Biografie

Did not work professionally as an actress until age 50, from which point she became one of the most recognizable faces on television and film and was named as the nation's favorite fictional grandmother. Before that she had lived a difficult existence of relative poverty, working in dead-end jobs while raising two children on her own.

Announced that she was retiring in 2009, at age 87, because she had suffered a stroke which left her unable to accept any further acting roles. Nevertheless, she did take on some further minor roles after making a recovery.

Was actually christened Betty, rather than Elizabeth.

Was in three different versions of "A Christmas Carol," twice as the same character, Ms. Dilber, in two TV versions of "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens: Eine Weihnachtsgeschichte (1984), with George C. Scott and A Christmas Carol - Die drei Weihnachtsgeister (1999) with Patrick Stewart.

She had roles in two "Oliver Twist" films: the 2005 Roman Polanski adaptation, Oliver Twist (2005), and the 1999 I.T.V. mini-series, Oliver Twist (1999). She portrayed separate characters in both versions.