>
Ellen Corby
Ellen Corby was small, prim, and had a face to which smiling did not come easily, but she appeared in supporting and small roles in dozens of films and TV programs. Possibly, she would have been one of those character actors whose faces are known to the audience but whose names are a lost in memory had it not been for her Emmy Award-winning work as the no-nonsense Grandma Esther Walton on the CBS TV series "The Waltons" (1972-79) and in subsequent TV reunion movies on NBC in 1982 and in CBS in the 90s.