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Walton's in the Media.
Daily Independent Journal
from San Rafael, California ยท Page 84
May 5, 1973
 

 






 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

Grandma Walton Is A Believer
By VERNON SCOTT

Ellen Corby, the peppery grandma of “The Waltons,” has no family of her own and enjoys reporting each day to the set where all the youngsters who play the Walton children automatically become her grandchildren. Mrs. Corby, divorced many years ago from her cameraman husband, lives alone with a Burmese cat named Charlie Brown in an 80-year-old house just below the Sunset Strip.

She’s proud of the home which is ancient by Hollywood standards. It’s a quaint adobe with walnut balustrades, an old-fashioned pantry and two bedrooms. The pantry comes in handy because the actress dislikes food shopping forays and can stock up for weeks at a time. She bought the house 17 years ago when her mother was alive.

Throughout her life, even during her married years, Mrs. Corby lived with her mother who died nine years ago. Since her mother’s death Mrs. Corby has become a devout student of eastern and western religions. In the second bedroom, which she uses as an office, there is a collection of religious oddments. One is a sign bearing a quotation from the Oriental philosopher Lao Tse: “As Rivers Have Their Source in Some Far Off Fountain, So The Human Spirit Has Its Source To Find This Fountain of Spirit Which Is To Find The Secret of Heaven and Earth.”

Mrs. Corby’s home can best be described as original. It is filled with mementoes picked up on her travels around the world. There is a cluster of Indian tables, a Persian rug, a Chinese porcelain horse. The walls are crowded with oil paintings from Rome, Spain and Denmark, where her mother and father were born.

Mrs. Corby is a veteran of more than 500 motion pictures and television shows. Now she doesn’t mind arising at 5:30 a.m. for yoga exercises and meditation before reporting to Warner Bros, where she works in the CBS series from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. She doesn’t like to cook. So lunchtime is her big meal which she eats at the studio. Unlike her television role the actress spends little time in the kitchen: just enough to have a snack before going to bed.

When she’s not working in the show Mrs. Corby often can be found in that second bedroom pecking at a typewriter. She is writing a novel titled “The Pebble of Gibraltar” which she describes as “not a boy-meets-girl love story.” There is an independent spirit about Ellen Corby which comes through in her characterization of Grandma. When the mood seizes her she rolls off in her camper for scenic areas in Southern California.

This year when the show goes on hiatus she plans a trip back east to visit old friends. “I’m not making any firm plans or even plotting my journey in advance,” she says. “I’ll take Charlie Brown and the two of us will start off down the highway, stopping when we find a place we like.”

When she is in the city on Sunday mornings Mrs. Corby unfailingly attends a Science of Mind church. She says the services are inspiring and intellectually stimulating. “I believe in all religions,” says Mrs. Corby. “And I also believe in the Walton family. It’s the sort of entertainment I’d like to see them bring back to motion pictures.




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