Frances Fisher Biography

Frances Fisher (born 11 May 1952 in Milford on Sea, Hampshire) is an English-born American actress.

Early life and education

Fisher was born in Milford on Sea, Hampshire, England, the daughter of Olga (née Moen), a housewife, and William I. "Bill" Fisher, Sr., an oil refinery construction superintendent. Before she reached the age of fifteen, she had moved nine times because of her father's job. Upon completing high school in Orange, Texas, where she had performed in theatre productions, she worked as a secretary.

Career

Fisher moved as a young woman to Abingdon, Virginia, where she began her acting career at the Barter Theatre, a year-round repertory theatre. Fisher gained name recognition playing Detective Deborah Saxon on the soap opera The Edge of Night from 1976 to 1981; she later was in the cast of Guiding Light as Suzette Saxon. During the next 10 years, she concentrated on theatre in New York and in regional theatres all over the East Coast. In 1991, Fisher was cast as Lucille Ball in the television film Lucy & Desi: Before the Laughter, which aired to strong ratings and good reviews. She has played numerous roles on American television, including parts in the series Strange Luck, Becker, and Titus.

She also played key roles in the recent television drama The Lyon's Den and Glory Days. She was originally cast to play Jill Taylor on the ABC sitcom Home Improvement, but was replaced after initial filming of the pilot episode by Patricia Richardson due to a lack of chemistry with Tim Allen as well as with the studio audience who felt Fisher was too serious in the delivery of her lines. She also had a guest spot on The Young Riders in 1991. Fisher has guest starred as a bartender, Savannah, at "The Lobo" in the first season of Roseanne.

In 1992, she appeared in Unforgiven (1992), an Academy Award winning film directed by Clint Eastwood, who also starred. Her most famous role was in film, as the society matron Ruth DeWitt Bukater, the mother of the character played by Kate Winslet, in the 1997 blockbuster Titanic.

In 1999, Fisher portrayed Audrey Hepburn's mother, Ella Hepburn, in the biographical film of the actress. She had a role in House of Sand and Fog (2003), another Academy Award winner.

She has also returned to theatre; she appeared in Arthur Miller's last play, Finishing the Picture, produced at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, and in a 2006 production of The Cherry Orchard at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles.

In 2004, she apeared in Laws of Attraction as Julianne Moore's mother, even though she is only 8 years older. In 2005, she appeared on the ER episode "Just As I Am," as Helen Kingsley, the long-lost birth mother of Dr. Kerry Weaver, played by Laura Innes, even though Fisher is only five years older.

Fisher worked on four films in 2006, including Peter Berg's The Kingdom, and Paul Haggis' In the Valley of Elah. She also acted in a pilot for NBC/USA entitled To Love and Die. In 2008, she appeared in a guest-starring role on the Sci-Fi Channel television series Eureka, portraying the character Eva Thorne. In 2011, she appeared in Torchwood: Miracle Day.

