Frances Bay (née Goffman; January 23, 1919 – September 15, 2011) was a Canadian American character actress, best known for playing quirky, eccentric, albeit usually sweet-natured elderly women on film and television. She did not enter the acting industry of television and film until her late 50s, in which she appeared in numerous prolific and memorable roles, although she had worked in radio and in theatre, in which she won a Drama-Logue Award, she was also a Gemini Award winner, an honour in her native Canada.

Biography

Bay was born Frances Goffman in Mannville, Alberta, to Ukrainian Jewish immigrant parents, Ann (née Averbach) and Max Goffman, and was raised in Dauphin, Manitoba. Her younger brother was the noted sociologist Erving Goffman. Before World War II she acted professionally in Winnipeg and spent the war hosting the Canadian Broadcasting Company's radio show, Everybody's Program, aimed at service members overseas.

She married and moved to Cape Town, South Africa, living in the Constantia and Camps Bay areas. She studied with Uta Hagen at this time. Charles and Frances Bay had one son, Josh (Eli Joshua; March 14, 1947 – June 6, 1970), who died at the age of 23.

She was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame on September 6, 2008, in large part thanks to a petition with 10,000 names which was submitted on her behalf. The selection committee also received personal letters from Adam Sandler, Jerry Seinfeld, David Lynch, Henry Winkler, Monty Hall and other celebrities.