Frances Bay (born January 1, 1918) is a Canadian character actress known for playing a variety of quirky elderly women.
Bay was born in Dauphin, Manitoba, Canada, but did did not appear in films until the age of 60, when she played a small part in 1978's Foul Play, a comedy vehicle for Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase. She went on to play small roles in films like The Karate Kid, Big Top Pee-wee and Twins.
Her first major television appearance occurred playng the grandmother to the character of 'Fonzie', in the series Happy Days.
In 1983, she played the grandmother in Little Red Riding Hood in Faerie Tale Theatre for Showtime.
In 1986, Bay appeared as the doddery aunt of Kyle MacLachlan's character in David Lynch's Blue Velvet. This role seems to have endeared the actress to Lynch, who recast her in several subsequent works, including as a brisk no-nonsense madam (who uses the "F" word) in Wild at Heart, and as the eerie "Mrs. Tremond" on Twin Peaks and its movie spin-off, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me.
Bay may also be familiar from her performance in the music video for Jimmy Fallon's comedy song, Idiot Boyfriend. Bay is perhaps best known today, however, for her performance as the hapless, but loving grandmother of Adam Sandler's character in the 1996 film Happy Gilmore. Additionally, she has the distinction of appearing in the final episodes of three long-running sitcoms: Happy Days, Who's the Boss? and Seinfeld.
In an earlier episode of Seinfeld, she played "Mabel Choate", a wealthy, irritable old woman from whom Jerry stole a loaf of marbled rye bread. In that episode, entitled The Rye, Bay appeared with her former Twin Peaks co-stars Grace Zabriskie and Warren Frost. In a future episode, the consequences of Jerry's act caused his father to be impeached as president of his retirement community in Florida.
Soon after the death of her husband, Charles Bay, in 2002, she was struck by a car in Glendale, California, and as a result she had to have part of her right leg amputated. Charles and Frances had one son, Josh, who passed away at the age of 23.
On June 3, 2008, it was announced that she would be inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame. She was inducted in large part thanks to a petition with 10,000 names that was submitted. The selection committee also received personal letters from Adam Sandler, Jerry Seinfeld, David Lynch, Henry Winkler, Monty Hall and other celebrities.
