Mary Frann, 55, the Stable Wife on 'Newhart'

By Bill Carter
Reprinted from the New York Times

Mary Frann, an actress best known for playing the wife of comedian Bob Newhart in his second successful CBS series, "Newhart," died on Wednesday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 55.

The cause was not officially determined as of Thursday, though Ms. Frann, whom friends reported had been in good health, apparently died in her sleep.

For eight seasons in the 1980s, Ms. Frann played Joanna Loudon, the pleasant, stable wife of the often harried Dick Loudon, the character played by Newhart. The Loudon's had moved from New York to Vermont to run a small inn and were surrounded by colorful New England types like George, a slow-moving caretaker, and a handyman threesome of brothers from the backwoods, two of whom were named Darryl, for no apparent reason. Only the third brother, Larry, ever spoke.

Ms. Frann was a more or less traditional sitcom wife dropped into the center of these offbeat and bizarre characters. While Newhart's character was often exasperated by the encounters with eccentricity, Ms. Frann's Joanna was more often bemused by them.

Newhart said: "I played a sort of Everyman character and she was the wife of Everyman. That can be a tough road to hoe." Referring to the classic comedy "I Love Lucy," Newhart said: "If Mary was Lucy, the show would not have worked. She had to be grounded."

"Newhart" is perhaps best remembered for its wildly original concluding episode, which ended with Dick Loudon getting hit in the head with a golf ball, losing consciousness and waking up in bed. The bed was the one Newhart used in his previous series, "The Bob Newhart Show," and next to him in the bed was Suzanne Pleshette, who played his wife in that show. The scene indicated that the eight years of "Newhart" had all been a dream.

"I think Mary had a little problem with that," Newhart said. "But we were all thrilled at how the audience reacted when we did it."

In the years since the "Newhart" show ended, Ms. Frann worked mainly as a guest star in other series and television movies. Earlier in her career, she had a four-year run on the NBC daytime soap opera "Days of Our Lives."

Born in St. Louis, Ms. Frann began a career in show business as a child model. She attended Northwestern University on a scholarship from the Junior Miss Foundation, majoring in drama. After her work on "Days of Our Lives" Ms. Frann had a starring role in 1982 in a series called "Kings Crossing" on ABC.

Frann, who is survived by two sisters, Patricia Sauve and Jacqueline Rogers, and a brother, Harry Luecke, all of Los Angeles, was also active in charity work. Her publicist, Jeffrey Lane, said she was most involved with the Los Angeles Mission, where she worked with women in rehabilitation from problems with drugs, alcohol or prostitution.

Lane said Ms. Frann helped form a "celebrity women's action committee" with a group of other female television stars including Diahann Carroll, Donna Mills, Linda Gray and Joan Van Ark.

"I always told Mary she was the glue that held it all together," Newhart said.

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