Frances Lee McCain

Frances Lee McCain, an American actress born in York in 1944, earned a philosophy degree at Ripon College and trained at London's Central School of Speech and Drama before returning to New York City. There her stage credits included Woody Allen's Broadway production of Play It Again, Sam and Lanford Wilson's Lemon Sky off-Broadway, where she created the role of Carol. She went on to play a range of repertory roles at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. Her film and television career began after an appearance in A Streetcar Named Desire opposite Faye Dunaway and Jon Voight, and in 1974 she co-starred with Ronny Cox as the female lead of the CBS series Apple's Way. She appeared in Real Life (1979). In the 1980s she was often cast as the mother of a main character, in Gremlins (1984), Footloose (1984), Back to the Future (1985) and Stand by Me (1986). Her later credits include Patch Adams (1998).