Ellen Albertini Dow

She was best known to small screen audiences for her guest appearances on sitcoms The Golden Girls (playing Lillian, a friend of Sophia's) and Will & Grace (as Karen Walker's mother-in-law Sylvia).

• Name — Ellen Albertini Dow • Birth Name — Ellen Rose Albertini • Born — 16 November 1913 • Birthplace — Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, U.S. • Died — 4 May 2015 • Place of death — Los Angeles, California, U.S. • Burial Place — Saint Peter's Cemetery • Education — Cornell University (1935) • Years Active — 1985–2013 • Occupation — * Actress • acting coach

Albertini was born on November 16, 1913, in Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, the seventh and youngest child of Italian immigrant parents, Ellen and Oliver, from Non Valley, Trentino. She studied dance and piano at age five and would later move to New York City, where she studied and worked with renowned dancers and choreographers 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 NYC.

When Dow moved to Los Angeles with her husband, she taught drama at Los Angeles City College. She and her husband later taught at Los Angeles Pierce College.

Albertini Dow did not start acting on screen until the 1980s, when she was in her seventies. Her television work includes appearances in such television series as Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Golden Girls, The Wonder Years, Family Matters, Newhart, Designing Women, Just Shoot Me, ER, Will & Grace, Seinfeld, Ned's Declassified, Hannah Montana, Scrubs, Sister, Sister, According to Jim, Six Feet Under, Wings, The Nanny and My Name Is Earl. Her film appearances include Tough Guys (1986), My Blue Heaven (1990), Sister Act (1992), Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993), Radioland Murders (1994), Problem Child 3 (1995), The Wedding Singer (1998), 54 (1998), Patch Adams (1998), Road Trip (2000) and Wedding Crashers (2005).

Dow married Eugene Dow Jr. on June 27, 1951. Eugene died on October 11, 2004. They had no children. Dow died on May 4, 2015, at the age of 101 due to pneumonia.

• Year — Title — Role — Notes — ref • 1986 — The Twilight Zone — Mrs. Hotchkiss — Episode: "Need to Know" • Mr. Belvedere — Old Lady — Episode: "Grandma" • The Twilight Zone — Old Woman — Episode: "The Storyteller" • 1987 — Beauty and the Beast — Anna Lausch — Episode: "Nor Iron Bars a Cage" • 1988 — Moonlighting — Mrs. Baer — Episode: "Los Dos DiPestos" • Mr. Belvedere — Old Lady — Episode: "The Trip: Part 1" • Webster — Mrs. Crane — Episode: "Papa's Big Romance" • The Golden Girls — Mrs. Leonard — Episode: "The Days and Nights of Sophia Petrillo" • 1989 — Lillian — Episode: "Sophia's Choice" • 1991 — Sarah — Episode: "Older and Wiser" • 1992 — The Wonder Years — Mrs. Tambora — Episode: "Kevin Delivers" • Down the Shore — The Old Woman — Episode: "Atlantic City" • Wings — Debbie — Episode: "The Customer's Usually Right" • 1993 — Star Trek: The Next Generation — Felisa Howard — Episode: "Sub Rosa" • 1993 — Family Matters — Elderly Lady — Episode: "Scenes From The Mall" • 1994 — Family Matters — Mrs. Ostendorf — Episode: "That's What Friends Are For" • 1995 — ER — Mrs. Riblet — Episode: "Hell & High Water" • Seinfeld — Peterman's mother — Episode: "The Secret Code" • 1997 — Beyond Belief - Fact or Fiction — Aunt Connie — Segment: "Mystery Lock" • Sabrina the Teenage Witch — Homeowner — Episode: "A River of Candy Corn Runs Through It" • 1999 — Just Shoot Me! — Mrs. Gallo — Episode: "Jack Vents" • 2001 — Will & Grace — Sylvia Walker — Episode: "The Young and the Tactless" • 2005 — Scrubs — Betty — Episode: "My Faith in Humanity" • Six Feet Under — Roberta — Episode: "Time Flies" • My Name Is Earl — Gertrude Balboa — Episode: "Broke Joy's Fancy Figurine" • 2006 — Hannah Montana — Katherine McCord — Episode: "Debt It Be" • Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide — Miss Knapp — Episode: "Social Studies/Embarrassment" • The Emperor's New School — Azma — Voice, episode: "The Bride of Kuzco" • 2007 — Cold Case — Audrey Abruzzi — Episode: "Torn" • 2009 — According to Jim — Emily Rose — Episode: "Diamonds are a Ghoul's Best Friend" • 2011 — Shameless — The Real Aunt Ginger — Episode: "Aunt Ginger" • 2012 — Family Guy — Aunt Helen — Voice, episode: "Jesus, Mary and Joseph!" • 2013 — New Girl — Aunt Ruthie — Episode: "Chicago"