Biography

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 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 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 died in 1988, aged 59, eight months after Throw Momma from the Train (1987) was released.
- IMDb mini biography by: mcrodgers2@gmail.com

[on her Oscar nomination for Throw Momma from the Train (1987)] It means a little bit of acceptance after a long attempt to get here, but that doesn't mean I'm "here" at all, I've got a lot more to do.

Some people say I'm not a very pretty woman, but I'm a very beautiful woman inside.

[on her role as Momma in Throw Momma from the Train (1987)] My own mother was ill late in her life and became irritable and impatient. She was very demanding and I found some elements in her for Momma. But I've never known anyone as rude and awful as Momma Lift. So I made her a composite of some of the traits I saw in women when I was younger and used to people-watch in Grand Central and Pennsylvania stations in New York. Of course it was an unflattering role, but audiences love her. And I got all my hostilities out playing the character.