Longevity

Do you ever notice character actors in movies and TV shows and know you've seen them somewhere else but you can't place them? No? Huhn...maybe that's just me...

Let's try again.

Did you see The Wedding Singer? Do you remembering the granny who rapped to Sugar Hill Gang's classic Rapper's Delight? No? Huhn...maybe that's just me...

I'm not starting over so if you aren't interested in character actors and rapping grannies feel free to stop reading now. You can catch up with me in a few days.

Still there? Great - I really want to share this with you.

I love the rapping granny and I love the actress that plays her. She's a little sparrow of a woman with a high squeaky voice who looks to be about a thousand years old. She pops up in stuff all the time and every time I see her I think "you go, girl". I read a lot of articles about agism and sexism in Hollywood and how there are no good parts for women after age 40. I'm not debating the truth of those assertions. Rather I am celebrating this particular actress of quite advanced age (she'll be 92 this year!) who is still working, still getting gigs, and making a splash in everything she does.

Why do I know anything at all about this woman? Well, I was watching an episode of Wings this morning.

Yes, I record and watch every episode of Wings my DVR can find for me. No, I'm not ashamed.

This morning's episode included a familiar face - it was the rapping granny! - and she looked pretty ancient back in the early 90's. Since she's still working, I felt obliged to look her up on the Internet and figure out how old she really is. I thought, perhaps, this was an Estelle Getty/Sophia Petrillo situation. After a little bit of searching (cross-referencing IMDb and Wikipedia), I discovered that while not ancient, she was definitely older in this episode of Wings.

Despite everything (her age, Hollywood, etc.), she continues to appear in movies and TV; according to her resume, she even has some projects coming out this year.

You go, Ellen Albertini Dow! God bless ya.