Ellen Albertini Dow
| Ellen Albertini Dow | |
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Ellen Albertini Dow in The Wedding Singer
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| Born |
Ellen Rose Albertini November 16, 1913 Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | May 4, 2015 (aged 101) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Pneumonia |
| Alma mater | Cornell University (class of 1935) |
| Occupation | Actress, acting coach |
| Years active | 1985–2013 |
| Spouse(s) | Eugene Dow, Jr. (m.1951 - his death) |
| Website | www |
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Ellen Rose Albertini Dow (November 16, 1913 – May 4, 2015) was an American character actress. She portrayed feisty old ladies and may be best known as the rapping grandmother in The Wedding Singer (1998). Dow's other film roles include the elderly lady 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 member in Sister Act.
Albertini was born on November 16, 1913, in Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, the seventh and youngest child of Italian immigrant parents, Ellen and Oliver, from South Tyrol. Oliver was a car dealership owner. She studied dance and piano at age five and would later move to New York, where she studied and worked with dancers Hanya Holm and Martha Graham.
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. Dow studied acting with Michael Shurtleff and Uta Hagen, and worked with mimes Marcel Marceau and Jacques Lecoq in Paris.
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.
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