As an American character actress, Fran Ryan was a familiar face on stage, screen and television from her theatrical stage debut in the 1950s and continuing for nearly three decades. Ryan's similarity to actress Marjorie Main was soon noticed in the late 1960s, and she frequently played tough, mean-lipped, earthy and gruff-but-lovable female characters.
One of Ryan's first major television roles was playing Aggie Thompson, the housekeeper on Doris comédie (1968) and quickly found her place as a last-minute replacement on several television shows. She replaced the late Barbara Pepper in playing Doris Ziffel on the final season of Les arpents verts (1965). She also successfully succeeded Amanda Blake to play Miss Hannah on the final season of Gunsmoke (1955). Ryan's best-known TV credits include Hôpital central (1963) and No Soap, Radio (1982).
Ryan also had supporting roles in major motion pictures including Graffiti Party (1978), Le gang des frères James (1980), Les bleus (1981), Savannah Smiles (1982), Private School (1983), Les yeux de feu (1983) and Pale Rider - Le cavalier solitaire (1985). Although she was never far from television, she returned to play Hannah the Barbarian in the short lived animated series Little Dracula (1991).
Fran Ryan passed away at her home in Burbank, California on January 15, 2000 of natural causes.
