Ellen Corby, who portrayed the grandmother on the TV series “The Waltons,” passed away in 1999 at the Motion Picture and Television Hospital in Woodland Hills, Calif, at the age of 87.
Ms. Corby, born as Ellen Hansen, spent 12 years as a script assistant before transitioning to acting.
She appeared in over 100 movies and, due to her acting abilities, was nominated for an Academy Award.
There are numerous plays and successful films to her credit, but she gained recognition through ‘The Waltons,’ a popular CBS series that aired from 1972 to 1981, Ms. Corby delivered her most renowned performance as Grandma Esther Walton.
Grandma Walton was part of a close-knit Virginia family in the drama from writer Earl Hamner Jr. portrayed Esther Walton so skillfully that she won three Emmy Awards and one Golden Globe Award.
Ellen Corby performed alongside Will Geer, who depicted Zebulon Walton on “The Waltons” until he passed away in 1978. No one assumed the role of “Grandpa” Walton on the show.
Even though Corby has passed away, her co-stars still hold her in high regard to this day. The Waltons cast reunited for Stars in the House to raise money for The Actors Fund.
Eric Scott, Kami Cotler, Judy Norton, and Michael Learned shared memories of Corby while former production assistant John Dayton divulged details about CBS’s plans for her.
CBS Attempted to Dismiss Ellen Corby Following Her Stroke
When Corby had a stroke in 1976, she missed a season and a half of the TV show.
The show depicted Grandma experiencing aphasia as a result of the stroke, which hindered her communication. Corby also had to demonstrate to CBS that she could continue working, which she did.
Upon Corby’s return to The Waltons, the show made a significant fuss about Grandma’s return from the hospital. The entire family welcomed her. However, that was not the first time the actors had seen Corby.
“You need to remember one thing,” Scott remarked. “Some of us would visit her at her house while she was recuperating and such. So we had already seen her and spent time with her, but to have her back on set was a gift. We didn’t perceive it as the fact that she has a severe handicap and she’s going to appear on TV and she is going to reveal it in its raw form. She did it so beautifully. Review the performances, and she attained what she aimed for in every scene that she did after that.“
Cotler added that The Waltons’ portrayal of Grandma with a stroke was remarkable in the realm of television.
“There was a woman who was writing her Ph.D. about The Waltons and disability where she looked at all the different episodes that featured somebody with a disability,” Cotler commented. “She said that had really never happened like that before.“
The reason CBS wanted to dismiss Ellen Corby from ‘The Waltons’ was because Corby had limited speech after her stroke. Dayton stated that the network viewed her condition as an impediment to production until she demonstrated that she could hit every cue.
“Can I just say something about CBS now that I don’t have to worry about a job,” Dayton stated. “It was CBS that vacillated on the aphasia. But, it was within the company that the excuse for not bringing her back was that it would take too long. They thought she would not be up to the job and they were incredibly mistaken. They could not have been more wrong.“
Ellen Corby Was More Active Behind The Scenes Than Grandma
Episodes of The Waltons portrayed Grandma grappling with her new condition, fearing that The Waltons no longer needed her. According to Learned, it was all an act.
“She wasn’t like that in her life,’’ Learned remarked. “She struggled but she never felt sorry for herself. I never got the sense that she was indulging in self-pity or anything of the sort. She had an indescribable strength of character. We actually had a lot of fun together. Even after she had her disability, we still had a lot of fun. She had a fantastic sense of humor. She knew what she wanted and knew how to make it known, and she was an exceptional actress.“
Corby also held the cast in high regard behind the scenes.
“She could sing and play the piano,” Learned said. “It was the strangest thing, and she did, for us between takes. She would sing ‘Let Me Call you Sweetheart.’ She could sing all verse one, two and three but to try to talk was difficult for her.“
Ellen Corby’s Relationship
During her tenure on “The Waltons,” she was paired with another seasoned actor named Harry Hay, who played as grandpa.
Even though they appeared to be the perfect elderly couple who could bring a tear of joy to anyone’s eye, the onscreen couple was gay.
The actress had a long-term partner named Stella Luchetta. The duo maintained a close bond, and the media portrayed them as friends and later discovered that they could have been partners — they lived together for nearly 50 years.
Corby never publicly acknowledged this, and she even married a man named Francis Corby in order to ward off potential criticism and protect her career.
Corby’s tenure in the film industry spanned over five decades. She eventually passed away, having lived a fulfilling life. The actress died in 1999 at the Motion Picture and Television Hospital in Woodland Hills at the age of 87 years.
