Did Ronnie Claire Edwards soften her view on Ellen Corby

[mtdawg]

For those of you who attend the reunions, Ronnie's last book was not favorable on Ellen. Has she changed her opinion at the last reunion?

[awesomemixtape10]

What did she say in the book ?

[Penelope]

What did she say in her book?

[awesomemixtape10]

Knowing women, they probably both had to have the last word.

[JeriJet]

I remember reading an article wherein Eric, with no disrespect whatsoever, mentioned that Corby added quite a bit of vinegar to the set.... I could see that! Maybe Ronnie had a problem with Ellen's acerbity?

[kyrila]

In the book "Goodnight, John Boy," one of the directors (or maybe it was a writer) indicated that Ellen Corby told him that there were "too many saints on the show; she was the vinegar."  That's where that comment came from, I'm sure.

[Brenda]

Ellen Corby was forever complaining to the producers about her part. She thought that she was Grandma Walton and wasn't far from it in real life. She would constantly rewrite her part, which didn't set well with the writers. Her face, I suspect due to bad facelifts, was frozen into a sort of marionette line grimace. She was jealous of Will Geer. For years she made the supper scenes hell for the kids, chastising and correcting them. She'd started out as a script girl so she was hard on all of the crew too. Ellen did not like me because, until Corabeth was introduced, she had reigned as the difficult character. She felt an instant competition.

from Mr. Godsey asked me to marry him and I said, "yes!" (exit sobbing) by Ronnie Claire Edwards

There's more, but you'll have to read the book to find out what it says.

[Steve James]

"...bad facelifts...?"  Wow.   I realize that Cora Beth is revered on this message board, and I also realize she's trying to sell books, but man, that statement alone is pretty harsh considering the person on the receiving end of it is no longer able to counter it.  That's a real cheap shot.

[clyde]

So I guess everything was not necessarily wine and roses among all the cast members. In present day interviews, all of the actors say they love each other and are like family. Of course every family has its curmudgeons, so I guess Ellen Corby/Grandma was the Waltons'. I was surprised to read RC Edward's opinion about Ellen making the kids' lives miserable. Every one of them had nothing but praise for her in the interviews recently aired on INSP. Jon Walmsley even said they adopted each other as Grandma and Grandson.

[daniela]

She's not here to defend herself, so I feel bad for her about that.

I think sometimes when things are written, or remembered, they seem worse than the reality of which they were. Not all the time, but sometimes I do think this can be the case. Arguments and bad feelings are normal when people spend a lot of time together. Just like a family..

[Brenda]

I bought her book last year at the reunion in California, and I read it on the plane on my way home. I was a bit surprised that she said such negative things about Ellen Corby in her book. Some things are best left unsaid, in my opinion, and I still believe in the "If you can't say something nice..." rule. She had only good things to say about all the other cast members.

[carol]

I think Mary said in her book that all the kids learned so much from Ellen especially in the dinner scenes about always remembering what they were doing when they said their line, where their utensils were, what was on the utensil etc to keep the continuity because they had to repeat the scene so many times and it had to be done exactly the same or as near to it as possible each time.

[awesomemixtape10]

I figure Ellen was like Grandma in real life. Like Ronnie basically said ,She was too good at the mean face.

[ILoveTheWaltons]

That sounds harsh what she wrote anyone know what she wrote about Michael??? (Sorry obsession again but i am in love with her)

[weezer29]

I believe that RCE had a high respect for ML. RCE loved ML's theater background. In her book she said that they used to 'hang' together when they were on the set at the same time.