Frances Lee McCain

Frances Lee McCain (born July 28, 1943) is an American actress.

Early life and education

McCain was born in York, Pennsylvania and grew up in New York, Illinois and Colorado in addition to California. She graduated from Ripon College with a BA in Philosophy and then studied acting at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, England. She completed a Master's degree in Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies in 2000.

Acting career

She returned to New York City where she appeared on Broadway in Woody Allen's '' Play it Again Sam'', and off-Broadway in Lanford Wilson's '' Lemon Sky'', creating the role of Carol. She joined the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco under William Ball and played a variety of roles in repertory.

''Apple's Way'' TV show (1974–1975) and other 1970s work

She began her career in film and television after appearing opposite Jon Voight and Faye Dunaway in ''A Streetcar Named Desire'', eventually co-starring with Ronny Cox as the female lead in the television series, CBS-TV's ''Apple's Way'' in 1974. She appeared in a variety of television series and miniseries throughout the 1970s, including '' Washington: Behind Closed Doors'' and the '' Quincy ME'' episode ''Eye Of The Needle'' playing a Holistic practitioner, and in "The Rockford Files" 1978 episode "The Prisoner of Rosemont Hall." In 1979, she appeared in ''Real Life''. In 1979, she appeared on ABC in the television series '' 13 Queens Boulevard''.

1980s acting work

In the 1980s, she was cast in several major films, usually playing the mother of a main character. In 1984, she co-starred in the film ''Gremlins'' as Lynn Peltzer, the mother of main character, Billy Peltzer. Also that year, she played Ethel McCormack, mother to Kevin Bacon's character, in ''Footloose''. In 1985 she appeared in the film ''Back to the Future'' as Stella Baines, the mother of Lorraine Baines (Lea Thompson). In 1986, she played Mrs. Lachance, the mother of Gordie Lachance (Wil Wheaton), in the drama film '' Stand by Me''.

Later work

McCain continued to work in television after relocating to the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1980s and also appeared in ''Scream'' (1996), as the mother of Rose McGowan and David Arquette's characters, and ''Patch Adams'' (1998).

She earned a Master's Degree in Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies in 2000, and continued to work in Theater extensively in the San Francisco Area until her relocation to Albuquerque, NM, in 2010.

In 2004, McCain initiated a theater project based on oral histories of the blue-collar workers responsible for the building and maintaining of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico which received workshop readings at the Lensic Center for Performing Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.

She is an Associate Artist of the ZSpace Studio in San Francisco, and is an ensemble member of the AlterTheater Ensemble in San Rafael, California.

Filmography

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:McCain, Frances Lee
1943 births
20th-century American actresses
21st-century American actresses
Actresses from California
American film actresses
American television actresses
Living people
People from San Diego
People from the San Francisco Bay Area
Ripon College (Wisconsin) alumni