Elizabeth Franz, the Tony Award-winning actress who played inn owner Mia in “Gilmore Girls,” has died. She was 84.
Franz passed away Nov. 4 at her home in Woodbury, Connecticut, her husband, Christopher Pelham, confirmed to The New York Times over the weekend.
Her cause of death was cancer and a severe reaction to her treatment medication, Pelham said.
The Post has reached out to Franz’s rep for comment.
Franz had a prolific career including on the stage, appearing in on and off Broadway productions like “Buried Child,” “Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You,” “Lost in Yonkers” and “A View for the Bridge.”
Her best-known Broadway role was as Linda, the wife of Brian Dennehy’s Willy Loman, in the 50th anniversary production of Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman.” Her performance won her the Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play in 1999.
“You can say anything because you know in the end you’re going be in that bed, curled up and having the most wonderful conversations,” Franz said about the role in The Times’ 1999 feature about the production. “When she’s curled up in his arms and she’s singing to him — you can’t tell me that isn’t a very sexual moment.”
In the same feature, Miller praised Franz and said she “has discovered in the role the basic underlying powerful protectiveness, which comes out as fury, and that in the past, in every performance I know of, was simply washed out.”
Franz went on to star in Showtime’s 2000 TV movie adaptation of “Death of a Salesman,” which earned her an Emmy nomination.
The actress also also received Tony nominations in 1983 for “Brighton Beach Memoirs,” where she played Matthew Broderick’s onstage mother, and in 2002 for “Morning’s at Seven,” where she played the youngest of four Midwest sisters.
On television, Franz played Mia Bass, the owner of the Independence Inn in Stars Hallow, in a Season 2 episode of “Gilmore Girls.” The role was later recast, with Kathy Baker taking over for an episode in Season 7.
Franz’s other notable TV credits include “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Judging Amy,” “Cold Case,” “Law & Order,” “Law & Order: SVU” and “Homeland.”
On the big screen, she appeared in “School Ties,” “Sabrina,” “Twisted,” “A Fish in the Bathtub” and “Christmas with the Kranks.”
Before Pelham, Franz was married to fellow actor Edward Binns until his death in 1990.
Franz is survived by Pelham and her brother, Joe.
