Ellen Hansen Corby

 Ellen Hansen Corby (June 3, 1911 – April 14, 1999)

She is best remembered for the role of Grandma Esther Walton on The Waltons, for which she won three Emmy Awards. She was also nominated for an Academy Award for her performance as Aunt Trina in I Remember Mama. Corby appeared as the elderly Mrs. Lesh, the crooked car peddler, on The Andy Griffith Show. She guest-starred, as well, on Wagon Train, Cheyenne, Bewitched, Dragnet (several episodes), Rescue 8, The Restless Gun (two episodes), The Rifleman, Fury, The Donna Reed Show, Frontier Circus, Hazel, I Love Lucy, Dennis the Menace, Tightrope, Bonanza, Meet McGraw, The Virginian, Channing, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Batman, Get Smart, Gomer Pyle, The Addams Family, The Beverly Hillbillies, The Invaders, and Night Gallery. From 1965 to 1967, she had a recurring role in the series Please Don't Eat the Daisies, based on an earlier Doris Day film. She remained a regular on The Waltons through the end of the 1978–79 season, with Esther Walton struggling with her stroke deficits as Corby was in real life. Although Corby was able to communicate after her stroke, her character's lines were usually limited to one word or one-phrased dialogue, such as "No" or "Home"; her role dropped to recurring during The Waltons' final two seasons. Ellen Corby died in 1999 at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, aged 87, following several years of declining health. She is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California.