Born in Nebraska; educated at Bennington College, VT (drama). No one's idea of a beauty, Ramsey was a diminutive, stoop-shouldered character player of stage, film and TV who made a name for herself playing distasteful old hags and battle-axes. Despite a long and distinguished career on stage, she may be best remembered for her Oscar®-nominated performance as the nightmarish mother of Danny De Vito in his black comedy THROW MOMMA FROM THE TRAIN (1987). Ramsey had a distinctively husky and slurred voice during the last few years of her life -- the period of her greatest success and fame -- due to having had part of her tongue removed during throat cancer surgery. Prior to this potentially career-ending procedure, Ramsey had done extensive stage work in Philadelphia, NY, and LA, TV movies and episodic guest shots and small broad character work in films (FOR PETE'S SAKE, 1974; GOIN' SOUTH, 1978; ANY WHICH WAY YOU CAN, 1980). Amazingly, she made her new speech impediment into a career-boost, beginning with her fulsome portrayal of Mama Fratelli, the cartoonish harridan who menaces THE GOONIES (1985). Ramsey also had a memorable if improbably grisly encounter with a basketball in Wes Craven's oddball teen horror flick DEADLY FRIEND (1986) and played the mother of convict turned playwright Nick Nolte in the disarming comedy-drama WEEDS (1987). She appeared in several more features including the Bill Murray vehicle SCROOGED (1988), did TV guest shots on "Knight Rider," "ALF," and "Night Court," and appeared in several TV movies before dying of throat cancer in 1988.  Nominated for Best Performance By an Actress in a Supporting Role 1987: THROW MOMMA FROM THE TRAIN 1 nomination