TJ
01-22-2003, 06:09 PM
http://www.arizonarepublic.com/arizona/articles/0122obit-volz22.html
By Connie Cone Sexton
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 22, 2003
Character actress Nedra Volz, who played housekeeper Adelaide Brubaker in
the early 1980s on the Diff'rent Strokes television series and made a living
playing grandmothers and little old ladies, died Monday of Alzheimer's
complications. She was 94.
Volz, of Mesa, recognized for her trademark white bun, worked in vaudeville
and radio as a young woman but didn't find fame in show business until her
60s.
Her first role as the "Old Lady" came in a 1975 episode of Good Times. Over
the years she made several guest appearances on other TV comedies including
Alice, Maude and Designing Women. Along with Diff'rent Strokes, she had a
recurring role as Pearl Sperling in The Fall Guy and as Miz Emma Tidsale,
the postmistress, on The Dukes of Hazzard.
She made her film debut in 1973 in Your Minutes Are Up as the "Free Press
Lady" and went on to appear in more than a dozen theatrical and TV films
including 10, Little Miss Marker and Earth Girls Are Easy. Her last film was
The Great White Hype in 1995.
Volz, born in Montrose, Iowa, on June 18, 1908, first hit the stage as a
toddler. Her parents were in vaudeville and billed her as "Baby Nedra."
She sang with a band as a young woman but stayed out of performing until
about the 1950s when she did community theater.
"She always had that bun on her head," said her son, Edward, of Mesa.
"Nobody knows her name, but everybody knows who she is."
Other survivors include her daughter, Linda Deffenderfer of Chandler.
By Connie Cone Sexton
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 22, 2003
Character actress Nedra Volz, who played housekeeper Adelaide Brubaker in
the early 1980s on the Diff'rent Strokes television series and made a living
playing grandmothers and little old ladies, died Monday of Alzheimer's
complications. She was 94.
Volz, of Mesa, recognized for her trademark white bun, worked in vaudeville
and radio as a young woman but didn't find fame in show business until her
60s.
Her first role as the "Old Lady" came in a 1975 episode of Good Times. Over
the years she made several guest appearances on other TV comedies including
Alice, Maude and Designing Women. Along with Diff'rent Strokes, she had a
recurring role as Pearl Sperling in The Fall Guy and as Miz Emma Tidsale,
the postmistress, on The Dukes of Hazzard.
She made her film debut in 1973 in Your Minutes Are Up as the "Free Press
Lady" and went on to appear in more than a dozen theatrical and TV films
including 10, Little Miss Marker and Earth Girls Are Easy. Her last film was
The Great White Hype in 1995.
Volz, born in Montrose, Iowa, on June 18, 1908, first hit the stage as a
toddler. Her parents were in vaudeville and billed her as "Baby Nedra."
She sang with a band as a young woman but stayed out of performing until
about the 1950s when she did community theater.
"She always had that bun on her head," said her son, Edward, of Mesa.
"Nobody knows her name, but everybody knows who she is."
Other survivors include her daughter, Linda Deffenderfer of Chandler.