
Acting
Frances Sternhagen
Born — Died
1930-01-13 — 2023-11-27
Place of birth
Washington, District of Columbia, USA
Known for
Acting
Credits
79 titles
Frances Hussey Sternhagen (January 13, 1930 – November 27, 2023) was an American actress. Sternhagen appeared on and off Broadway, in movies, and on TV beginning in the 1950s, won a Tony, and was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards.
Known for
8.0Set in Springfield, the average American town, the show focuses on the antics and everyday adventures of the Simpson family; Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie, as well as a virtual cast of thousands. Since the beginning, the series has been a pop culture icon, attracting hundreds of celebrities to guest star. The show has also made name for itself in its fearless satirical take on politics, media and American life in general.
The Simpsons
1989
7.3In cases ripped from the headlines, police investigate serious and often deadly crimes, weighing the evidence and questioning the suspects until someone is taken into custody. The district attorney's office then builds a case to convict the perpetrator by proving the person guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Working together, these expert teams navigate all sides of the complex criminal justice system to make New York a safer place.
Law & Order
1990
7.8ER explores the inner workings of an urban teaching hospital and the critical issues faced by the dedicated physicians and staff of its overburdened emergency room.
ER
1994
6.1The best in the performing arts from across America and around the world including a diverse programming portfolio of classical music, opera, popular song, musical theater, dance, drama, and performance documentaries.
Great Performances
1971
7.6The story about a blue-collar Boston bar run by former sports star Sam Malone and the quirky and wonderful people who worked and drank there.
Cheers
1982
7.8Deputy Police Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson transfers from Atlanta to LA to head up a special unit of the LAPD that handles sensitive, high-profile murder cases. Johnson's quirky personality and hard-nosed approach often rubs her colleagues the wrong way, but her reputation as one of the world's best interrogator eventually wins over even her toughest critics.
The Closer
2005
Film credits
2010s · 3 titles
6.9A sea of animal rescuers — and a lonely boy in need of a friend – nurse an injured dolphin back to health after it loses its tail in a trap.
Dolphin Tale
2011
6.0Nobody likes self-centered realtor Oren Little, and he prefers it that way. He's deliberately mean to anyone who crosses his path and wants nothing more than to sell one final house and retire. His life turns upside-down when his estranged son drops off a granddaughter he never knew existed. Suddenly left in charge of her and with no idea how to take care of a child, he pawns the girl off on his neighbor, Leah -- but he eventually learns how to open his heart.
And So It Goes
2014
NRWhen a midwestern poet (Dan Butler) visits an elderly relative (Frances Sternhagen) to bring news of his mother’s recent death, the visit takes an unsettling turn. Adapted from a poem of the same name by former U.S. poet laureate Ted Kooser.
Pearl
2012
2000s · 7 titles
7.0After a violent storm, a dense cloud of mist envelops a small Maine town, trapping David Drayton and his five-year-old son in a local grocery store with other local residents. They soon discover that the mist conceals deadly horrors that threaten their lives, and worse, their sanity.
The Mist
2007
6.7Julia Child and Julie Powell – both of whom wrote memoirs – find their lives intertwined. Though separated by time and space, both women are at loose ends... until they discover that with the right combination of passion, fearlessness and butter, anything is possible.
Julie & Julia
2009
6.2"The Laramie Project" is set in and around Laramie, Wyoming, in the aftermath of the murder of 21-year-old Matthew Shepard. To create the stage version of "The Laramie Project," the eight-member New York-based Tectonic Theatre Project traveled to Laramie, Wyoming, recording hours of interviews with the town's citizens over a two-year period. The film adaptation dramatizes the troupe's visit, using the actual words from the transcripts to create a portrait of a town forced to confront itself.
The Laramie Project
2002
5.5Jack is caught with the wife of his employer, a Vegas thug. The thug sends goons after Jack, who convinces his best friend, Pilot, to flee with him. Pilot insists that they head for Seattle, but doesn't tell Jack why. The goons learn from Pilot's drug source where the youths are headed, and they follow, hell bent on breaking Jack's feet. On the road, Jack and Pilot give a ride to Cassie, a distressed young woman. She and Jack hit it off. They pick up an aging stoner headed to Seattle for Kurt Cobain's memorial, and they help a circus sideshow family. Why is Pilot so set on Seattle, will the goons catch Jack, and is there any way the friends' competing needs can be resolved?
Highway
2002
8.2Behind the scenes documentary on the making of the film.
