Anne Ramsey

American character actress Anne Ramsey was born Anne Mobley in Omaha, Nebraska to Eleanor (Smith), a national treasurer of the Girl Scouts, and Nathan Mobley, an insurance executive. Her uncle was U. S. Ambassador David S. Smith. An ancestor was Mayflower Pilgrim William Brewster. She attended Rosemary Hall (then an elite girls school in in Greenwich, Connecticut) and Bennington College, and was active in numerous on- and off-Broadway productions. After she married actor Logan Ramsey, the couple founded Philadelphia's Theatre of the Living Arts. In the early 1970s she began her lengthy film career.

In 1971 she starred opposite her husband in The Sporting Club (1971), then settled into bit parts.

Eventually, she was noticed for her trademark brusque, gruff, usually comedic roles, after which she received more film offers, notably Goin' South (1978), Any Which Way You Can (1980), The Goonies (1985), and Deadly Friend (1986).

Unfortunately, in the mid-1980s she discovered she was suffering from throat cancer and was forced to have parts of both her tongue and jawbone removed, which obviously affected how she spoke and the effects of which are evident in Throw Momma from the Train (1987).

She was awarded the 1986 Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress in The Goonies (1985), and the 1988 Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress in Throw Momma from the Train (1987). In both movies, she played overbearing mothers.

She received an Academy Award nomination in 1987 for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Danny DeVito's inimitably nightmarish mother in Throw Momma from the Train (1987) which she managed to finish by bravely soldiering on even as her cancer remorselessly worsened.

She is one of three people to whom the movie Scrooged (1988) was dedicated.