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1983	Can She Bake a Cherry Pie?	Louise
1985	Broken Vows	Maureen Phelan	TV film
1987	Tough Guys Don't Dance	Jessica Pond
1987	Heart	Jeannie
1988	Patty Hearst	Yolanda
1988	Bum Rap	Phyllis
1989	Lost Angels	Judith Loftis
1989	Pink Cadillac	Dinah
1989	Cold Sassy Tree	Loma Williams	TV film
1990	Sudie and Simpson	Mrs. Marge Allen	TV film
1990	A Promise to Keep	Sarah	TV film
1990	Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael	Rochelle Bossetti
1991	L.A. Story	June
1991	Lucy & Desi: Before the Laughter	Lucille Ball	TV film
1991	Frame Up	Jo Westlake
1992	Unforgiven	Strawberry Alice
1992	Devlin	Maryellen	TV film
1993	Praying Mantis	Betty	TV film
1993	Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman	Dr. Theodora Cushing	TV film
1994	Babyfever	Rosie
1994	Molly & Gina	Molly McKenna
1994	Frame-Up II: The Cover-Up	Jo Baker
1995	The Other Mother: A Moment of Truth Movie	Carol Schaefer	TV film
1995	The Stars Fell on Henrietta	Cora Day
1995	The Whiskey Heir	Deirdre	Short
1996	Female Perversions	Annunciata
1996	Striptease	Donna Garcia
1997	Do Me a Favor	Librarian
1997	Wild America	Agnes Stouffer
1997	Titanic	Ruth Dewitt Bukater
1999	Traffic		TV film
1999	True Crime	D.A. Cecilia Nussbaum
1999	The Big Tease	Candy
1999	The Audrey Hepburn Story	Ella van Heemstra
2000	Gone in 60 Seconds	Junie
2000	Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis	Janet Lee Bouvier Auchincloss	TV film
2001	The Rising Place	Virginia Wilder
2001	Passion and Prejudice	Dr. Gwen Barry	TV film
2002	Blue Car	Delia
2003	House of Sand and Fog	Connie Walsh
2004	Laws of Attraction	Sara Miller
2005	Mrs. Harris	Marge Richey Jacobson	TV film
2006	The Night of the White Pants	Vivian Hagan
2007	Sex and Death 101	Hope Hartlight
2007	The Kingdom	Elaine Flowers
2007	In the Valley of Elah	Evie
2007	My Sexiest Year	Faye
2008	Jolene	Cindy
2008	A Single Woman	Narrator/Suffragist
2008	To Love and Die	Janet	TV film
2009	The Perfect Game	Betty
2010	Backyard Wedding	Eleanor Tyler	TV film
2010	Janie Jones	Lily Brand
2010	Golf in the Kingdom	Eve Greene
2011	Partners	Colleen Scott	TV film
2011	The Roommate	Alison Evans
2011	Sedona	Tammy
2011	The Lincoln Lawyer	Mary Windsor
2012	The Silent Thief	Candi Henderson
2012	Any Day Now	Judge Meyerson
2012	Beverly Hills Chihuahua 3	Amelia Jones
2012	The Seven Year Hitch	Mrs. Von Hoffman	TV film
2012	Pandora's Box	Nicole	Short
2012	Retribution	Betty
2012	The Perfect Fit	Overwhelmed Girl's Boss	Short
2012	Franny	Delores	Post-production
2013	The Makeover	Allie Doolittle	TV film
2013	The Host	Maggie
2013	You're Not You		Post-production
2013	The Congress		Post-production
2013	The M Word	Carson Riley	Post-production
2013	Plush		Post-production
2013	Red Wing	Momma B	Post-production
2013	The Returned	Lucille	TV film; filming

Television

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1976 - 1981	The Edge of Night	Detective Deborah 'Red' Saxon	23 episodes
1985	Guiding Light	Suzette Saxon
1986	The Equalizer	Amanda Kaufman	1 episode "Nightscape"
1987	The Equalizer	Francesca	2 episodes
1988	Roseanne	Savannah	1 episode "Here's to Good Friends"
1989	Newhart	Libby	1 episode "Hi, Society"
1989	Matlock	Nancy Proctor	2 episodes
1989	CBS Summer Playhouse	Violet Coffin	1 episode "Elysian Fields"
1989	In the Heat of the Night	Kate Morell	1 episode "Time of the Stranger"
1991	The Young Riders		1 episode "A House Divided"
1993	Law & Order	Susan Boyd	1 episode "Animal Instinct"
1995	Strange Luck	Angie	17 episodes
1999	The Outer Limits	Lady Julia	1 episode "Ripper"
1999	Becker	Dr. Elizabeth 'Liz' Carson	5 episodes
2001	The X-Files	Lizzy Gill	1 episode "Essence"
2002	Titus	Juanita Titus	3 episodes
2002	Glory Days	Mitzi Dolan	9 episodes
2003	The Lyon's Den	Brit Hanley	5 episodes
2004	Boston Legal	Carrie	1 episode "Still Crazy After All These Years"
2005	ER	Helen Kingsley	1 episode "Just as I Am"
2005	Medium	Abigail Marsh	1 episode "I Married a Mind Reader"
2006	Laws of Chance		1 episode
2006	Grey's Anatomy	Betty Johnson	1 episode "Damage Case"
2007	Saving Grace	Aunt Cathy	1 episode "Would You Want Me to Tell You?"
2008	October Road	Ellen Daniels	1 episode "Hat? No Hat?"
2008	The Shield	Rita	4 episodes
2008	Cold Case	Rachel West '08	1 episode "Slipping"
2008	Eureka	Eva Thorne	8 episodes
2009	The Mentalist	Victoria Abner	1 episode "Red Scare"
2010	Two and a Half Men	Priscilla Honeycutt	1 episode "Ixnay on the Oggie Day"
2010	Private Practice	Ruby	1 episode "War"
2010	The Good Guys	Helen Traynor	1 episode "Small Rooms"
2010	Sons of Anarchy	Honey	1 episode "Home"
2011	Days of our Lives	Gladys Pierce	2 episodes
2011	Torchwood: Miracle Day	The Mother	2 episodes
2011	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Joanna Sapphire	1 episode "Maid Man"
2012	A Gifted Man	Blanche Tipton	1 episode "In Case of Heart Failure"
2012	Childrens Hospital	Headmistress	1 episode "British Hospital"
2013	Touch	Nicole Farington	2 episodes