: Famous for her on-screen rapping skills, the actress lived a full life.
Her
screen career spanned nearly a half-century, but Ellen Albertini Dow was
probably most famous for her scene-stealing rendition of “Rapper’s Delight” in
the 1998 comedy, The Wedding Singer.
Dow, who
lived to be 101 years old, died on Monday.
Deadline confirmed
the news with her longtime agent, Juliet Green.
While she was a ‘delight’ in Adam Sandler’s romantic comedy
about a wedding performer, Dow had an expansive film and TV career that
included roles on The Twilight Zone, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Wonder Girls, and The Golden Girls. She also appeared
alongside Whoopi Goldberg in Sister Act and
as Disco Dottie in 54.
Dow followed The
Wedding Singer with another scene-stealing appearance in Wedding Crashers as the obscene Mary
Clearly, grandmother to Claire (Rachel McAdams) who outs her grandson (Keir O’Donnell).
The actress most recently voiced a character on Family Guy and was last seen on screen
in New Girl.
Dow was born November 16, 1913 in Mount Carmel, Pa. before
eventually moving to New York to pursue an acting career.
Watch her version of the Sugarhill Gang classic below: