Irene Ryan

Irene Ryan, born Irene Noblitt on October 17, 1902, in El Paso, Texas, was an American actress and comedienne whose career spanned vaudeville, radio, film, television, and Broadway. The second daughter of Catherine McSharry Noblitt, an Irish immigrant, and James Merritt Noblitt, an army sergeant from North Carolina, Ryan began performing at age 11, when she won three dollars singing "Pretty Baby" in an amateur contest at the Valencia Theater in San Francisco.

At age 20, Ryan married writer-comedian Tim Ryan, and the two built a vaudeville act together. Billed as "Tim and Irene" and formally as Tim Ryan and Irene Noblette, they performed a "Dumb Dora" routine and starred in eleven short comedies for Educational Pictures between 1935 and 1937. In 1936, they substituted for Jack Benny on The Jell-O Summer Show on NBC's Red Network. The couple divorced in 1942, though Ryan retained the surname. She subsequently toured with Bob Hope and appeared on his radio program for two years. In 1943, she played Edgar Kennedy's wife in two RKO short films and appeared in the country music film O, My Darling Clementine. Monogram Pictures later reunited Tim and Irene for four feature films, the last being the 1944 musical Hot Rhythm with Dona Drake.

Ryan married Harold E. Knox in 1946, and the two divorced in 1961. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, she continued working in motion pictures, frequently cast as fussy or nervous women. In 1946, she joined the cast of The Jack Carson Show on CBS Radio. Her television work began in January 1955 with an appearance on The Danny Thomas Show, and she went on to guest roles on The Real McCoys, Bringing Up Buddy, My Three Sons, and Ichabod and Me, among others.

In 1962, Ryan was cast as Daisy May "Granny" Moses, the mother-in-law of Jed Clampett, in the CBS television series The Beverly Hillbillies, a role that became the defining work of her career. According to Filmways publicist Ted Switzer, series creator Paul Henning had initially intended to cast Bea Benaderet as Granny, but Ryan's audition — performed with her hair in a bun and described as feisty — immediately won over Henning and executive producer Al Simon. Benaderet was subsequently cast as Jed Clampett's cousin, Pearl Bodine. The character of Granny was named in honor of artist Anna Mary Robertson "Grandma" Moses, who had died at age 101 the previous year. Ryan portrayed the role throughout the series run from 1962 to 1971, and received Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in both 1963 and 1964.

In 1972, Ryan made her Broadway debut in the Bob Fosse–directed musical Pippin, playing the role of Berthe and performing the number "No Time at All." A live recording of the production was made. Her performance earned her a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical in 1973, though she lost to Patricia Elliott for A Little Night Music. On March 10, 1973, Ryan suffered an apparent stroke during a performance of Pippin and was subsequently hospitalized in California, where she was diagnosed with an inoperable glioblastoma. She died on April 26, 1973, at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, California, at the age of 70, with glioblastoma and arteriosclerotic heart disease listed as causes of death. She was interred at Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery in Santa Monica beside her sister, Anna Thompson.

Ryan's legacy includes the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship, awarded through the Irene Ryan Foundation since 1972 to outstanding student performers participating in the American College Theatre Festival.