Billed as Betty Frankovitch, Franz acted at the Weathervane Theater in Akron. In 2004–05, she appeared at the
Royal National Theatre in London, in the
Sam Shepard play
Buried Child. She starred in numerous
Off-Broadway and regional theater productions, including the American premiere of
Frank McGuinness's
Bird Sanctuary. She also appeared in ''
Long Day's Journey into Night, The Glass Menagerie, The Comedy of Errors, Madwoman of Chaillot, The Lion in Winter, A View from the Bridge, The Matchmaker, The Wizard of Oz, Great Expectations, The Model Apartment
, and Woman in Mind''. Her "subtly layered performance" as
Grandma Kurnitz in the 2017
Weston Playhouse Theatre Company production of
Neil Simon's
Lost in Yonkers was duly noted by
Rutland Herald critic Jim Lowe, who deemed Franz's portrayal the "dramatic backbone" of the production, "allowing only traces of the
octogenarian's love and humanity to seep through." Franz's
Tony-winning performance as
Linda Loman in the 50th anniversary production of
Arthur Miller's
Death of a Salesman proved a revelation to audiences and author alike, as evidenced by Miller's brief but pointed tribute. She has discovered in the role the basic underlying powerful protectiveness, which comes out as fury, and that in the past, in every performance that I know of, was simply washed out. On television, Franz was most notably a
character actor. She became best known for her role as the villainous Alma Rudder on
Another World, which she portrayed from 1982–83, while she was performing
Brighton Beach Memoirs on Broadway. She played Helen Wendall on
As the World Turns from 1994–95, and appeared as free-spirited beauty salon owner Marsha in three episodes of
Roseanne. She appeared in the series
Gilmore Girls, as the inn owner, Mia, and in
Law & Order,
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,
Cold Case,
Dear John, and
Judging Amy. Franz appeared in such feature films and motion pictures as
Sabrina,
Christmas with the Kranks,
The Substance of Fire,
The Pallbearer,
Thinner,
The Secret of My Success,
School Ties, and
Jacknife. == Personal life and death ==