When Darkness Came: The Making of The Mist
2008
8.0A documentary presenting the behind the scenes of Rob Reiner's classic "Misery", with Reiner himself, Kathy Bates, James Caan, Frances Sternhagen, writer William Goldman, Barry Sonnenfeld (the film's cinematographer) presenting their views on the film years later of its release and the impact "Misery" had in their professional lives.
Misery Loves Company
2003
6.0This is a lovely documentary that pays tribute to the career of star Jessica Tandy, as the filmmakers recall what it was like to work with this marvelous actress. This featurette is fairly short, but it offers fine insight, history and heart
Jessica Tandy: Theatre Legend to Screen Star
2003
1990s · 16 titles
7.8After an accident, acclaimed novelist Paul Sheldon is rescued by a nurse who claims to be his biggest fan. Her obsession takes a dark turn when she holds him captive in her remote Colorado home and forces him to write back to life the popular literary character he killed off.
Misery
1990
6.4After leaving Washington D.C. hospital, plastic surgeon Ben Stone heads for California, where a lucrative practice in Beverly Hills awaits. After a car accident, he's sentenced to perform as the community's general practitioner.
Doc Hollywood
1991
6.0Child psychologist Carter Nix is a loving and caring family man, but under this appearance lies a dark and troubled past. Grappling with the consequences of this past on his own psyche and the influence of his returning father and violent brother Cain, Carter becomes involved in a series of murders and kidnappings. Meanwhile, his wife Jenny rekindles an old love affair, placing herself in the crosshairs of her increasingly unstable husband.
Raising Cain
1992
5.2Marjorie Turner is suffocating in her marriage and day to day life. An extramarital affair with a stranger seems to be the answer until her paramour has a fatal heart attack, and turns out to be less of a stranger than she could have thought...
Sibling Rivalry
1990
5.1A bachelor afraid of marriage angers his long-time girlfriend by buying a splendid townhouse just for himself, only to find it haunted by the ghosts of a famous theatrical couple, who teach him about love and commitment.
Curtain Call
1998
5.3A compilation of three episodes from the Tales from the Crypt series ("Carrion Death", "None but the lonely heart" and "Abra Cadaver") with some famous cast and directors.
Vault of Horror I
1994
8.0Before there was Disneyland, there was Coney Island. By the turn of the century, this tiny piece of New York real estate was internationally famous. On summer Sundays, three great pleasure domes--Steeplechase, Luna Park and Dreamland--competed for the patronage of a half-million people. By day it was the world's most amazing amusement park, by night, an electric "Eden".
Coney Island
1991
4.3The undying bond between a mother and her beloved son nearly destroys the lives of an entire family. Jessie Yates (Marlo Thomas) is torn between the ghost of her son and the life she has created with her husband and family.
Reunion
1994
5.7A socialite comes out of a coma determined to identify her assailant who may be a family member with a motive to strike again.
She Woke Up
1992
5.8When an explosion at a top-secret government lab injures an elderly janitor, no one could have expected the terrifying results. Exposure to mysterious chemicals causes him to undergo a bizarre transformation. He is slowly... incredibly... growing younger every day. Now, a ruthless CIA assassin will stop at nothing to take him prisoner and turn him into a government guinea pig. With his future on the line, the janitor goes on the run with his wife and a feisty female agent. All the while, he continues to transform... into a being with powers that are as deadly as they are unimaginable.
Golden Years
1991
7.0Doomed attempt to get to California in 1846. More than just a riveting tale of death, endurance and survival. The Donner Party's nightmarish journey penetrated to the very heart of the American Dream at a crucial phase of the nation's "manifest destiny." Touching some of the most powerful social, economic and political currents of the time, this extraordinary narrative remains one of the most compelling and enduring episodes to come out of the West.
The Donner Party
1992
A leading acting teacher who trained some of the most famous performers of the stage and screen, Sanford Meisner was a founding member of the Group Theatre. The Group Theatre, a cooperative theater ensemble, became a leading force in the theater world of the 30s. Meisner performed in many of the group’s most memorable productions.
Sanford Meisner: The American Theatre's Best Kept Secret
1990
9.5A loopy mother locks her teenage daughter in her room after allegedly showing signs of being crazy. Over a decade later, somebody finally investigates, removes the daughter from the mother's care, and attempts to rehabilitate the daughter.
To Live Again
1998
5.5A lonely gas station attendent in Mississippi falls in love with a con woman who wants to get her hands on an inheritance he doesn't know about.
