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Frances Fisher


File-Frances Fisher at the 2010 Independent Spirit Awards
Name Frances Fisher
Birthdate May 11, 1952
Character Maggie Stryder

Frances Fisher is an American television and film actress, writer and singer. She is known for her work on television, in theatre and in films, including roles as Strawberry Alice, the prostitute in Unforgiven (1992), and Ruth DeWitt Bukater, the mother of Kate Winslet's Rose DeWitt Bukater in Titanic (1997).

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 the producers' first choice to play Jill Taylor on the ABC sitcom Home Improvement, but was replaced by Patricia Richardson due to a lack of chemistry with Tim Allen. She also had a guest spot on The Young Riders in 1991. Fisher has guest starred as a bartender, Suzanna, 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 a 2006 production of The Cherry Orchard, at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles.

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.

Personal Life[]

Fisher has a daughter, Francesca Ruth Fisher-Eastwood, with actor/director Clint Eastwood. She and Eastwood had a relationship from 1990-1995, which started while filming Unforgiven.

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