Career Highlights: All in the Family: Aunt Iola's Visit
First Major Screen Credit: All in the Family: Aunt Iola's Visit (1978)
Biography
Born in 1908, actress Nedra Volz began her career in show business as a little girl, appearing in vaudeville under the name "Baby Nedra" when she was a toddler. She served as a vocalist for a popular big band in the 1930s called Cato's Vagabonds, and was married in 1946 to Oren Volz, with whom she would have three children. It wasn't until the 1970s that Volz began the onscreen career that would make her a familiar face to so many fans, appearing on numerous TV shows like WKRP in Cincinnati and Maude. In 1980, she took on the role of Adelaide Brubaker on the popular sitcom Diff'rent Strokes, and she would stay with the series for two years. She also took on the recurring role of Emma Tisdale on The Dukes of Hazzard, and continued to wrack up a huge list of single-episode appearances on various shows throughout the '80s and '90s. Volz finally retired from acting in 1996 at the age of 88. She moved to Mesa, AZ, where she eventually passed away in 2003 at the age of 94. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide
Born Nedra Gordonier, she began her career in the family tent show, and appeared in vaudeville as a toddler (called "Baby Nedra"). She ended up in the 1970s as a well-recognized supporting actress primarily on television and also in feature films. She often played grandmothers or feisty little old ladies.
Career
In the early 1930s Nedra Gordonier was featured vocalist with Cato's Vagabonds, a Des Moines, Iowa, big band that briefly enjoyed national popularity. Cato never made records, but Nedra managed to appear on exactly one 78 side, with the orchestra of Will Osborne in 1933.
Her most notable appearances include:
Aunt Iola, Edith Bunker's favourite aunt on All in the Family, 1976.
Housekeeper Adelaide Brubaker on Diff'rent Strokes from January 1980 until May 1982.
Post Office Employee Miz Emma Tisdale on The Dukes of Hazzard starting in November 1980 until 1984.
Pearl Sperling in the 1985 season of The Fall Guy.
Aside from these regular parts, she also appeared in a great many guest roles, including 'Mission of Peace', a 1986 episode of The A-Team, as one of a group of senior citizens forced into asking the team for help. In 1978 Nedra appeared as a protester Mrs Burstyn on the TV series WKRP in Cincinnati.
Despite her age, Nedra continuted to act well into her 80s. In Moving Violations, director Neil Israel allowed Nedra to do many stunts herself, including being lifted into a window and falling head first onto the floor.
In 1944, at the age of 36, Nedra married Oren Volz. The marriage produced three children, Edward Volz, Linda Deffenderer, and Barbara Lee Volz (1939-1992). Oren Volz died in 1987.