The Con
1998
10.0An ex-marine, in search of some defining life direction, unexpectedly faces a hurdle when his jeep breaks down in a sparsely populated Wyoming town. While waiting for parts to repair the vehicle he takes a temporary job as a rest area attendant and moves onto a ranch run by a one-legged widow with a mentally handicapped son. When an abandoned Vietnamese girl joins the group, the scene is ready for confrontation and tragedy.
Follow Your Heart
1990
7.0When a woman learns she cannot bear children, her mother decides to be a surrogate for her.
Labor of Love: The Arlette Schweitzer Story
1993
1980s · 12 titles
6.4On the sunless moon Io, Marshall William T. O’Niel goes toe-to-toe with the corrupt manager of a mining colony and his gang of roughnecks while investigating a rash of worker suicides.
Outland
1981
5.7A disillusioned young writer living in New York City turns to drugs and drinking to block out the memories of his dead mother and estranged wife.
Bright Lights, Big City
1988
6.3A television movie set in Rockville, Georgia, in 1972. Major Kendall Laird, a Survival Assistance Officer, arrives in this sleepy little town with the body of Lieutenant Dwyte Johnson, a Vietnam war hero. It's Laird's job to help Johnson's parents bury their son. But since the dead hero was black, his parents are turned away by the white racists who maintain the town's "all-white" cemetery.
Resting Place
1986
6.3An intelligent android (Michael) constructed by a research team is taken outdoors and successfully passed off as human in a trial run. When the government hears of this, they order their own set of tests in Washington. When the project leader realizes the military want the android for a soldier, he can't accept it, and he and Michael go into hiding to avoid their clutches.
Prototype
1983
5.2Jason is in need of a collaborator to give him inspiration. Phoebe is a small-town English teacher with an urge to write. On the day Jason is being married, Jason and Phoebe meet and form a partnership.
Romantic Comedy
1983
5.4A novelist's wife and son see him changed by an apparent encounter with aliens in the mountains.
Communion
1989
6.0Two divorcees who fall in love must help their children cope with the changes in their families as they try to learn how to make own relationship survive.
See You in the Morning
1989
5.9Mary Ann Taylor loves the comforts of her hometown in Mercury, Texas. She has a steady job as a waitress in her father's diner, yet she can't help but feel unfulfilled by a life of pouring coffee and grilling hamburgers. Her real passion is photography, but pursuing her dream of becoming a photographer means leaving Mercury behind.
Independence Day
1983
8.0Six actors play over 50 characters across 18 scenes from different families that overlap and intertwine in a single dining room. Set in a typical well-to-do household, the mosaic of interrelated scenes - some funny, some touching, some rueful - create an in-depth portrait of a vanishing species: the upper-middle-class WASP.
The Dining Room
1984
10.0A love-hate relationship among three generations of women, spanning 30 years.
Mother and Daughter: The Loving War
1980
7.0Aging rocker flies home to Hoboken, New Jersey, for his elderly father's wedding, meets a nine year old boy who is playing the piano in his dad's apartment, and has a shock.
Once Again
1987
6.0A mysterious stranger descends on the small town of Hadleyburg to teach its deceitful residents a lesson.
The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg
1980
1970s · 7 titles
6.7Dr. Bock, the chief of medicine at a Manhattan hospital, is suicidal after the collapse of his personal life. When an intern is found dead in a hospital bed, it appears to Bock to be a case of unforgivable malpractice. Hours later, another doctor, who happens to be responsible for another case of malpractice, is found dead. Despondent, Bock finds himself drawn to Barbara, the daughter of a comatose missionary.
The Hospital
1971
6.4After divorcing his ambitious singer wife, a middle-aged man begins a new relationship with a teacher.
Starting Over
1979
6.7Down-on-his-luck Hollywood producer Barry 'Dutch' Detweiler attempts to lure Fedora, a famous but reclusive film actress, out of retirement, only to discover the horrifying truth behind her success.
Fedora
1978
NRIn a sun-dappled garden in provincial Russia in 1905, some factory owners and their wives discuss the unrest among the workers. Rather than submit to a strike, they decide to close down the factory. When an owner is slain in a scuffle with a workman, the ensuing investigation uncovers the socialist fervor that is sweeping the countryside.
Enemies
1974
4.6Evan Bonner is a deserter from the Vietnam war; he is on his way back to America to give himself up when he meets Deirdre McCluskey, a beautiful if petulant model. The two make an unlikely couple, but once in France the magic of Paris works its charm and these two vulnerable people finally find each other.
