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Frances Conroy Frances Conroy is an American actress. She
is best known for playing Ruth Fisher on the television series Six Feet Under. Her work
on the show won her acclaim and several awards, including a Golden Globe and three Screen
Actors Guild Awards. She is also known for playing Moira O'Hara on the television anthology
series American Horror Story, which garnered Conroy her first Saturn Award for Best Supporting
Actress on Television nomination, and as well an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting
Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie. Conroy subsequently portrayed The Angel of Death
and Myrtle Snow on the next two seasons of the show, Asylum and Coven, respectively.
Early life Conroy was born in Monroe, Georgia to a business
executive father and a mother who also worked in business. During the 1971–72 school year
she was a student at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where she was a member
of the Mermaid Players and appeared in college theatrical productions. She moved to New York
City to study drama at the Neighborhood Playhouse and the Juilliard School. She was a member
of Juilliard's Drama Division Group 6 (1973–1977) which also included Kevin Conroy, Kelsey Grammer,
Harriet Sansom Harris, and Robin Williams. Career
During the 1970s, she performed regularly with regional and touring theatrical companies
(most notably The Acting Company), and appeared as Desdemona at the Delacorte Theatre in a
production of Othello with Richard Dreyfuss and Raul Julia. One of her first film appearances
was as a Shakespearean actress in *** Allen's 1979 classic, Manhattan. In 1980, she made
a very well received Broadway debut in Edward Albee's The Lady From Dubuque. She focused
primarily on her stage career for the next two decades, appearing in such productions
as Our Town, The Little Foxes, and The Ride Down Mt. Morgan, receiving one Tony and four
Drama Desk Award nominations (including a Drama Desk win for The Secret Rapture). Conroy
had a small role in the 1984 movie Falling in Love, as a waitress in a swanky restaurant.
In 1988 she appeared as the elder daughter of Burt Lancaster's dying patriarch in Rocket
Gibraltar. In 1992, Conroy became friends with playwright
Arthur Miller, which led to her involvement in many of his productions on both stage and
screen. During this period, she also appeared on television shows, miniseries, and made-for-TV
movies, and met and married fellow actor Jan Munroe.
Six Feet Under (2001-2005) She is best known for her critically acclaimed
work on HBO's original drama series Six Feet Under, which she starred in from 2001 and
the series' end in 2005, playing the emotional family matriarch Ruth Fisher. During the series'
run, Conroy won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama in
2004. She was also nominated for four Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in
a Drama Series awards, without ever winning. Along with the cast of the show, they were
awarded two times in 2003 and 2004 the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance
by an Ensemble in a Drama Series, as well as Conroy winning the individual 2004 award
for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series. The series ended in 2005,
having aired 63 original episodes. Beyond Six Feet Under (2007-2010)
In 2008, she landed a guest role in ABC's Desperate Housewives as Virginia Hildebrand,
a rich woman who tries to buy the Solis family's love. But Eva Longoria's character, Gabrielle
Solis, declines Virginia's motives, despite being open to receiving her entire fortune.
Along with many guest appearances on television in the mid-2000s, she was cast in a recurring
role on How I Met Your Mother, a role in which she has played in 6 episodes since 2009. And
in 2010, Conroy portrayed the character Angie Dinkley in the animated show ***-Doo! Mystery
Incorporated. In 2010, Conroy played Madylyn, the wife of
Robert De Niro's character Jack Mabrey, in the John Curran thriller Stone. In the same
year, Conroy played the recurring role of Peggy Haplin in the short-lived ABC drama
series Happy Town created by Josh Appelbaum, Andre Nemec, and Scott Rosenberg.
Return to mainstream television (2011-present) In 2011, she was cast in a new drama series
for FX entitled American Horror Story: *** House. Conroy was one of two actress, the
other being Alexandra Breckenridge, playing a woman named Moira O'Hara. When the season
came to an end in 2011, it was announced that the show was intended to be an anthology series,
in which each season would be completely different with new characters each season. During this
time, Conroy was nominated for a fifth Primetime Emmy Award in the Outstanding Supporting Actress
in a Miniseries or a Movie category. For the second season, dubbed Asylum, Conroy
re-joined the cast playing the The Angel of Death in a multi-episode arc. And in 2013,
Conroy once again was cast in the third season, Coven, this time part of the main cast, playing
Myrtle Snow, a member of the Witches Council in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Filmography Stage
Awards and nominations