Fran Ryan : Biography, Pictures, Photos, Trivia, Address, Filmography (The Wizard)

An American character actress, Fran Ryan has been a familar face of screen and television since her theatrical stage performances in the 1950s and kept busy for nearly three decades. Ryan's similarity to actress Marjorie Main, quickly took notice in the late 1960s, and she frequently played tough mean-lipped and gruff women characters. Ryan's first major role in television was playing Aggie Thompson, the housekeeper on "The Doris Day Show" and quickly found her place as last minute replacements on several television shows. She replaced Barbara Pepper to play Doris Ziffel on the 1969-1970 season of "Green Acres". She also successfully succeeded Amanda Blake to play Miss Hannah on the 1974-1975 season of "Gunsmoke". Ryan's additional well known TV credits include "General Hospital" and "No Soap Radio". Upon her departure from television, Fran Ryan made the move to star in supporting parts major budgeted motion pictures such as "Big Wednesday", "The Long Riders", "Stripes", "Savannah Smiles", "Private School", "Eyes of Fire" and Clint Eastwood's "Pale Rider". Although she was never far from television, she returned to play Hannah the Barbarian in short lived animated series "Little Dracula" in 1991. Fran Ryan passed away at her home in Burbank, California on January 15th 2000 of natural causes.

. Creation date : 2003/07/01 by stals

. On TV Guide : Fran Ryan Videos, Interviews, and Clips on TVGuide's Online Video Guide