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Frances Sternhagen: Doc Hollywood
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Raised in Washington, D.C., Frances Sternhagen taught acting, singing and dancing to school children before first performing herself with the Arena Stage Group. Since that time, she has been seen in numerous Broadway shows, has been nominated five times for a Tony Award and received one for "The Good Doctor". Other Broadway plays she has appeared in include "Equus", "On Golden Pond", "Angel" and "You Can't Take it With You".
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Sternhagen is a familiar face to TV viewers. She is probably best-known for her recurring role as the mother to mailman Cliff Clavin (John Ratzenberger) on the NBC comedy "Cheers". Sternhagen began appearing on the small screen in the 1950s and spent the better part of the late 60s and early 70s in a variety of roles on daytime soaps ("Love of Life", "The Doctors", "The Secret Storm" and "Another World"). In primetime. she has played regular supporting roles in everything from sitcoms ("Under One Roof) to drama ("Stephen King's Golden Years").
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Though she didn’t get the part in Lancaster’s film, Sternhagen went on to appear in others, Independence Day, Outland, and Doc Hollywood among them. Sternhagen does say no to projects, the names of which most people wouldn’t recognize because they never amounted to much—a tribute to her taste and foresight. However, she’s no snob—she has happily performed for her bread and butter (and her children’s college tuition) in television commercials. In one ad for Gillette razors she played mother to Henry Winkler, then on his first job. To actors who hold their nose at the thought of advertising work, she has some practical advice: "Think of it as children’s theater!"
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Sternhagen ... has extensive stage credits in everything from classic plays to musical comedies. She has received two Tony Awards for Best Supporting Actress in a Play for Neil Simon's "The Good Doctor" (1974), based on Chekhov works to a revival of "The Heiress" (1995), based on the Henry James' novella. Sternhagen was married to actor Thomas A. Carlin from 1956 until his death in 1991.
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Sternhagen's many film credits include Starting Over with Burt Reynolds, Outland with Sean Connery, and Doc Hollywood with Michael J. Fox. Her TV credits include ER, Cheers, and Sex and the City. She ... has a very active career on the stage.
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The Foreigner features Frances Sternhagen, who recently appeared in Talking Heads Off Broadway and Morning's at Seven on Broadway, for which she received a Tony nomination. In 2000, she starred Off-Broadway in The Exact Center of the Universe. Nominated seven times for a Tony Award, she has received it twice, for The Good Doctor and The Heiress.
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