--- description: She's best known for her performance of "Rapper's Delight" title: Ellen Albertini Dow, Rapping Granny in 'The Wedding Singer,' Dies at 101 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6378f638a8544c89/6987ee6235ba6fd637c0b364/ellen-albertini-dow.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [remembrance](/tag/remembrance/) ## remembrance Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Ellen Albertini Dow, _The Wedding Singer_’s Rapping Granny, Dies at 101 by [Devan Coggan / Entertainment Weekly](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Devan Coggan / Entertainment Weekly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 5, 2015 2:55 PM CUT  Ellen Albertini Dow stars as Rosie in New Line Cinema's comedy, "The Wedding Singer." Ellen Albertini Dow stars as Rosie in New Line Cinema's comedy, "The Wedding Singer."Getty Images by [Devan Coggan / Entertainment Weekly](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Devan Coggan / Entertainment Weekly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 5, 2015 2:55 PM CUT Ellen Albertini Dow, known for performing “Rapper’s Delight” in the 1998 film _The Wedding Singer_, died Monday, as [reported by Deadline](http://deadline.com/2015/05/ellen-albertini-dow-dead-wedding-singer-rapping-granny-1201420781/ "undefined"). She was 101. Born in Pennsylvania in 1913, she studied dance and piano as a child before moving to New York, where she pursued acting. In addition to performing comedy in the Borscht Belt and directing stage productions, she also worked with mimes Marcel Marceau and Jacques LeCog in Paris. She later moved to California, teaching drama at Los Angeles City College and Pierce College, where her husband Eugene Dow founded the theater program. She landed her first on-screen credit in the 1980s when she was in her 70s, and she went on to act in films like _Patch Adams_, _Sister Act_, and _Wedding Crashers_. Perhaps best known for her role in _The Wedding Singer_, [her performance of “Rapper’s Delight”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0IGepU7ICc "undefined") appeared on the film’s soundtrack, which went double platinum and made the Billboard Top 5. She also appeared in a number of television series, including _The Twilight Zone_, _The Golden Girls_, _Star Trek: The Next Generation_, _Seinfeld_ and _ER._ One of her most recent roles was in 2013, when she guest starred on an episode of _New Girl_. _This_ [_article_](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/05/05/ellen-albertini-dow-dead-wedding-singer "undefined") _originally appeared on_ [_EW.com_](http://www.ew.com/ "undefined")_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3846977/ellen-albertini-dow-dies/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3846977/ellen-albertini-dow-dies/"},"headline":"Ellen Albertini Dow, The Wedding Singer’s Rapping Granny, Dies at 101","datePublished":"2015-05-05T14:55:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T06:56:17.212Z","description":"She's best known for her performance of \"Rapper's Delight\"","url":"https://time.com/3846977/ellen-albertini-dow-dies/","keywords":["remembrance"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6378f638a8544c89/6987ee6235ba6fd637c0b364/ellen-albertini-dow.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Devan Coggan / Entertainment Weekly"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6378f638a8544c89/6987ee6235ba6fd637c0b364/ellen-albertini-dow.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Ellen Albertini Dow stars as Rosie in New Line Cinema's comedy, \"The Wedding Singer.\"","caption":"Ellen Albertini Dow stars as Rosie in New Line Cinema's comedy, \"The Wedding Singer.\"","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/remembrance/","name":"remembrance"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3846977/ellen-albertini-dow-dies/","name":"Ellen Albertini Dow, The Wedding Singer’s Rapping Granny, Dies at 101"}}]}] ```