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Ellen Albertini Dow

Highest Rated: 75% Wedding Crashers (2005)

Lowest Rated: 10% Frank the Bastard (2013)

Birthday: Nov 16, 1913

Birthplace: Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, USA

When audiences saw the trailer for the romantic comedy film "The Wedding Singer" (1998), many took note of the petite elderly woman performing "Rapper's Delight" and asked "Who is she?" The answer is Ellen Albertini Dow, a veteran of NYC's Yiddish theater and a former drama teacher in L.A. Although coy about her age, Dow has been playing feisty old women since she resumed her acting career in the mid-1980s with a chilling turn as a mass murderer on an episode of "The Twilight Zone" (CBS, 1985). Since then, she played small roles in numerous TV shows (e.g., "Family Matters," "The Golden Girls," "Murphy Brown") and a handful of films ("Tough Guys" 1986; "Sister Act" 1992). Dow offered a memorable guest turn on a 1995 episode of "Seinfeld" as J Peterman's elderly mother. But it was her performance as a woman celebrating her 50th wedding anniversary who surprises her guests with a hip-hop number that made people take notice. Director Frank Coraci had cast Dow primarily on the strength of her rendition of the 1959 classic "Til There Was You" which she also performed in the film. Audiences were primed for her appearance as a cocaine-snorting oldster in the disco-flavored "54" (also 1998).

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Highest rated movies

75% 70% Wedding Crashers Watchlist 72% 80% The Wedding Singer Watchlist 57% 65% Road Trip Watchlist
32% 49% Fat Girls
Watchlist
23% 52% Ready to Rumble
Watchlist
15% 32% 54
Watchlist
10% 57% Frank the Bastard
Watchlist
70% She Wants Me
Watchlist
Halfway Decent
Watchlist
66% Annie's Point
Watchlist

Filmography

Movies

Credit
10% 57% Frank the Bastard Dora (Character) - 2013
No Score Yet 70% She Wants Me Grandma Elma (Character) - 2012
No Score Yet 22% The Invited Natalie Shaw (Character) - 2010
32% 49% Fat Girls Mildred (Character) $10.8K 2006
No Score Yet 66% Annie's Point Louise Tette (Character) - 2005
No Score Yet No Score Yet Halfway Decent Mrs. Kahn (Character) - 2005
75% 70% Wedding Crashers Grandma Mary (Character) $209.2M 2005
57% 65% Road Trip Grandma Manilow (Character) $68.5M 2000
23% 52% Ready to Rumble Mrs. MacKenzie (Character) $12.4M 2000
15% 32% 54 Disco Dottie (Character) $16.6M 1998
72% 80% The Wedding Singer Rosie (Character) $80.2M 1998

TV

Credit
95% 85% New Girl Aunt Ruthie (Guest Star) 2013
No Score Yet 64% Family Guy Aunt Helen (Guest Voice) 2006 2012
No Score Yet 90% American Dad! Old Lady (Guest Voice) 2005 2008
No Score Yet 95% Cold Case Unknown (Guest Star) 2007
7% No Score Yet In Case of Emergency Unknown (Guest Star) 2007
No Score Yet 88% Hannah Montana Kathrine McCord (Guest Star) 2006
82% 88% My Name Is Earl Gertrude Balboa (Guest Star) 2005
81% 96% Six Feet Under Unknown (Guest Star) 2005
83% 86% Scrubs Betty (Guest Star) 2005
No Score Yet No Score Yet A Minute With Stan Hooper Unknown (Guest Star) 2003
88% No Score Yet Maybe It's Me Unknown (Character),
Unknown (Guest Star)
2001
No Score Yet 88% Will & Grace Sylvia Walker (Guest Star) 2001
No Score Yet No Score Yet Just Shoot Me Mrs. Gallo (Guest Star) 1999
22% No Score Yet Payne Unknown (Guest Star) 1999
No Score Yet No Score Yet Suddenly Susan Unknown (Guest Star) 1998
No Score Yet 67% Sabrina, the Teenage Witch Unknown (Guest Star) 1997
No Score Yet No Score Yet Cosby Unknown (Guest Star) 1996
No Score Yet No Score Yet Hope & Gloria Unknown (Guest Star) 1996
No Score Yet 85% ER Mrs. Riblet (Guest Star) 1995
89% 92% Seinfeld Momma (Guest Star) 1995
92% 90% Star Trek: The Next Generation Felisa (Guest Star) 1994
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Building Unknown (Guest Star) 1993
No Score Yet No Score Yet Wings Unknown (Guest Star) 1992
No Score Yet 88% The Wonder Years Mrs. Tambora (Guest Star) 1992
No Score Yet 94% The Golden Girls Lillian (Guest Star) 1988-1989 1991
No Score Yet No Score Yet Designing Women Unknown (Guest Star) 1990
No Score Yet No Score Yet Newhart Unknown (Guest Star) 1989
No Score Yet No Score Yet Mr. Belvedere Unknown (Guest Star) 1988
No Score Yet 86% Beauty and the Beast Anna Lausch (Guest Star) 1987
No Score Yet 64% Highway to Heaven Lady (Guest Star) 1987