All off Frances Conroy’s ‘American Horror Story’ Characters, Ranked

Across multiple seasons of Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk’s anthology series ‘American Horror Story‘, Frances Conroy has proven to be one of the franchise’s most versatile performers. From benevolent supernatural entities and high-fashion witches to tormented ghosts and aristocratic enablers, Conroy has inhabited vastly different roles throughout the run of the show.

Her nuanced characterizations have earned multiple award nominations and established her as a foundational staple of the horror anthology. Evaluating these roles highlights how her performances have shaped key storylines across the entire series.

Bebe Babbitt

Introduced in ‘American Horror Story: Cult’, Bebe Babbitt is the former lover of radical feminist author Valerie Solanas and an original member of the SCUM organization. In the present day, she resurfaces in Brookfield Heights to act as an anger management counselor while secretly manipulating cult leader Kai Anderson. Bebe works behind the scenes to stoke gender-based resentment and push local women toward violent revolution. When Kai deviates from her ideological vision, she attempts to shoot him before being fatally shot herself by Ally Mayfair-Richards.

Mama Polk

In ‘American Horror Story: Roanoke’, Frances Conroy portrays an in-universe actress hired to dramatize Mama Polk in the reenactment series ‘My Roanoke Nightmare’. The character rules over a cannibalistic hillbilly clan that maintains a two-hundred-year-old arrangement with The Butcher to trade victims for isolation. During the docuseries reenactment, she holds the Miller family captive and brutally tortures Elias Cunningham before trading them to colonial ghosts. Conroy plays the stylized television version of the matriarch for a single guest appearance in the season’s fifth episode. Her portrayal establishes the sadistic nature of the Polk family before the real-life counterpart appears in the back half of the season.

Shachath (The Angel of Death)

Shachath appears in ‘American Horror Story: Asylum’ as the compassionate Angel of Death summoned by souls yearning for release. Dressed in elegant black mourning attire with expansive dark wings, she delivers a merciful passing to dying individuals through a gentle kiss. Throughout the run at Briarcliff Manor, she visits several distressed characters contemplating suicide and offers comfort to a tormented Sister Jude. She also encounters the demon possessing Sister Mary Eunice, identifying the entity as an ancient fallen kin. In addition to playing Shachath, Conroy briefly appears as an institutionalized inmate sharing Sister Jude’s hallucinatory cell later in the season.

Gloria Mott

Featured in ‘American Horror Story: Freak Show’, Gloria Mott is a wealthy Southern heiress dedicated to catering to her adult son, Dandy Mott. Aware of a prolonged history of hereditary instability stemming from family inbreeding, she continuously rationalizes Dandy’s disturbing impulses and psychopathic tendencies. Gloria buys him lavish amusements and actively assists in covering up his lethal violence, including the death of their longtime housekeeper Dora. Her persistent denial culminates in tragedy when Dandy rejects her attempts to arrange therapy and shoots her in their estate.

Belle Noir

In the first half of ‘American Horror Story: Double Feature’, Frances Conroy portrays Belle Noir, a celebrated romance author residing in Provincetown. Originally a struggling writer named Sarah Cunningham, she achieves massive commercial success after consuming experimental black pills engineered by the Chemist. The pills enhance her creative output but require her to feed on fresh human blood to prevent severe physical deterioration. Belle establishes dominance over the coastal town alongside playwright Austin Sommers, using locals to procure victims until she is overthrown in the finale.

Moira O’Hara

Originating in ‘American Horror Story: Murder House’, Moira O’Hara is a ghost bound to the residence following her murder by Constance Langdon in 1983. While men view her as an alluring young maid portrayed by Alexandra Breckenridge, women perceive her true soul as an older housekeeper played by Frances Conroy. Moira assists the new residents of the estate and acts as a tragic moral center while striving to free her spirit from the grounds. Conroy reprised the role in ‘American Horror Story: Apocalypse’, where Moira receives long-awaited closure after her remains are moved to a cemetery with her mother. The portrayal earned Conroy a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie.

Myrtle Snow

Introduced in ‘American Horror Story: Coven’, Myrtle Snow is the eccentric, fashion-obsessed Head of the Witches’ Council who acts as a loyal mentor to Cordelia Goode. After being framed and burned at the stake by Fiona Goode, she is brought back to life and ultimately orchestrates justice for the coven. Myrtle insists on being executed again at the end of the third season to uphold the moral integrity of Cordelia’s newly established reign as Supreme. She is resurrected once more in ‘American Horror Story: Apocalypse’, where she operates as Cordelia’s chief counselor during the war against Michael Langdon. Conroy’s performance as the high-society witch garnered her a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie.

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