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Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthday
November 29, 1916
Died
January 15, 2000
Place of Birth
Los Angeles, California, USA
Also Known As
- Frances Mary Ryan
Fran Ryan
0.5 Popularity
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Fran Ryan (November 29, 1916 – January 15, 2000) was an American character actress featured in television and films. She was born in Los Angeles, California. Fran Ryan began performing at the age of 6, at Oakland's Henry Duffy Theatre, in Northern California. She attended Stanford University for three years, and during World War II was a member of the USO entertaining troops. She performed comedy, singing and acting on stage in California and Chicago but was not to launch her television career for two decades. Her small screen debut came in an episode on Television's Batman, in 1966, followed by a bit part in Beverly Hillbillies. Ryan's best known television role was as Aggie Thompson in The Doris Day Show (in its first incarnation plotline theme), though the gig only lasted a few months. This role was cut short because she was offered the 'replacement' role on the hit series Green Acres as Doris Ziffel from 1969-1971. Fran was to replace Barbara Pepper, who by then was in poor health. Sadly, Miss Pepper died just five months later of heart ailments, on July 15, 1969. Ryan also starred on the long running TV Western series Gunsmoke during its twentieth and final season as Miss Hannah (Cobb). In 1987, she reprised the role of Miss Hannah in the TV movie Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge. Fran Ryan played the role of Sister Agatha in the soap opera General Hospital in (1979). She also did voices for cartoons such as Hong Kong Phooey, Mister T and Little Dracula. Fran starred on some TV shows for children like Sigmund and the Sea Monsters in 1975 as Gertrude Grouch, and in 1970s children's show The New Zoo Revue as Ms. Goodbody, the 1980s TV series No Soap, Radio as Mrs. Belmont, the short lived 1980s CBS TV series The Wizard as Tillie Russell from 1986-1987. Her last regular TV role was on The Dave Thomas Comedy Show. She starred in many feature films, including Flush (1977), Big Wednesday (1978), Take This Job and Shove It (1981), Pale Rider (1985), Chances Are, and in her scene-stealing cameo in 1981's Stripes, as a tortured cab fare to Bill Murray as the cabbie, in the opening scenes of the comedy film. Ryan made guest appearances on TV shows ranging from Batman, Adam-12, CHiPs, Quantum Leap, Night Court, Baywatch to The Commish. Fran Ryan was often compared to actress Marjorie Main; they looked similar to one another. Ryan died on January 15, 2000, at age 83. She is buried in the family plots alongside her mother, at the Holy Sepulchre Catholic Cemetery, in Hayward, California. Description above from the Wikipedia article Fran Ryan, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For
4.0
Hattie Clandell
River of Rage: The Taking of Maggie Keene
1993
6.4
Mrs. Lucerne
Suture
1993
7.1
The Commish
1991
8.5
Little Dracula
1991
6.0
Lois
Thanksgiving Day
1990
9.0
Ida Collins
The New Adam-12
1990
7.8
Grandma (voice)
Tiny Toon Adventures
1990
🎬
0.0
The Dave Thomas Comedy Show
1990
7.4
Miss Grundy
Archie: To Riverdale and Back Again
1990
4.0
The Bradys
1990
Credits
River of Rage: The Taking of Maggie Keene
as Hattie Clandell
1993
4.0
Suture
as Mrs. Lucerne
1993
6.4
The Commish
1991
7.1
Little Dracula
1991
8.5
Thanksgiving Day
as Lois
1990
6.0
The New Adam-12
as Ida Collins
1990
9.0
Tiny Toon Adventures
as Grandma (voice)
1990
7.8
🎬
The Dave Thomas Comedy Show
1990
0.0
Archie: To Riverdale and Back Again
as Miss Grundy
1990
7.4
The Bradys
1990
4.0
Nick Knight
as Jeannie
1989
6.0
Baywatch
1989
6.0
Quantum Leap
as Dorothy Jaeger
1989
8.0
Chances Are
as Mavis Talmadge
1989
6.6
Out Cold
as Arlene
1989
5.9
Murphy Brown
as The Asp
1988
6.4
Lucky Stiff
as Ma
1988
4.3
Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge
as Hannah
1987
6.4
Quiet Cool
as Ma
1986
6.7
The Wizard
as Tillie Russell
1986
6.8
Stewardess School
as Fainting Lady
1986
4.8
Fuzzbucket
as Mrs. Langendorf
1986
5.5
Matlock
as Doris Curtis
1986
7.1
The Colbys
1985
6.1
Amazing Stories
as Mrs. Abbott
1985
7.4
Pale Rider
as Ma Blankenship
1985
7.2
Rebel Love
as Granny Plug
1985
0.0
Father of Hell Town
as Mother Maggie
1985
0.0
The Sure Thing
as Lady in Car
1985
6.5
Hollywood Wives
as Nita Carrolle
1985
4.4
Murder, She Wrote
as Rose Mulligan
1984
7.5
Highway to Heaven
1984
7.4
Punky Brewster
1984
7.3
Brothers
as Mrs. Murphy
1984
6.6
The Return of Marcus Welby, M.D.
