Frances Mabel Morton[1] (née Rowe, 26 June 1913 – 31 July 1988) was an English stage, film and television actress.

[2][3] Rowe was born in Preston, Lancashire,[4] the daughter of a parson, and educated at Channing School For Girls in Highgate and then went on to study at Newnham College, Cambridge.

She then worked on the West End and in repertory theatre from 1936 onward,[5] at Newcastle, Coventry, Harrogate, Worthing, Dundee and Windsor.

[7] Rowe's television work included Love Story, Rogues' Gallery, Vanity Fair, The Mill on the Floss (1965 TV adaptation of the book) and as Emily Forsyte in the 1967 TV series The Forsyte Saga.

[2] In later years, her most famous roles were that of Nancy Penrose, the mother of Hester played by Julia McKenzie in the ITV sitcom Fresh Fields, (1984–86) and Vera Polling in After Henry (1988).