Ellen Albertini Dow
Birthday:
Birthplace:
Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, USA
Whenever a script called for a wacky old lady, character actor Ellen Albertini Dow was there to play the part. After a lifetime as a teacher, the Cornell graduate made her television debut on an episode of the Twilight Zone in 1985 when she was in her late sixties. She spent the rest of the '80s making TV guest appearances on family sitcoms (Mr. Belvedere, The Golden Girls, Family Matters, and Newhart, just to name a few). On the big screen, she appeared in innumerable supporting roles as a grandma, nun, or any random old lady, leading to choir parts in both Sister Act and Sister Act 2. She got to exploit her comedic shtick regularly in 1996 when she joined the cast of the Nickelodeon series Kenan & Kel in the role of Ethel Quagmire. If a cameo can be considered a breakthrough, she at least gained face recognition as the old lady, Rosie, who raps in The Wedding Singer by appearing in the film's commercial. She continued playing the sassy granny role as Disco Dottie in 54, Mrs. MacKenzie in Ready to Rumble, and Tom Green's grandma in Road Trip. In 2001, she returned to the small screen to play Grandma Harriet on the WB series Maybe It's Me. At the age of 84, she lent her voice to Adam Sandler's animated feature Eight Crazy Nights. In 2005, she played the foul-mouthed Grandma Cleary in the the box-office smash Wedding Crashers. Albertini Dow continued to work, mostly in TV guest appearances, including spots on My Name is Earl and New Girl, until 2013. She died in 2015, at age 101.
Highest Rated Movies
Filmography
MOVIES
RATING | TITLE | CREDIT | BOX OFFICE | YEAR |
---|---|---|---|---|
No Score Yet | Not Another Not Another Movie |
|
— | 2009 |
No Score Yet | The Invited |
|
— | 2009 |
No Score Yet | Lonely Street |
|
— | 2008 |
32% | Fat Girls |
|
— | 2006 |
76% | Wedding Crashers |
|
$209.3M | 2005 |
No Score Yet | Annie's Point |
|
— | 2005 |
No Score Yet | Longshot (Jack of All Trades) |
|
— | 2002 |
57% | Road Trip |
|
— | 2000 |
23% | Ready to Rumble |
|
— | 2000 |
22% | Patch Adams |
|
— | 1998 |
16% | 54 |
|
— | 1998 |
69% | The Wedding Singer |
|
— | 1998 |
No Score Yet | Problem Child 3: Junior in Love |
|
— | 1995 |
24% | Radioland Murders |
|
— | 1994 |
74% | Sister Act |
|
$139.7M | 1992 |
24% | Memoirs of an Invisible Man |
|
— | 1992 |
No Score Yet | Blood & Concrete: A Love Story |
|
— | 1991 |
No Score Yet | Megaville |
|
— | 1991 |
No Score Yet | Genuine Risk |
|
— | 1989 |
No Score Yet | Going to the Chapel |
|
— | 1988 |
No Score Yet | Munchies |
|
— | 1987 |
No Score Yet | Walk Like a Man |
|
— | 1987 |
57% | Tough Guys |
|
— | 1986 |
No Score Yet | American Drive-In |
|
— | 1985 |
TV
RATING | TITLE | CREDIT | YEAR |
---|---|---|---|
95% |
New Girl
2011
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
American Dad (target for inaccurate feed data)
2005
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Cold Case
2003-2010
|
|
|
7% |
In Case of Emergency
2007
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Las Vegas
2003-2008
|
|
|
82% |
My Name Is Earl
2005-2009
|
|
|
81% |
Six Feet Under
2001-2005
|
|
|
83% |
Scrubs
2001-2010
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Yes, Dear
2000-2006
|
|
|
88% |
Maybe It's Me
2001-2002
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Judging Amy
1999-2005
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Will & Grace
1998-2006
|
|
|
67% |
Nikki
2000-2002
|
|
|
89% |
Seinfeld
1989-1998
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
ER
1994-2009
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Empty Nest
1988-1995
|
|
|
91% |
Star Trek: The Next Generation
1987-1994
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Quantum Leap
1989-1993
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
The Wonder Years
1988-1993
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Wings
1990-1997
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
The Golden Girls
1985-1992
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Designing Women
1986-1993
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Family Matters
1989-1998
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Murphy Brown
1988-2019
|
|
|
97% |
Moonlighting
1985-1989
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Webster
1983-1989
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Beauty and the Beast
1987-1990
|
|
|
22% |
Payne
1999
|
|
|
Quotes from Ellen Albertini Dow's Characters
Rosie: | You'll know when you meet the right girl because it's not how you feel about her it's how she makes you feel about yourself |
Rosie: | You'll know when you meet the right girl because it's not how you feel about her, it's how she makes you feel about yourself. |
Grandma Mary Cleary: | But that wife of his, Eleanor... Big dyke! Huge dyke. A real rug muncher. Looked like a big lesbian mule. |
Grandma Mary Cleary: | You're a homo. |
Jeremy Grey: | Todd, I notice you haven't even touched your food yet. |
Todd Cleary: | I don't eat meat or fish. |
Grandma Mary Cleary: | He's a homo. |
Grandma Mary Cleary: | He's a homo. |
Rosie: | [to Julia] : He wants to make money. You know - live in a nice house with wide windows and locks. You can't expect him to live forever with his sister and the nipple-twisting that goes on there. |
Rosie: | [to Julia] He wants to make money. You know - live in a nice house with wide windows and locks. You can't expect him to live forever with his sister and the nipple-twisting that goes on there. |