Frances Conroy

Frances Conroy
Born	November 13, 1953 (1953-11-13) Monroe, Georgia, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1978–present
Spouse	Jan Munroe (1992-present)

Frances Conroy (born November 13, 1953) is an American actress. She is best known for playing Ruth, the matriarch of the Fisher family, on Six Feet Under, which earned her a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Early life

Conroy was born in Monroe, Georgia to a business executive father and a mother who also worked in business. She studied drama at the Neighborhood Playhouse and the Juilliard School in New York City. She was a student at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania during the school year 1971-1972 where she was a member of the Mermaid Players and appeared in college theatrical productions.

Career

During the 1970s, she performed regularly with regional and touring theatrical companies (most notably The Acting Company), and appeared as Desdemona at the Delacorte Theatre in a production of Othello with Richard Dreyfuss and Raul Julia. One of her first film appearances was as a Shakespearean actress in Woody Allen's 1979 classic, Manhattan. In 1980, she made a very well-received Broadway debut in Edward Albee's The Lady From Dubuque. She focused primarily on her stage career for the next two decades, appearing in such productions as Our Town, The Little Foxes, and The Ride Down Mt. Morgan, receiving one Tony and four Drama Desk Award nominations (including a Drama Desk win for The Secret Rapture). Conroy had a small role in the 1984 movie Falling in Love, as a waitress in a swanky restaurant.

In 1992, Conroy became friends with playwright Arthur Miller, which led to her involvement in many of his productions on both stage and screen. During this period, she also appeared on television shows, miniseries, and made-for-TV movies, and met and married fellow actor Jan Munroe.

She is best known for her critically acclaimed work on HBO's original drama series Six Feet Under, which started in 2001, playing family matriarch Ruth Fisher. For her work on the series, Conroy was nominated for four Emmy Awards (one for every year she was eligible) and won a Golden Globe and three Screen Actors Guild Awards.

In 2008, she landed a guest role in ABC's Desperate Housewives as Virginia Hildebrand, a rich woman who tries to buy the Solis family's love. But Eva Longoria's character, Gabrielle Solis, declines Virginia's motives, despite being open to receiving her entire fortune.

In 2010, Conroy played Madylyn, the wife of Robert De Niro's character Jack Mabrey, in the John Curran thriller Stone. In the same year, Conroy played the recurring role of Peggy Haplin in the short-lived ABC drama series Happy Town created by Josh Appelbaum, Andre Nemec, and Scott Rosenberg.

In 2011, Conroy began appearing in the television series American Horror Story, on the FX network, as one of two actresses playing the housekeeper.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1984	Falling in Love	Waitress
1988	Dirty Rotten Scoundrels	Lady from Palm Beach
1988	Another Woman	Lynn
1989	Crimes and Misdemeanors	House Owner
1990	Law and Order	Elizabeth Hendrick	1 episode
1991	Billy Bathgate	Mary Behan
1992	Scent of a Woman	Christine Downes
1993	Sleepless in Seattle	Irene Reed
1993	The Adventures of Huck Finn	Scrawny Shanty Lady
1995	The Neon Bible	Miss Scover
1995	Angela	Anne's mother	credited as Francis Conroy
1996	The Crucible	Ann Putnam
1999	Law and Order	Rosa Halasy	1 episode
2001-2005	Six Feet Under	Ruth Fisher	Main role 63 episodes Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (2003, 2004) Nominated-Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (2002, 2005, 2006) Nominated-Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (2002, 2003, 2005, 2006)
2002	Maid in Manhattan	Paula Burns
2003	Die, Mommie, Die!	Bootsie Carp
2004	Catwoman	Ophelia
2004	The Aviator	Mrs. Hepburn
2005	Shopgirl	Catherine Buttersfield
2005	Broken Flowers	Dora
2006	Ira and Abby	Lynn Willoughby
2006	The Wicker Man	Dr. T.H. Moss
2007	The Seeker: The Dark is Rising	Miss Greythorne
2007-2008	ER	Becky Riley	2 episodes
2008	Humboldt County	Rosie
2008	The Tale of Despereaux	Antoinette	Voice role
2008	Desperate Housewives	Virginia Hildebrand	3 episodes
2009-2011	How I Met Your Mother	Loretta Stinson	3 episodes
2009	Love Happens	Eloise's mom
2009	Waking Madison	Dolly
2009	New in Town	Trudy Van Uuden
2009	Stay Cool	Mrs. Leuchtenberger
2009	Shelter	Mrs. Bernberg
2010	Bloodworth	Julia Bloodworth
2010	Nip/Tuck	Jane Fields	1 episode
2010	Happy Town	Peggy Haplin	7 episodes
2010	Stone	Madylyn Mabry
2010	Grey's Anatomy	Eleanor	1 episode
2010-2011	Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated	Angie Dinkley	Voice role 12 episodes
2011	United States of Tara	Sandi Gregson	2 episodes
2011	Love Bites	Faye Strathmore	1 episode
2011	The Mentalist	Elspeth	1 episode
2011	American Horror Story	Moira O'Hara	11 episodes
2011	Tom and Jerry and the Wizard of Oz	Aunt Em/Glinda	Voice role
2012	Beautiful People	Lydia	pre-production

External links

• Frances Conroy at the Internet Broadway Database
• Frances Conroy at the Internet Movie Database
• Frances Conroy at AllRovi
• Frances Conroy at Yahoo! Movies