Ellen Albertini Dow
Ellen Albertini Dow | |
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Born | Ellen Rose Albertini November 15, 1913 |
Died | May 4, 2015 Los Angeles, California, U.S. | (aged 101)
Alma mater | Cornell University (1935) |
Occupation(s) | Actress, acting coach |
Years active | 1985–2013 |
Spouse(s) | Eugene Dow, Jr. (m. 1951 - d. 2004) |
Website | www |
Signature | |
Ellen Rose Albertini Dow (November 15, 1913 – May 4, 2015) was an American film and television character actress and drama coach. She portrayed feisty old ladies and is best known as the rapping grandmother Rosie in The Wedding Singer (1998), performing "Rappers Delight". Dow's other film roles include elderly lady Mary Cleary who "outs" her grandson in Wedding Crashers, Disco Dottie in 54, the recipient of Christopher Lloyd's character's slapstick in Radioland Murders and a choir nun in Sister Act. She was best known to small screen audiences for her guest appearances on sitcoms The Golden Girls (playing Lillian, a friend of Sophia’s) and Will And Grace (as Karen Walker‘s mother-in-law Sylvia).
Early life
Albertini was born on November 15, 1913, in Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania,[1][2] the seventh and youngest child of Italian immigrant parents, Ellen and Oliver, from South Tyrol.[3] Oliver was a car dealership owner.[2] She studied dance and piano at age five and would later move to New York, where she studied and worked with renowned dancers and choreographers Hanya Holm and Martha Graham.
Secondary education
Dow earned a B.A. and M.A. in theatre from Cornell University, where she became a member of Kappa Delta Sorority, graduating in 1935.[4] Dow studied acting with Michael Shurtleff and Uta Hagen, and worked with mimes Marcel Marceau and Jacques Lecoq in Paris.[5]
Career
Dow performed comedy in the Borscht Belt and at the Second Avenue Theatre in New York with Menasha Skulnik and Molly Picon. She performed in summer stock companies on Long Island, New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina, and directed and choreographed stage productions such as The Beggar's Opera at Carnegie Recital Hall, The Magic Flute, and Julius Caesar with German musical director Hugo Strelitzer. She founded the Albertini Mime Players and was its producer for 19 years. [citation needed]
Her television work includes appearances in such television series as Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Golden Girls, Newhart. Designing Women, Just Shoot Me, Will & Grace, Seinfeld, Ned's Declassified, Hannah Montana, Scrubs, Sister, Sister, According to Jim, Six Feet Under, Wings , The Nanny and My Name is Earl
Personal life
Dow married Eugene Dow, Jr. on June 27, 1951. Ellen described herself as an avid hat collector.[5] Eugene died on October 11, 2004. They had no children.
Death
Dow died on May 4, 2015, at the age of 101 due to pneumonia.[6]
See also
Filmography
- n.b. for credit listings reference[5]
Film
Year | Title | Role | Notes | ref |
---|---|---|---|---|
2000 | Ready to Rumble | Mrs. MacKenzie | ||
2000 | Road Trip | Mrs. Manilow | American comedy film | |
1992 | Sister Act | Choir Nun | American comedy film | [7] |
1998 | 54 | Disco Dottie | American drama film written and directed by Mark Christopher | [8] |
Patch Adams | Aggie Kennedy | American semi-biographical comedy-drama film directed by Tom Shadyac | ||
The Wedding Singer | Rosie | American romantic comedy film written by Tim Herlihy and directed by Frank Coraci | [9] | |
2005 | Wedding Crashers | Mary Cleary | American comedy film directed by David Dobkin | [10] |
Television
Year | Title | Role | Notes | ref |
---|---|---|---|---|
1986 | The Twilight Zone | Mrs. Hotchkiss | Episode: "Need to Know" (S1: Ep 51) | |
Mr. Belvedere | Old Lady | Episode: "Grandma" (S3: Ep 2) | ||
The Twilight Zone | Old Woman | Episode: "The Storyteller" (S2: Ep 5) | ||
1987 | Beauty and the Beast | Anna Lausch | Episode: "Nor Iron Bars a Cage" (S1: Ep 7) | |
1988 | Moonlighting | Mrs. Baer | Episode: "Los Dos DiPestos" (S4: Ep 8) | |
Mr. Belvedere | Old Lady | Episode: "The Trip, part 1" (S4: Ep 13) | ||
Webster | Mrs. Crane | Episode: "Papa's Big Romance" (S6: Ep 4) | ||
The Golden Girls | Mrs. Leonard | Episode: "The Days and Nights of Sophia Petrillo" (S4: Ep 2) | ||
The Golden Girls | Lillian | Episode: "Sophia's Choice" (S4: Ep 22) | ||
1991 | The Golden Girls | Sarah | Episode: "Older and Wiser" (S6: Ep 18) | |
1992 | The Wonder Years | Mrs. Tambora | Episode: "Kevin Delivers" (S6: Ep 8) | |
1993 | Star Trek: The Next Generation | Felisa Howard | Episode: "Sub Rosa" (S7: Ep 14) | |
1994 | Family Matters | Mrs. Ostendorf | Episode: "That's What Friends Are For" (S5: Ep 3) | |
1995 | ER | Mrs. Riblet | Episode: "Hell & High Water" (S2: Ep 7) | |
1995 | Seinfeld | Peterman's mother | Episode: "The Secret Code" (S7: Ep 7) | |
2001 | Will & Grace | Sylvia Walker | Episode: "The Young and the Tactless" (S3: Ep 21) | |
2005 | Scrubs | Betty | Episode: "My Faith in Humanity" (S4: Ep 23) | |
2005 | Six Feet Under | Roberta | Episode: "Time Flies" (S5: Ep 4) | |
2006 | Hannah Montana | Katherine McCord | Episode: "Debt it Be" (S1: Ep 20) | |
2011 | Shameless | The Real Aunt Ginger | Episode: "Aunt Ginger" (S1: Ep 3) |
See also
References
- ^ Reference to Ellen Albertini Dow's 100th birthday, businessinsider.com; accessed November 17, 2014.
- ^ a b Ellen Albertini Dow profile, FilmReference.com; accessed May 26, 2014.
- ^ Census 1920
- ^ Ellen Rose Albertini, Cornell University alumna (class of 1935), e-yearbook.com; accessed June 23, 2014.
- ^ a b c "Ellen Albertini Dow : Credit Listings". TV.com. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
- ^ Pedersen, Erik (May 4, 2015). "'Wedding Singer' Rapping Granny Dead; Ellen Albertini Dow Was 101". Deadline.com. Retrieved May 5, 2015.
- ^ "Sister Act". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved September 20, 2015.
- ^ Jordan, Louis (February 16, 2015). "54 Bombed in 1998. Now It's Been Resurrected as a Cult Gay Classic". vulture.com. Retrieved September 20, 2015.
- ^ "The Wedding Singer". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved September 20, 2015.
- ^ Castillo, Monica (May 5, 2015). "'Wedding Crashers' Grandma Ellen Albertini Dow Dies at 101; Watch Her Best Performances [VIDEOS]". International Business Times. IBT Media. Retrieved September 30, 2015.
External links
- 1913 births
- 2015 deaths
- Deaths from pneumonia
- Actresses from Pennsylvania
- Acting coaches
- American centenarians
- Cornell University alumni
- American people of Italian descent
- People from Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania
- American film actresses
- American television actresses
- American stage actresses
- 20th-century American actresses
- 21st-century American actresses
- Actresses of Italian descent