Photo: CBS Television / Public domain (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Ellen Corby is my idea of an actor's actor. More than 200 film and television credits across six decades, mostly in small parts, and then — past the age of sixty — she became Grandma Walton and won three Emmys in four years. I find that arc deeply moving: decades of anonymous, reliable work finally rewarded with a role America took to heart. She also wrote screenplays, which tells me she understood story from the inside, not just performance. Her late-career triumph is a standing rebuke to an industry obsessed with youth. Whenever someone tells me it is too late to break through, I think of Ellen Corby and disagree.
Overview
Ellen Hansen Corby (June 3, 1911 – April 14, 1999) was an American actress and screenwriter. She performed in over 200 films and television series from the 1930s to the 1990s. She played the role of Esther "Grandma" Walton on the CBS television series The Waltons, for which she won three Emmy Awards.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Ellen Corby
- Name (Japanese)
- エレン・コービー
- Reading
- えれん・こーびー
- Born
- June 3, 1911 – April 14, 1999
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Gemini / Boar
- Origin
- Racine, Wisconsin, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- television actor / screenwriter / film actor / actor / stage actor
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- Private
Awards & achievements
- 1973 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
- 1975 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
- 1976 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
- Wikipedia (Japanese)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen%20Corby
Television actor — see all → · Screenwriter — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-10
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.