Ellen Albertini Dow, the Rapping Granny from The Wedding Singer, Dies at 101

Ellen Albertini Dow | Photo Credits: New Line/Photofest

Ellen Allbertini Dow, a character actress best known as the rapping granny in The Wedding Singer, has died, Deadline reports. She was 101.

Albertini Dow, born in Pennsylvania, got her start in a comedy act, working with famous mimes Marcel Marceau and Jacques Lecoq in Paris. A Cornell alum, she went on to direct and choreograph stage productions, and founded the Albertini Mime Players, where she produced for 19 years. Later, she moved to California, where she and her husband, Eugene Dow Jr., created a theater program at Pierce College.

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The actress scored her first major television role in 1986 on The Twilight Zone and went on to appear on Moonlighting, Murphy Brown, The Golden Girls, The Wonder Years, Star Trek: The Next Generation, ER, Will & Grace, My Name Is Earl and most recently, New Girl two years ago. She memorably played J. Peterman's mother on Seinfeld who repeatedly shouted George's PIN code (Bosco) before dying.

Albertini Dow is most famous for portraying the feisty grandma of Adam Sandler in the 1998 film The Wedding Singer. Her version of "Rapper's Delight," which you can watch below, was part of the movie's soundtrack that hit the Billboard Top 5 and went double platinum.

Her other film credits include 54, Patch Adams, Road Trip and Wedding Crashers, where she played the totally inappropriate Grandma Cleary in that infamous dinner scene.