Nedra Volz was a popular American actress who appeared in many television shows and movies, mostly in comedic roles. She was known for playing Aunt Iola on All in the Family, Adelaide Brubaker on Diff’rent Strokes, Emma Tisdale on The Dukes of Hazzard, and Winona Beck on Filthy Rich. She also had memorable roles in films such as Lust in the Dust, Moving Violations, and Earth Girls Are Easy. But how did the charming and funny actress die? Here is a brief overview of Nedra Volz’s cause of death and her life and career.
Early Life and Career
Nedra Volz was born on June 18, 1908, in Montrose, Iowa, to vaudeville parents. She began her career as a toddler in the family tent show, billed as “Baby Nedra”. The act continued until she was 11 years old and had outgrown the act’s title. She unsuccessfully tried acting in high school, which led her to pursue music.
In the early 1930s, Volz was a featured vocalist with Cato’s Vagabonds, a jazz band. In 1932, Volz and two other singers from Cato’s orchestra performed as “Nedra, Paul, and Glenn” on WHAM radio in Rochester, New York. In 1940, Volz, described as a “blues songstress”, was part of a vaudeville revue in Miami, Florida.
She married Oren Volz in 1944 and had two children. She put her career on hold to raise her family, but returned to performing in community theater shows in the 1950s.
Breakthrough and Success
In the early 1970s, Volz decided to pursue professional acting again, and made her film debut at age 65 in Your Three Minutes Are Up, starring Beau Bridges and Ron Leibman. She soon became a well-recognized supporting character actress, primarily on television but also in movies. Volz often played grandmothers or feisty little old ladies in 1970s sitcoms such as Alice, Maude, and One Day at a Time.
She also appeared in two of Norman Lear’s summer television series: as Grandma Belle Durbin in A Year at the Top in 1977 and as Bill Macy’s housekeeper Pinky Nolan in Hanging In in 1979. In 1978, Volz appeared in the pilot episode of the TV series WKRP in Cincinnati, where she whacked a turntable with her umbrella in protest of the station’s format change, and in All In The Family as Edith’s spinster relative and unwelcome visitor, Aunt Iola.
In 1980, she appeared in several Jack in the Box TV spots as they blew up Jack, one of more than 25 commercials that featured Volz. By 1980, she appeared on TV almost weekly, starting with a recurring role as housekeeper Adelaide Brubaker in the sitcom Diff’rent Strokes. In 1981, she landed another recurring role as postal worker Emma Tisdale on the TV show The Dukes of Hazzard.
In the 1982–83 season, Volz was the matriarch on Filthy Rich, a series spoofing prime-time soap operas of the day. Volz’s character Winona “Mother B” Beck, was the discarded first wife of cryogenically frozen Big Guy Beck (Slim Pickens and, after his death, Forrest Tucker), constantly trying to escape from the nursing home to return to the family mansion, Toad Hall.
Volz’s final series role was as the bail-bonds woman that hired Lee Majors’s bounty-hunter character on The Fall Guy from 1985 until the series ended in 1986. In “Mission of Peace”, a 1986 episode of The A-Team, she was one of a group of senior citizens forced into asking the team for help.
She also had a prolific film career, appearing in bawdy, raucous comedies such as Lust in the Dust, Moving Violations, Earth Girls Are Easy, and Mortuary Academy, among others. She often played elderly wisecrackers who were not afraid to speak their mind or get into trouble.
Nedra Volz Cause of Death
Volz retired from acting in 1996, after appearing in The Great White Hype, her last film role. She suffered from Alzheimer’s disease in her later years, and died of complications from the disease on January 20, 2003, in Mesa, Arizona, at the age of 94.
She was survived by her two children, six grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. She was cremated and her ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean.
Volz was remembered as a beloved actress who brought joy and laughter to millions of viewers with her charming and funny performances. She was praised for her versatility, talent, and longevity in the entertainment industry. She was also admired for her courage, resilience, and spirit in pursuing her dreams and overcoming challenges.
Nedra Volz was a true star who left a lasting legacy in the history of television and film. She will always be missed by her fans and colleagues.