Ellen Travolta

Last updated

Ellen Travolta
Ellen Travolta (cropped).jpg
Travolta in 2004
Born
Ellen M. Travolta

(1939-10-06) October 6, 1939 (age 85)
Englewood, New Jersey, U.S.
Education Dwight Morrow High School
Alma mater Carnegie Mellon University
OccupationActress
Years active1975–present
Known for Happy Days
Joanie Loves Chachi
Charles in Charge
Spouses
James Fridley
​
​
(m. 1964;div. 1977)​
​
​
(m. 1983;died 2017)​
[1]
Children2
Relatives Joey Travolta (brother)
Margaret Travolta (sister)
John Travolta (brother)

Ellen M. Travolta (born October 6, 1939) is an American actress known for playing Louisa Arcola Delvecchio in Happy Days and Joanie Loves Chachi as well as Gloria Cerullo in General Hospital and Lillian in Charles in Charge (1987-1990).

Contents

Early life

Ellen M. Travolta was born on October 6, 1939, in Englewood, New Jersey [2] to Salvatore ("Sam") Travolta and Helen Cecilia (née Burke) Travolta. Her father was a semi-professional football player [3] before becoming a tire salesman and a partner in a Firestone franchise called Travolta Tires. [4]

Travolta has five younger siblings: Joey, Margaret, Sam, Ann, and Hollywood star John.

Travolta attended Dwight Morrow High School in Englewood, New Jersey[ citation needed ] and Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. [5]

Career

As an actress and singer, she appeared with "The Sunshine Sisters," a radio vocal group. [3] She later became a drama coach, actress, and director of student productions. [6]

She is probably best known for her portrayal of Louisa Arcola Delvecchio, the aunt of Fonzie (Henry Winkler) and mother of Chachi Arcola (Scott Baio), in five episodes during the 1980s of the 1950s-era American sitcom Happy Days and in episodes of its spin-off Joanie Loves Chachi . Travolta also played the mother of Baio's character on the syndicated comedy series Charles in Charge from 1987 to 1990.[ citation needed ]

She had already portrayed Jimmy Baio's mother on a 1978 episode of The Love Boat . Travolta played Mrs. Horshack-O'Hara in three episodes of Welcome Back, Kotter , a comedy series on which her brother, actor John Travolta, starred as Vinnie Barbarino. She also appeared alongside her brother in the 1978 summer blockbuster Grease . Later in the 1970s, she played Dorothy Manucci in the short-lived television series Makin' It .[ citation needed ]

Personal life

Travolta has been a longtime performer and supporter of the Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre [7] where she appeared in a production of Hello, Dolly! in the Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre in 2000 and 2012 playing the star role opposite her husband's portrayal of Horace Vandergelder. [8] The theatre is the beneficiary of the Helen Burke Travolta Memorial fund, established in honor of Travolta's mother. Travolta has stated, "My mother was the beginning of all of this for us. She loved the theater, and she was always involved with the community theater and she encouraged all of us to be in it." [9]

Travolta married James Fridley in May 1964. [10] They had two children, a son, actor Tom Fridley and a daughter, Molly Allen Ritter. [11]

Travolta and Fridley divorced in 1977. She then married actor Jack Bannon on April 9, 1983. In 1994, the couple moved to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. [8] [12] They remained together until Bannon's death in 2017.

Selected TV and filmography

2023 Haul out the Holly Lit up [13]

2023-2024 General Hospital [14]

Related Research Articles

<i>Happy Days</i> American television sitcom (1974–1984)

Happy Days is an American television sitcom that aired first-run on the ABC network from January 15, 1974, to July 19, 1984, with a total of 255 half-hour episodes spanning 11 seasons. Created by Garry Marshall, it was one of the most successful series of the 1970s. The series presented an idealized vision of life in the 1950s and early 1960s Midwestern United States, and it starred Ron Howard as Richie Cunningham, Henry Winkler as his friend Fonzie, and Tom Bosley and Marion Ross as Richie's parents, Howard and Marion Cunningham. Although it opened to mixed reviews from critics, Happy Days became successful and popular over time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Baio</span> American actor (born 1960)

Scott Vincent Baio is an American actor. He is known for playing Chachi Arcola on the sitcom Happy Days (1977–1984) and its spin-off Joanie Loves Chachi (1982–1983), the title character on the sitcom Charles in Charge (1984–1990), Dr. Jack Stewart in the medical-mystery-drama series Diagnosis: Murder (1993–1995), and the title role of the musical film Bugsy Malone (1976), his onscreen debut. Baio has guest-starred on various television programs, appeared in several independent films, and starred on the Nickelodeon sitcom See Dad Run (2012–2014).