as Millie Clark
1984
0.0
Night Court
as Ethel La Rue
1984
7.3
Night Court
as Miss Crombie
1984
7.3
Eyes of Fire
as Sister (Calvin's Wife)
1983
5.4
Manimal
1983
7.3
Mister T
1983
6.5
Private School
as Miss Dutchbok
1983
5.7
🎬
Ghost Dancing
as Judge
1983
2.0
Tough Enough
as Gert Long
1983
5.1
Johnny Belinda
as Aunt Aggie McAdam
1982
6.0
It Takes Two
1982
5.0
🎬
Life of the Party: The Story of Beatrice
as Beatrice's Mother
1982
9.0
Matt Houston
1982
6.2
🎬
No Soap, Radio
1982
5.0
Savannah Smiles
as Farmer Wilma
1982
6.5
Falcon Crest
as Cass
1981
5.5
Father Murphy
1981
8.0
Stripes
as Dowager in Cab
1981
6.6
The Adventures of Nellie Bly
as Mrs. Roman
1981
3.0
Americana
as Colonel
1981
5.5
Foul Play
1981
5.0
Hill Street Blues
1981
7.6
Christmas Mountain: The Story Of A Cowboy Angel
as Flora
1981
8.7
The Long Riders
as Mrs. Samuel
1980
6.6
When the Whistle Blows
1980
5.0
Goldie and the Boxer
as Ethel
1979
4.5
Rocky II
as Adrian's Nurse (uncredited)
1979
7.3
Taxi
as Mrs. Elizabeth Weber
1978
7.2
The Great Brain
as Aunt Bertha
1978
0.0
Big Wednesday
as Lucy
1978
6.9
Straight Time
as Cafe Owner
1978
7.1
Deadly Game
as Frieda Beezly
1977
6.5
CHiPs
as Nancy
1977
6.8
Carter Country
1977
5.2
Panic in Echo Park
1977
4.9
Grizzly Adams
as Gerty
1977
7.1
How the West Was Won
1977
6.9
🎬
Liza’s Pioneer Diary
as Martha Stedman
1976
0.0
Stalk the Wild Child
as Ellen Mott
1976
0.0
Charlie's Angels
as Nurse Fager
1976
6.7
Charlie's Angels
as Belle Asher
1976
6.7
The Quest
1976
6.4
Family Plot
as Registrar Clerk (uncredited)
1976
6.8
Good Heavens
1976
5.5
Laverne & Shirley
1976
7.2
One Day at a Time
1975
6.7
Starsky & Hutch
as Landlady
1975
7.3
Long Way Home
as Marvis Bidwell
1975
0.0
The Apple Dumpling Gang
as Mrs. Stockley
1975
6.6
Barney Miller
as Mrs. Hirsch, Homeless Woman
1975
7.3
Hong Kong Phooey
1974
6.4
Devlin
1974
5.0
Hog Wild
as Flora
1974
0.0
Sigmund and the Sea Monsters
as Gertrude
1973
5.4
The Waltons
1972
7.2
The Rookies
1972
6.8
🎬
New Zoo Revue
1972
0.0
Nichols
as Minnie Dowd
1971
5.0
The Million Dollar Duck
as Mrs. Purdham (uncredited)
1971
5.8
Scandalous John
as Farm Woman
1971
6.1
Night Gallery
1970
7.8
The Partridge Family
as 1st Wife
1970
6.8
McCloud
1970
7.1
The Brady Bunch
1969
6.7
🎬
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
1969
9.0
The Bill Cosby Show
as Mrs. Beal
1969
5.4
Marcus Welby, M.D.: A Matter of Humanities
1969
0.0
Adam-12
as Mrs. Killian
1968
7.0
The Second Hundred Years
as Mrs. Sanders
1967
6.3
That Girl
1966
6.1
Batman
as Chairlady
1966
7.3
Mickey One
as Homeless Woman (uncredited)
1965
5.8
I Dream of Jeannie
as Switchboard Operator
1965
7.8
Green Acres
1965
7.3
The Front Line
as Haughty Customer
1965
0.0
Daniel Boone
as Mrs. Jones
1964
7.0
Gunsmoke
as Mrs. Keller
1955
6.6
Gunsmoke
as Hannah
1955
6.6