Frances Bay (born January 1, 1918) is a Canadian character actress known for playing a variety of quirky elderly women.

Bay was born in Dauphin, Manitoba, Canada, but did did not appear in films until the age of 60, when she played a small part in 1978's Foul Play, a comedy vehicle for Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase. She went on to play small roles in films like The Karate Kid, Big Top Pee-wee and Twins.

In 1983, she played the grandmother in Little Red Riding Hood in Faerie Tale Theatre for Showtime. In 1986, Bay appeared as the doddery aunt of Kyle MacLachlan's character in David Lynch's Blue Velvet. This role seems to have endeared the actress to Lynch, who recast her in several subsequent works, including as a brisk no-nonsense madam (who uses the "F" word) in Wild at Heart, and as the eerie "Mrs. Tremond" on Twin Peaks and its movie spin-off, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me.

Bay may also be familiar from her performance in the music video for Jimmy Fallon's comedy song, Idiot Boyfriend. Bay is perhaps best known today, however, for her performance as the hapless, but loving grandmother of Adam Sandler's character in the 1996 film Happy Gilmore. Additionally, she has the distinction of appearing in the final episodes of three long-running sitcoms: Happy Days, Who's the Boss? and Seinfeld.

In an earlier episode of Seinfeld, she played "Mabel Choate", a wealthy, irritable old woman from whom Jerry stole a loaf of marbled rye bread. In that episode, entitled The Rye, Bay appeared with her former Twin Peaks co-stars Grace Zabriskie and Warren Frost. In a future episode, the consequences of Jerry's act caused his father to be impeached as president of his retirement community in Florida.

Soon after the death of her husband, Charles Bay, in 2002, she was struck by a car in Glendale, California, and as a result she had to have part of her right leg amputated. It is not known whether she has any children.

There is an online petition that advocates her induction into Canada's Walk of Fame.

Cute, tiny and prolific little old lady character actress Frances Bay has been working constantly in both films and TV shows alike since making her debut at age 60 with a small part in the comedy "Foul Play" in the late 70s. Bay was born on January 1st, 1918 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. She frequently portrays eccentric elderly women and good-hearted grandmothers in all kinds of pictures and television programs. Frances has acted several times for David Lynch: she's Kyle MacLachlan's sweet doddery aunt in "Blue Velvet," a gruff, profane whorehouse madam in "Wild at Heart," and the spooky Mrs. Tremond in the cult TV series "Twin Peaks" and its spin-off feature "Fire Walk With Me." Frances popped up in two movies for director Stuart Gordon: she's a kindly witch in "The Pit and the Pendulum" and a fortune teller in "Edmond." Other notable film roles include a snippy librarian in "The Attic," a mysterious blind nun in the offbeat "Nomads," another librarian in "In the Mouth of Madness," and Adam Sandler's loving grandmother in the hit comedy "Happy Gilmore." Frances has the unique distinction of guesting on the final episodes of the TV shows "Happy Days," "Who's the Boss?," and "Seinfeld." Among the many TV series Bay has had guest spots on are "Charmed," "ER," "Matlock,""The X-Files," "Murder, She Wrote," "The Commish," "L.A. Law," "Hill Street Blues," "Touched By An Angel," "The Golden Girls," and "Amazing Stories." She won a Gemini Award for her performance in the Disney TV program "Road to Avonlea." More recently Frances was in the music video for Jimmy Fallon's "Idiot Boyfriend." In addition to her substantial movie and TV credits, Bay has also acted in both Off-Broadway stage productions and regional theater; these plays include "Finnegan's Wake," "Grease," "Genuis," "The Caucasion Chalk Circle," "Number Our Days," "Uncommon Women," "Sarcophagus," and "The Pleasure of His Company." Frances has won two DramaLogue Awards and was nominated for a Los Angeles Dramatic Critics' Award. In 2002 Bay was the unfortunate victim of an automobile accident which resulted in having part of her right leg amputated. Her husband Charles sadly died in 2002 as well. In real life Frances Bay is a very practical and unassuming woman with an avid love for jazz music.