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Welcome Back, Kotter is an American sitcom starring Gabe Kaplan as a high-school teacher in charge of a racially and ethnically diverse remedial education class nicknamed the Sweathogs. Recorded in front of a live studio audience, the series aired on ABC from September 9, 1975, through May 17, 1979. It provided John Travolta with his breakthrough role.

<i>Joanie Loves Chachi</i> American sitcom television series, Happy Days spinoff

Joanie Loves Chachi is an American sitcom television series and a spin-off of Happy Days that aired on ABC from March 23, 1982, to May 24, 1983. It stars Erin Moran and Scott Baio as the characters Joanie Cunningham and Chachi Arcola, respectively. The series was cancelled after 17 episodes, in its second season, due to a drop in ratings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marion Ross</span> American actress (born 1928)

Marion Ross is an American actress. Her best-known role is that of Marion Cunningham on the ABC television sitcom Happy Days, on which she starred from 1974 to 1984 and for which she received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Before her success on Happy Days, Ross appeared in a variety of film roles, appearing in The Glenn Miller Story (1954), Sabrina (1954), Lust for Life (1956), Teacher's Pet (1958), Some Came Running (1958), Operation Petticoat (1959), and Honky (1971), as well as several minor television roles, one of which was on television's The Lone Ranger (1954). She was also twice nominated successively in 1992 and 1993 for the Primetime Emmy Award for her performance on the CBS television comedy-drama Brooklyn Bridge and later netted another Emmy nomination in 1999 for a two-episode appearance on the popular CBS drama Touched by an Angel. Ross also starred in the high-profile, long-anticipated sequel to Terms of Endearment (1983), The Evening Star (1996), in a turn for which she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress, as well as both a nomination and win for a Lone Star Film and Television Award for Best Supporting Actress.

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<i>Charles in Charge</i> American comedy television series

Charles in Charge is an American sitcom television series that premiered on October 3, 1984, on CBS. The series was a production of Al Burton Productions and Scholastic Productions in association with Universal Television and starred Scott Baio, who had previously starred in Happy Days, in the title role. Willie Aames, who had previously been a cast member on Eight Is Enough, also starred as Charles’ best friend Buddy Lembeck.

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References

  1. ↑ Skipper, Richard. "Jack Bannon : Horace Vandergelder (opposite Ellen Travolta) Coeur D'Alene Summer Theater' 2000 and 2012 productions of Hello, Dolly!". Richard Skipper's Celebrities. Retrieved October 13, 2013.
  2. ↑ "Ellen Travolta: Biography". TV Guide . Archived from the original on December 8, 2014. Retrieved October 13, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  3. ↑ Saks, Diane (August 2011). Overcoming Celebrity Obsession. iUniverse. p. 217. ISBN   978-1-45022-847-3.
  4. ↑ Holmes, Abby (September 15, 2010). "Dear Ellen". The Wenatchee World. Retrieved October 13, 2013.
  5. ↑ Reeves, Michael. "John's mom gave him introduction to acting". The Milwaukee Journal. Retrieved October 13, 2013.[ permanent dead link ]
  6. ↑ Kerschner, Jim (May 23, 2004). "Travolta family to put on a show". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved July 28, 2022.
  7. 1 2 Skipper, Richard. "Ellen Travolta - Call on Dolly: Celebrating The First Fifty Years of Hello, Dolly!" . Retrieved October 14, 2013.
  8. ↑ Kershner, Jim (February 22, 1998). "Keillor And Radio Show Here In June". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved July 28, 2022.
  9. ↑ Saks, Diane (June 2001). Ellen Travolta. iUniverse. ISBN   9780595182763.
  10. ↑ "Dear Ellen". The Wenatchee World. October 15, 2010. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
  11. ↑ Bannon, Ellen Travolta and Jack (May 14, 2012). "Excitement of Summer Theater (video)". YouTube. Archived from the original on December 22, 2021.
  12. ↑ "Haul Out the Holly: Lit up". IMDb .
  13. ↑ "Ellen Travolta is Headed Back to 'General Hospital' – Here's Why". April 23, 2024.
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