Cornelia Frances

At 77 years old, Cornelia Frances has this physical status:

Cornelia Frances Zulver, OAM (7 April 1941 – May 28, 2018), known as Cornelia Frances informally, was an English-Australian actress.

Since starting her career in British films, she became best known for her acting career in Australia, particularly her iconic television soap opera roles with portrayals of jerks.

Since being known for her role on Home and Away as the storyline permitted, Frances appeared on a semi-regular basis for a brief period of time before returning to an itinerant basis in 1988. On the Nine Network series The Young Doctors (1976–1978), Frances was also known for playing nurse Sister Grace Scott (1976–1978) and Barbara Hamilton on Sons and Daughters (1982–1986).

She appeared in the film version of the popular series television soap The Box.

She has also worked on stage and as a voice-over.

She appeared on The Weakest Link, Australia's version of quiz show In the early 2000s, she was the hostess of the Australian version of quiz show The Weakest Link.

Personal life and death

In 1969, Frances married Michael Eastland, but the union later ended in divorce. Lawrence and Lawrence were one of their one sons together.

She revealed in January 2018 that she was fighting bladder cancer that had spread to her hip, but that she was excited about reprising her role as Morag in Home and Away for the show's 30th anniversary. Despite having undergone chemotherapy and radiation therapy, she succumbed to the disease, and died on May 28th, 2018, where the program The Young Doctors was filmed in Sydney. "Cornelia Frances was a unique individual," the Seven Network, which airs Home and Away in Australia, says. A generation of actors was inspired by her on-screen presence. Each room she entered was given a sense of dignity and presence. Her energy and appearance will be shattered. In addition, she was given praise by her many co-stars, including Ray Meagher and Judy Nunn. Earlier this week, a private funeral was held.

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Early life and career

Frances was educated at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in Liverpool, Lancashire, England. She appeared in British-made feature films as an extra and bit-part actor. In two films directed by her uncle Michael Powell, Peeping Tom (1960), and The Queen's Guard (1961), she had uncredited bit parts. She appeared in several theatre productions, including the Trials of Oscar Wilde, as a small speaking role in Herbert Ross' film adaptation of Goodbye, Mr. Chips.

Career in Australia

Since she had immigrated to Australia in the 1960s, Frances' acting career flourished. She appeared in Henry IV Parts I and 2, (1967) directed by Edgar Metcalfe; and Mary Mary, which toured regional Western Australia and spent a season at the Playhouse in Perth. She appeared on television as the host of Channel 9's Tom's TV Bingo; Tom's was a Perth supermarket. After appearing in The Box, the 1975 film revival of the sex-comedy soap opera of the same name, and Mrs Quinn's appearance in The Lost Islands, she became well-known throughout Australia for her long-running role as Sister Grace Scott, the strict and acidic sister in daily soap opera The Young Doctors. She stayed on "light" stories for Peter Couchman's Melbourne, a current affairs service hosted by Peter Couchman, after leaving the series to move to Melbourne with her husband who had been transferred there.

In April 1980, Frances Made a Visiting appearance as lawyer Carmel Saunders on Prisoner. Barbara Armstrong (later Hamilton) in Sons and Daughters, a role she appeared in from 1982 to 1986, before she moved to guest-starring television roles.

Frances made her first appearance on Home and Away on June 7, 1988, as Morag Bellingham, a judge and niece of Alf Stewart (Ray Meagher), who she often rivalled with, as well as her sister, Celia Stewart (Fiona Spence) and half-sister of Colleen Smart (Lyn Collingwood), both of whom she also posted comic banter with. For twenty-nine years, Frances has served in Morag's recurring role. She expressed a desire to appear on the show full time and confessed that she did not like the coming-and-going as it was "very sad."

Francese was the voice of Tortoise on the Australian/Chinese children's series Magic Mountain from 1997 to 1998. She appeared on The Weakest Link, the Australian version of quiz show The Weakest Link (2001-2002). Frances was employed in the Hunter Valley in the early 2000s, when she was unable to do acting. Her autobiography And What Have You Done Lately? In 2003, it was first published in a newspaper.

Voice acting in Milly, Molly, and a principal part of the Australian stage production of Calendar Girls was part of Frances' later career. In a 2017 episode of Home and Away, she made her last television appearance.

The Order of Australia's Medal of the Order of Australia was conferred on January 26, 2019, Frances (OAM).

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