Jessie Irene Noblett was born on the 17th October 1902, in El Paso, Texas, USA of part-Irish origin and was an actress, best known for her role as Granny in the series “The Beverly Hillbillies” (1962-1971), alongside Buddy Ebsen, Donna Douglas and Max Baer Jr. For this character, she was nominated for several Emmy Awards. Ryan was active in the entertainment industry from 1913 to 1973, when she passed away.
How rich was the actress? It has been estimated by authoritative sources that the outright size of Irene Ryan’s net worth was as much as $1 million, converted to the present day. Acting was the major source of her modest fortune.
Irene Ryan Net Worth $1 Million
To begin with, initially the girl was raised with her sister in El Paso by her parents James Merritt Noblett and Catherine MacSharry. Ryan and her parents moved to San Francisco when she was a child, and she began her career at age 11, after earning money singing “Pretty Baby” in a supposedly amateur contest at the Valencia Theatre in San Francisco.
Concerning her professional career, she performed in vaudevillewith her husband, known in the art medium as a “Dumb Dora” and personified by George Burns and Gracie Allen. Ryan toured with Bob Hope, also making regular appearances on his radio show. She also played Edgar Kennedy’s wife in two short films in 1943, and that same year appeared in the feature film “O, My Darling Clementine” (1943) starring Roy Acuff. In 1944, Irene played the role of Polly Kane in “Hot Rhythm”, and continued on working in films from the 1940s and early 1950s, starring in “The Woman on the Beach” (1947) by Jean Renoir, “Heading for Heaven” (1947) by Lewis Collins, “The WAC from Walla Walla” (1952) by William Witney as well as “Spring Reunion” (1957) by Robert Pirosh and John E. Burch.
In 1955, Ryan made her first appearance in a television series “The Danny Thomas Show” aired on CBS, then appeared with Walter Brennan in an episode of the ABC comedy “The Real McCoys” (1956). In 1960-1961, she appeared in “Bringing Up Buddy”, starring Frank Aletter, portraying the character of Cynthia Boyle. After 1961, she appeared in the most important series of her career “The Beverly Hillbillies”, in which she played Daisy Moses, the mother-in-law of JD Clampett (Buddy Ebsen), created by Paul Henning, and continuing for lost 10 years.
Finally, in the personal life of the actress, at the age of 20 she married the writer and comedian Tim Ryan -the couple divorced in 1942. In 1946, she married Harold E. Knox, who worked in film production, but in 1961 the two announced their divorce. She did not have any children. Irene Ryan died on the 26th April 1973 in Santa Monica, California, at age 70. Her body was buried in a crypt at the Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery in Santa Monica, along with his sister, Anna Thompson.
Primetime Emmy Awards - Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Series (Lead) (1964, 1963)
Nominations
Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, The Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship awards (Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival)
Movies
Heading for Heaven (1947), Half Angel (1951), Meet Me After the Show (1951), The WAC from Walla Walla (1952), Blackbeard the Pirate (1952), Ricochet Romance (1954), Spring Reunion (1957), Rockabilly Baby (1957)
TV Shows
This Is Your Life (1971), Love, American Style (1970-1972), The Beverly Hillbillies (1962-1971), Petticoat Junction (1968), General Electric Theater (1962)
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Fact
1
In a live interview, Max Baer Jr., who played Jethro on The Beverly Hillbillies (1962), stated that Irene "smoked like a chimney", which made other cast members fear for her health.
A native of San Francisco, California, she was born on October 17, the same date of the 1989 San Francisco "World Series" Earthquake.
8
Irene owned and frequently stayed at a summer cottage on Clark Lake in Jackson County, Michigan.
9
Toured with Bob Hope's USO troupe during World War II.
10
Commonly thought to have been born in El Paso, Texas, Irene was actually born in San Francisco, California. This is proven by personal records closer to the family, and census records. Though she may never have known it, Irene was a 3rd cousin once removed to another actress, Mary Castle, (born Mary Ann Noblett). Both had common ancestral roots in the Noblet - Noblitt - Noblett family of Appalachian Georgia and North Carolina, reaching back to Quaker immigrants from Ireland to Pennsylvania, and from Ireland to a centuries-long line of French lords named Noblet and Noblette.
11
After the cancellation of The Beverly Hillbillies (1962), she was offered a starring role in a proposed TV series in which she would have played a character similar to that of Granny. Despite her interest in the idea of doing a new series, she decided to put the project on hold so that she could fulfill her dream of performing on Broadway. Ultimately, the proposed TV series never came into fruition, since her death in 1973 ended any chances of it being produced.
12
Had no surviving relatives; with an estate worth over $1 million, she decided to start the Irene Ryan Foundation for theatre aspirants.
13
(1948-1950) Radio: Co-starred on NBC Radio's The Bob Hope Show.
14
Her gravestone has the name Granny on it.
15
Since 1972, college thespians have competed annually for the prestigious Irene Ryan Scholarships (started by the Irene Ryan Foundation) at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.
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Interred at Woodlawn Cemetery, Santa Monica, California, USA.
17
When she didn't have her Granny make-up on, she often went unrecognized on the streets.
$1 Million