Two People
1973
7.0A childless couple provide shelter for a pair of homeless children. When they try to adopt them the natural parents appear leading to the inevitable court battle.
Who'll Save Our Children?
1978
NRLanford Wilson's prize-winning drama about life in a played-out coal town in the Midwest. Against the background of a murder trial, the people recall their lives.
The Rimers of Eldritch
1972
1960s · 2 titles
7.1Sylvia, a novice schoolteacher, is hired to teach English in a high school, but she’s met with an apathetic faculty, a delinquent student body and an administration that drowns its staff in paperwork. The following days go from bad to worse as Sylvia struggles to reach her most troubled students.
Up the Down Staircase
1967
7.0The story of the Churchills in the court of Queen Anne.
Soldier in Love
1967
Series credits
8.0Set in Springfield, the average American town, the show focuses on the antics and everyday adventures of the Simpson family; Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie, as well as a virtual cast of thousands. Since the beginning, the series has been a pop culture icon, attracting hundreds of celebrities to guest star. The show has also made name for itself in its fearless satirical take on politics, media and American life in general.
The Simpsons
1989
7.3In cases ripped from the headlines, police investigate serious and often deadly crimes, weighing the evidence and questioning the suspects until someone is taken into custody. The district attorney's office then builds a case to convict the perpetrator by proving the person guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Working together, these expert teams navigate all sides of the complex criminal justice system to make New York a safer place.
Law & Order
1990
7.3In cases ripped from the headlines, police investigate serious and often deadly crimes, weighing the evidence and questioning the suspects until someone is taken into custody. The district attorney's office then builds a case to convict the perpetrator by proving the person guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Working together, these expert teams navigate all sides of the complex criminal justice system to make New York a safer place.
Law & Order
1990
7.8ER explores the inner workings of an urban teaching hospital and the critical issues faced by the dedicated physicians and staff of its overburdened emergency room.
ER
1994
6.1The best in the performing arts from across America and around the world including a diverse programming portfolio of classical music, opera, popular song, musical theater, dance, drama, and performance documentaries.
Great Performances
1971
6.1The best in the performing arts from across America and around the world including a diverse programming portfolio of classical music, opera, popular song, musical theater, dance, drama, and performance documentaries.
Great Performances
1971
7.6The story about a blue-collar Boston bar run by former sports star Sam Malone and the quirky and wonderful people who worked and drank there.
Cheers
1982
7.8Deputy Police Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson transfers from Atlanta to LA to head up a special unit of the LAPD that handles sensitive, high-profile murder cases. Johnson's quirky personality and hard-nosed approach often rubs her colleagues the wrong way, but her reputation as one of the world's best interrogator eventually wins over even her toughest critics.
The Closer
2005
6.5TV's most-watched history series brings to life the compelling stories from our past that inform our understanding of the world today.
American Experience
1988
6.5TV's most-watched history series brings to life the compelling stories from our past that inform our understanding of the world today.
American Experience
1988
7.4Based on the bestselling book by Candace Bushnell, Sex and the City tells the story of four best friends, all single and in their late thirties, as they pursue their careers and talk about their sex lives, all while trying to survive the New York social scene.
Sex and the City
1998
NRThe Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway productions and performances, and an award is given for regional theatre.
Tony Awards
1956
NRThe Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway productions and performances, and an award is given for regional theatre.
Tony Awards
1956
7.5The trials and tribulations of the very large, colorful and imperfect Braverman family.
Parenthood
2010
6.0Robert Montgomery Presents is an American dramatic television series which was produced by NBC from January 30, 1950 until June 24, 1957. The live show had several sponsors during its seven-year run, and the title was altered to feature the sponsor, usually Lucky Strike cigarettes, for example, Robert Montgomery Presents Your Lucky Strike Theater, ....The Johnson's Wax Program, and so on.
Robert Montgomery Presents
1950
5.4An American radio–television anthology series, created in 1947 by Canadian director Fletcher Markle, who came to CBS from the CBC. Studio One, presented by Westinghouse, was one of the first of the anthology TV programs. The episodes were often abridged remakes of movies from years gone by and many future well-known television and movie actors appeared in the productions.
Studio One
1948
5.4An American radio–television anthology series, created in 1947 by Canadian director Fletcher Markle, who came to CBS from the CBC. Studio One, presented by Westinghouse, was one of the first of the anthology TV programs. The episodes were often abridged remakes of movies from years gone by and many future well-known television and movie actors appeared in the productions.
Studio One
1948
7.7Anthology series composed of distinct story episodes, sometimes with a plot twist at the end, with occasional recurring story elements that were often tied together during season-finale clip shows.
