Bio
Ellen Corby (June 3, 1911 – April 14, 1999) was an Oscar-nominated American actress best known for her role as Grandma Walton on the television series The Waltons, for which she won three Emmy Awards.
Early Life
Corby was born Ellen Hansen to Danish parents in Racine, Wisconsin; she grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
An interest in amateur theatre while in high school led her to Atlantic City in 1932 where she worked for six months as a chorus girl.
She moved to Hollywood that same year and got a job as a script girl at RKO Studios and Hal Roach Studios, where she frequently worked on the Our Gang Comedies, next to her husband, cinematographer Francis Corby.
She held that position for the next 12 years and took acting lessons on the side.
Career
Corby began her career as a writer, working on the Paramount Western Twilight on the Trail and 1947's Hoppy's Holiday. She landed her first acting job in 1945, playing a maid in RKO's Cornered.
In 1948 she received an Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress playing a lovelorn aunt in I Remember Mama (1948).
Over the next four decades, she worked steadily in both film and television, often playing maids, secretaries, waitresses or gossips.
She was a favourite in western films (including Shane in 1953) and had a recurring role as Henrietta Porter in the western television series Trackdown (1957–1959).
Other television appearances included Wagon Train, The Rifleman, I Love Lucy, The Virginian, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and The Andy Griffith Show.
Her most famous role came in 1971 when she was cast as Grandma Esther Walton on the made-for-TV film The Homecoming: A Christmas Story, which served as the pilot for The Waltons.
Corby would go on to resume the role on The Waltons, which became a weekly series from 1972-1981, and resulted in several sequel films.
For her work in The Waltons, she won her three Emmy Awards and three more nominations as Best Supporting Actress.
She left the show early in 1977, due to a massive stroke she suffered, which impaired her speech. She did comeback at the beginning of the 1978 season, and had limited roles, but was forced out of the show for good in 1979.
Private Life
Corby was married to Francis Corby from 1934 to 1944; they had no children.
She suffered a serious stroke in 1977 but recovered and went on to appear in several television films based on The Waltons. Her stroke was written into the show, with Grandma Walton also suffering a stroke, and struggling to regain her speech.
Her last appearance was in A Walton Easter (1997).
She died at the age of 87 at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California. She was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.