Fran Brill

Who is Fran Brill?

Frances Joan "Fran" Brill is an American actress and puppeteer, best known for her roles on Sesame Street and playing Lily Marvin in the Frank Oz film, What About Bob?.

Brill was born in Chester, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Linette and Joseph M. Brill. Her father was a physician. She is a graduate of Boston University Fine Arts School. Married to Francis Robert Kelly.

She began her career in theater, making her Broadway debut in the 1969 play Red, White and Maddox. Her other theatrical roles include leads at the Roundabout Theatre, Manhattan Theater Club, Playwrights Horizons and many regional theaters including the Long Wharf, Yale Repertory Theatre, Arena Stage, the Mark Taper Forum and the Actors Theatre of Louisville. She has been nominated twice for a Drama Desk Award, for What Every Woman Knows and for Knuckle, respectively.

From 1974-1975, Brill played Fran Bachman on NBC's daytime drama How to Survive a Marriage. Her character struggled with sudden widowhood, and Brill received over a thousand condolence letters. Brill was also featured in episodes of The Guiding Light, All My Children, The Edge of Night, Hyde in Hollywood, Lip Service and Kate and Allie. She has also guest-starred on nighttime dramas such as Third Watch, Against the Law, Law & Order, and Law & Order: SVU.