The Outer Limits
1995
The Secret Storm is a soap opera which ran on CBS from February 1, 1954 to February 8, 1974. The series was created by Roy Winsor, who also created the long-running soap operas Search for Tomorrow and Love of Life. Gloria Monty of General Hospital fame was a longtime director of the series. Like most CBS Soap Operas of the time such as The Guiding Light and As the World Turns The Secret Storm was filmed, and later taped, in New York at the CBS Broadcast Center on West 52 Street.
The Secret Storm
1954
8.0Cadaverous scream legend the Crypt Keeper is your macabre host for these forays of fright and fun based on the classic E.C. Comics tales from back in the day. So shamble up to the bar and pick your poison. Will it be an insane Santa on a personal slay ride? Honeymooners out to fulfill the "til death do we part" vow ASAP?
Tales from the Crypt
1989
7.0Omnibus is an American, commercially sponsored, educational television series.
Omnibus
1952
6.8Molly Dodd, a divorced woman in her mid-thirties living in New York, navigates the ups and downs of a rapidly changing career, the challenges of apartment life, and the complexities of love and its consequences.
The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd
1987
5.5Another World is an American television soap opera that ran on NBC for 35 years from May 4, 1964 to June 25, 1999. Set in the fictional town of Bay City, the show in its early years opens with announcer Bill Wolff intoning its epigram, “We do not live in this world alone, but in a thousand other worlds,” which Phillips said represented the difference between “the world of events we live in, and the world of feelings and dreams that we strive for.” Another World focused less on the conventional drama of domestic life as seen in other soap operas, and more on exotic melodrama between families of different classes and philosophies.
Another World
1964
Profiles in Courage is an American historical anthology series that was telecast weekly on NBC from November 8, 1964 to May 9, 1965. The series was based on the recently President John F. Kennedy's Pulitzer Prize winning book, Profiles in Courage.
Profiles in Courage
1964
6.2A science lab's elderly janitor is caught in an explosion and inexplicably begins getting younger, making him a target for a sinister agency.
Golden Years
1991
7.8The history of the rise, rule and fall of the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and the entire era it encompassed (1920-33). After nearly a century of activism, Prohibition was intended to improve the lives of all citizens by protecting individuals, families and society at large from the devastating effects of alcohol abuse; but paradoxically it made millions of people rethink their definition of morality.
Prohibition
2011
8.8Long-running anthology program sponsored by Hallmark Cards. Beginning in 1951 and continuing into 2019, the series received 80 Emmy Awards, 24 Christopher Awards, 11 Peabody Awards, 9 Golden Globes, and 4 Humanitas Prizes. Early seasons were a weekly live drama, eventually transitioning to videotaped and then filmed productions broadcast as occasional specials.
Hallmark Hall of Fame
1951
8.8Long-running anthology program sponsored by Hallmark Cards. Beginning in 1951 and continuing into 2019, the series received 80 Emmy Awards, 24 Christopher Awards, 11 Peabody Awards, 9 Golden Globes, and 4 Humanitas Prizes. Early seasons were a weekly live drama, eventually transitioning to videotaped and then filmed productions broadcast as occasional specials.
Hallmark Hall of Fame
1951
7.0James Sutorious star as Mike Andros, a newspaper investigative reporter who seeks out corruption and injustice in this this action-drama series.
The Andros Targets
1977
7.0Spencer, later titled Under One Roof, is an American teen situation comedy broadcast on NBC for one season starting in December 1984. The show originally starred Chad Lowe as high school student Spencer Winger, Mimi Kennedy as his mother Doris Winger, and Ronny Cox as his father George Winger. Lowe left the series in 1985 after six episodes and was replaced by Ross Harris, who assumed the role of Spencer. At that time the show's title was changed from Spencer to Under One Roof; the first episode with the new title aired March 23, 1985. Cox also left the show during the retooling, his character written off as having left the family for a 23-year-old woman. Harold Gould and Frances Sternhagen were added to the cast as Spencer's maternal grandparents. Former WKRP in Cincinnati star Richard Sanders played a high school guidance counselor in the series.
Spencer
1984
10.0A mother forces her son to kill her father, based upon a true event in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1978.
At Mother's Request
1987
The Road Home is an American TV series that aired on CBS from March 5, 1994, to April 16, 1994. The series starred Karen Allen, Ed Flanders, Terence Knox, Jessica Bowman and Christopher Masterson. 5 episodes were produced.
The Road Home
1994
