- Born
- Died
- Birth nameFrances Jean Hyland
- Frances Hyland was born on April 25, 1927 in Shaunavon, Saskatchewan, Canada. She was an actress, known for The Changeling (1980), Happy Birthday to Me (1981) and Hounds of Notre Dame (1980). She was married to George McCowan. She died on July 11, 2004 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
- SpouseGeorge McCowan(November 12, 1955 - 1964) (divorced, 1 child)
- 1 son: Evan McCowan
- Her mother, Jessie Worden Hyland, a teacher, and her father, Thomas Hyland, a salesman, separated when she was a child and Frances never saw her father again. She has often indicated that she believes the split made her unusually shy and withdrawn.
- She was given acting and elocution lessons in her teen years to overcome her painfully introspective nature.
- Entered the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon in the fall of 1944, the first Canadian institution of higher learning to establish a department of Drama
- Legendary Canadian stage actress in a five-decade career, starring and directing in a host of Stratford and Shaw festivals.
- I was desperately in love with Richard Burton for a long time, and we had a wonderful affair. I was just a baby, but Richard laid siege to me, which didn't take long. During our affair, we often went to Welsh pubs and met Dylan Thomas, the poet and legendary drunk. But, oh what a conversationalist.You'd be spellbound for hours.
- There was simply no Canadian star system. There was a lot of fear in the CBC bureaucracy that we'd get ideas above our station. When they brought in actors from the States they were treated very much like stars, but not us. They wanted to maintain control over us, and we were considered small fry. But I stayed in Canada because I learned more about my craft here that would elsewhere.
- The only thing that worries me as a Canadian actor, and it's a constant and serious worry, is that at my age I have no savings, nothing to fall back on. If I lose my health or my ability to work, I think to myself 'My God, is it going to be one room in Parkdale?'
- [on actress Kate Reid]: We fought a lot, especially when she was drunk and I would have to sustain a long scene. For the audience, it didn't matter because she was so compelling, but once we had a serious rift over that and didn't really see or talk to each other very much for some years. But she was an extraordinary person.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content