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Elizabeth Franz, celebrated for her portrayal of Mia in Gilmore Girls and her acclaimed Broadway performances in Death of a Salesman, has passed away at 84. Her husband, screenwriter Christopher Pelham, announced that she died on 4 November following a battle with cancer. He told The New York Times that she died as a result of the disease and a "severe reaction" she suffered from the treatment.

Elizabeth, who began her stage career in 1967, was honoured with a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play. Most memorably, she portrayed Mia Bass in Gilmore Girls, the proprietor of the Independence Inn, serving as a maternal figure and guide to Lorelai (Lauren Graham) upon her arrival in Stars Hollow.

In theatrical circles, Elizabeth appeared in Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Gildenstern are Dead, plus stagings of Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors and Dickens' Great Expectations.

During 1999, she assumed the role of Linda Loman in the 50th anniversary staging of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. This particular performance earned her the prestigious Tony Award.

Miller himself commended her portrayal, declaring she had accomplished what numerous other performers had failed to achieve. He remarked: "[Elizabeth] has discovered in the role the basic underlying powerful protectiveness, which comes out as fury, and that in the past, in every performance I know of, was simply washed out."

In Hollywood, she starred alongside Robert De Niro in 1989's Jacknife, Jamie Lee Curtis in the 2004 film Christmas with the Kranks, and alongside Harrison Ford in Sabrina in 1995

In the wake of her passing, supporters have taken to X to pay tribute to the actress. One wrote: "Such a beautiful woman RIP Elizabeth." Another commented that she would be "forever in our hearts".

A third penned: "RIP Elizabeth Franz. She injected fire and intimacy into her turn as Linda Loman opposite Brian Dennehy in 'Death of a Salesman.'"