Trivia

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 She has often indicated that she believes the split made her unusually shy and withdrawn.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.

Best known on TV from the 1989 TV series Avonlea (1990) as "Louisa J. Banks".

She was awarded the O.C. (Officer of the Order of Canada) on December 18, 1970 for her services to drama in Canada.

She was nominated for a 1974 Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Actress in a Principal Role for her performance in "Freedom of the City" at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.

She was awarded the 1977 Joseph Jefferson Award for Actress in a Principal Role in a Play for "Long Day's Journey Into Night" at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.