Frances Bay life and biography

Frances Bay was a U.S.-based Canadian character actress, best-known for playing quirky, elderly women on film and television. She began her acting career in her mid-50s.

Bay was born in Dauphin, Manitoba, Canada, but did did not appear in films until the age of 60, when she played a small part in 1978's Foul Play, a comedy vehicle for Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase. She went on to play small roles in films like The Karate Kid, Big Top Pee-wee and Twins.

Her first major television appearance occurred playng the grandmother to the character of 'Fonzie', in the series Happy Days.

In 1983, she played the grandmother in Little Red Riding Hood in Faerie Tale Theatre for Showtime.

In 1986, Bay appeared as the doddery aunt of Kyle MacLachlan's character in David Lynch's Blue Velvet. This role seems to have endeared the actress to Lynch, who recast her in several subsequent works, including as a brisk no-nonsense madam (who uses the "F" word) in Wild at Heart, and as the eerie "Mrs. Tremond" on Twin Peaks and its movie spin-off, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me.

Bay may also be familiar from her performance in the music video for Jimmy Fallon's comedy song, Idiot Boyfriend. Bay is perhaps best known today, however, for her performance as the hapless, but loving grandmother of Adam Sandler's character in the 1996 film Happy Gilmore. Additionally, she has the distinction of appearing in the final episodes of three long-running sitcoms: Happy Days, Who's the Boss? and Seinfeld.

In an earlier episode of Seinfeld, she played "Mabel Choate", a wealthy, irritable old woman from whom Jerry stole a loaf of marbled rye bread. In that episode, entitled The Rye, Bay appeared with her former Twin Peaks co-stars Grace Zabriskie and Warren Frost. In a future episode, the consequences of Jerry's act caused his father to be impeached as president of his retirement community in Florida.

Soon after the death of her husband, Charles Bay, in 2002, she was struck by a car in Glendale, California, and as a result she had to have part of her right leg amputated. Charles and Frances had one son, Josh, who passed away at the age of 23.

On June 3, 2008, it was announced that she would be inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame. She was inducted in large part thanks to a petition with 10,000 names that was submitted. The selection committee also received personal letters from Adam Sandler, Jerry Seinfeld, David Lynch, Henry Winkler, Monty Hall and other celebrities.

'Happy Gilmore' actress died on September 15, 2011 after being diagnosed with pneumonia.

Film Appearances:
Mrs. Russel, Foul Play, Paramount, 1978
Mrs. DeLillo, Head over Heels (also known as Chilly Scenes of Winter), United Artists, 1979
Librarian, The Attic, Hallmark Video, 1979
Female patient, Buddy Buddy, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1981
Mrs. Lewenowski, Honky Tonk Freeway, Universal, 1981
Old woman, Double Exposure, Crown International Pictures, 1982
Birdie Fallmouth, Private School, Universal, 1983
Lady with dog, The Karate Kid, Columbia, 1984
Betty Gritz, Movers and Shakers, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1985
Aunt Barbara, Blue Velvet, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1986
Bertril, Nomads, Paramount Home Video, 1986
Mrs. Haynes, Big Top Pee-Wee, Paramount, 1988
Mother Superior, Twins, Argentina Video Home, 1988
Mrs. Milo, The Karate Kid III, Columbia, 1989
Evelyn Metcalf, Arachnophobia, Buena Vista, 1990
Madam, Wild at Heart, Samuel Goldwyn, 1990
Arizona motel clerk, The Grifters, Miramax, 1990
Esmeralda, The Pit and the Pendulum (also known as The Inquisitor), JGM Entertainment, 1990
Mrs. Menges, Critters 3 (also known as Critters 3: You Are WhatThey Eat), New Line Home Video, 1991
Mrs. Tremond, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (also known as TwinPeaks), New Line Cinema, 1992
Elderly neighbor, Single White Female, Columbia, 1992
Grandma, Inside Monkey Zetterland, IRS Media, 1992
Aunt Sylvia, The Neighbor, Allegro Films, 1993
Mrs. Rosemont, The Paper Boy (also known as The Paperboy),Allegro Films, 1994
Mrs. Pickman, In the Mouth of Madness (also known as John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness), New Line Cinema, 1995
Grandma Gilmore, Happy Gilmore, Universal, 1996
Elisabeth Kronner, Never Too Late, Allegro Distribution, 1997
Mitzi, Mitzi & Joe, 1997
Midge, Changing Habits, A-pix Entertainment, 1997
Edith Proxmire, Krippendorf's Tribe, Buena Vista, 1998
Raspy, Sparkler, Strand Releasing, 1998
Old woman, Goodbye Lover, Warner Bros., 1999
Thelma, Inspector Gadget, 1999
Mrs. Sloan, The Operator, Black Wolf Productions, 2000
Mrs. Dartmutter, Finder's Fee, 2000
Dottie, The Wedding Planner, Sony Pictures Entertainment, 2001

Television Appearances:
Madame Zarona, The Big Hex of Little Lulu, 1981
Mabel Simpson, Callie & Son (also known as Rags to Riches), CBS, 1981
Grandmother, Faerie Tale Theatre: Little Red Riding Hood, 1983
Old woman, Second Sight: A Love Story, CBS, 1984
Lydia, Amos, CBS, 1985
The Eagle and the Bear, 1985
Police Story: Monster Manor, ABC, 1988
Iva Ruth McKinney, Grave Secrets: The Legacy of Hilltop Drive (also known as Grave Secrets), CBS, 1992
Rossini's Ghost, 1996
Martha Craddock, Forever Love, CBS, 1998
Maggie Winchester, Oh, Baby, 2001
Also appeared in The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn, CBS; Where Are My Children; LBJ; Convicted; and Murder in Texas.

Series:
Gideon Oliver, ABC, 1989

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