Frances Bay, an actress whose career began in the ’30s, and who is forever recognizable to younger audiences as the woman Jerry Seinfeld jacked a marble rye from on the street, and as Happy Gilmore’s beloved grandma, has passed away.
She was 92. Her cousin Les Berman told the AP that Frances Bay died Thursday at a Los Angeles area hospital after being diagnosed with pneumonia.
After working as a radio actress before World War II, Bay married and became a housewife. She returned to acting in the 1970s and her career took off.
Bay played Fonzie’s Grandma Nussbaum on Happy Days and kindly older ladies in shows like The Jeffersons, The Dukes of Hazzard and Who’s the Boss?
The Canadian-born actress and Walk of Fame member also was cast by director David Lynch in several films, including Blue Velvet and Wild at Heart.