham, announced. Speaking to The New York Times, he said her passing was the result of both the illness and a "severe reaction" to her treatment. But Elizabeth was best known for her award-winning turn as Linda Loman in the 50th-anniversary production of Death of a Salesman on Broadway, with her performance earning her the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play in 1999.
On television, she was a character actor whose work spanned several iconic series. She appeared in Gilmore Girls, playing Mia Halloway, the new owner of the Independence Inn, in the episode "The Ins & Outs of Inns", acting as a motherly figure and mentor to Lorelai, played by Lauren Graham, as she settled into Stars Hollow. Linda also had roles on hit shows including Roseanne, Law & Order: SVU and Grey’s Anatomy.
Elizabeth’s role in Death of a Salesman became a signature one, demonstrating her ability to reinterpret even familiar screen and stage characters with fresh emotional depth. She later reprised the role in the 2000 TV adaptation and earned a Primetime Emmy nomination.
Playwright Arthur Miller praised her interpretation of the character of Linda, saying: "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." She was also honored with a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her role in the 50th-anniversary staging of the play.
She also appeared in Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and performed in Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors and Dickens’ Great Expectations. Elizabeth was also nominated for Tony Awards for her roles in Neil Simon’s Brighton Beach Memoirs and Paul Osborn’s Morning’s at Seven. Other notable Broadway appearances include The Cherry Orchard, The Octette Bridge Club, The Cemetery Club, Getting Married, Uncle Vanya and The Miracle Worker.
A multi-faceted actress, she also brought her talent to the big screen, starring alongside Robert De Niro in Jacknife, Harrison Ford in Sabrina, and Jamie Lee Curtis in Christmas with the Kranks. Survived by her husband, Christopher, and brother Joe, Elizabeth’s passing is a loss to the theatrical and television world alike.