Actress Frances Bay Dead At Age 92

Frances Bay, the sweet, gentle housewife who became a successful actress in middle age, appearing in more than 50 motion pictures and 100 television shows, including roles as the "marble rye lady" on SEINFELD and the grandmother in Adam Sandler's Happy Gilmore, has died. She was 92.

Bay died Thursday at Providence Tarzana Medical Center, said her cousin Marly Zaslov of Vancouver. Bay had been ill with various infections.

The actress, whose right leg was amputated below the knee after she was struck by a car in Glendale in 2002, continued to work, most recently appearing as Aunt Ginny on ABC's THE MIDDLE.

She had several soap opera appearances as well including FLAMINGO ROAD, GREY'S ANATOMY, PASSIONS (Evil Old Lady) and SANTA BARBARA (Mrs. McRae, a neighbor of the Perkins family).

She was a regular character actress for director David Lynch, who cast her in Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart, TWIN PEAKS and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.

Live theater gave Bay an opportunity to show her considerable acting ability. Over the years, she was in such plays as "Number Our Days," "The Man Who Came to Dinner," "Sarcophagus," "The Pleasure of His Company," "Grease" and "Finnegan's Wake."

When she appeared as the cancer-ridden mother Henny in "Bosoms and Neglect," she said it was a stretch for her, but one she enjoyed. To talk tough, she said, she simply thought of driving and being cut off in traffic, noting in that situation, "I can swear like a fishwife."

Bay's husband died in 2002, and their son died when he was 23. She has no immediate survivors.

Below is a favorite clip of Bay from SEINFIELD.