Ellen Corby

Ellen Corby
Edgar Bergen and Corby in the made-for-television film The Homecoming in 1971
Born	Ellen Hansen (1911-06-03)June 3, 1911 Racine, Wisconsin, U.S.
Died	April 14, 1999(1999-04-14) (aged 87) Woodland Hills, Los Angeles California, U.S.
Cause of death	Stroke and health issues
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1933–1999
Spouse(s)	Francis Corby (1934–1944, divorced)

Ellen Hansen Corby (June 3, 1911 – April 14, 1999) was an American actress. She is best remembered for the role of Grandma Esther Walton on the CBS television series 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.

Ellen Hansen was born in Racine, Wisconsin, to immigrant parents from Denmark. She grew up in Philadelphia. An interest in amateur theater while in high school led her to Atlantic City in 1932, where she briefly worked 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 often worked on Our Gang comedies, alongside her future husband, cinematographer Francis Corby. She held that position for the next 12 years and took acting lessons on the side.

Although she had bit parts in more than 30 films in the 1930s and 1940s, including Babes in Toyland (1934) and It's a Wonderful Life (1946), her first credited acting role was in RKO's Cornered (1945) in which she played a maid, followed by an uncredited brief speaking role as a kitchen cook in The Locket (1946). Corby began her career as a writer working on the Paramount Western Twilight on the Trail (1941).