Ellen Corby from The Waltons wrote a book about a traveling pebble

It was inspired by her own trips around the world.

AP / Vantage Press

Ellen Corby will forever be remembered as Grandma Esther on The Waltons. She appeared on the show through most of its run, even persevering after suffering a severe stroke in 1976. She was also in the TV movie The Homecoming: A Christmas Story, which aired first and was then developed into the show. No other adult actors crossed over from the original movie to the series.

While she was certainly a talented actress, winning three Emmys for her role on The Waltons, acting wasn’t her only passion. She also enjoyed writing and telling stories. She worked on movie scripts in the 1930s and ‘40s and received story credit on two Waltons episodes, The Separation and The Search.

She also wrote an “autobiography” about a traveling pebble called The Pebble of Gibraltar. Except it’s not her autobiography, it’s “as told to Ellen Corby” by the pebble – according to the book’s cover.

In reality, it’s a fun, educational novel about a little rock that travels around southern Europe, visiting Spain, France and Italy. The inside cover proclaims “a uniquely imaginative allegory with many perceptive, humorous, and historical treasures among its pages.”

Though she started writing it in the early 1970s, it wasn’t officially published until 1988. The book was inspired by her love of travel. She enjoyed visiting Morocco, India and many other places around the world. Who knew homebody Grandma Walton was played by such an avid wanderer!

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26 Comments

nerstrand 19 months ago
She looks like she's in a camper in this picture. Look at the window behind her, that looks like will gear standing there.
LoveMETV22 nerstrand 19 months ago
According to the picture credit on a few websites it is:

" Actress Ellen Corby, who plays Grandma Walton in the series "The Waltons," is sitting in her private camper while studying a script,, in Los Angeles, California."
LoveMETV22 19 months ago
A great actress. Not only on the Walton's, but other appearances as well. An impressive bio with many appearances over the decades.
Mblack 20 months ago
I guess she has her author's hat on in the picture.
KawiVulc 20 months ago
None on eBay. Unavailable on Amazon (not that there's anything I need bad enough to order from that... whatever...)
AgingDisgracefully 20 months ago
Maybe she was a fan of Emerson, Lake and Palmer?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrYbfQRlfwQ
Andybandit 20 months ago
It is good Ellen had other talents to fall back on if she didn't to do good at acting.
Mblack 20 months ago
Still waiting for Rauel Welch story. Miss Piggy reminds me Raq uel was on The Muppet Show.

But now, Bruce Willis has dementia. He did tv, Moonlighting.
surveyor 20 months ago
Really didn’t like Walton’s all that much.
cperrynaples 20 months ago
As soon as I saw, the headline, I said "This is a rerun"! Really, just because you run old shows, that doesn't mean you can rerun old articles! The New York Times doesn't do reprints...LOL!
Pacificsun cperrynaples 20 months ago
But I think we all remember some stories more than others. Though it would be nice to admit, this story first appeared in which year. But they also do it because the hyperlinks within the page connect to other stories which might become of new interest.

JIMO, I'd rather have a recycled Story, than looking at the same image of one for a week. That's what really annoys me!
LoveMETV22 Pacificsun 20 months ago
Add: JIMO: I would rather read a redo article on MeTv than The New York Times ( the beauty of choice).
MikeMarshall 41 months ago
She was also a editor on the 50s western Trackdown which had Robert Culp ( Hoby Gilman ) as a Texas Ranger in the series. It use to come on at 7am on Saturday morning and play 2 half hour shows on METV but having Saturday morning cartoons on until 9am now that replaced that & Have Gun, Will Travel w/R. Boone. She is a pretty feisty lady in Trackdown but I like her character in it along with all her rolls she played in all her movies & series she was in. Thank you Ellen Corby for all the years you entertained the world and our family. You are missed but will live on forever in our hearts ♥
netty12967 MikeMarshall 41 months ago
Love that show!!
wyo307pink 43 months ago
I didn’t like The Waltons when I was young, so I wasn’t watching it here on MeTV, but then I started and I love it ❤️❤️❤️
The ONLY thing is that, I have a hard time seeing Grandma Walton as Grandma Walton because she is the lady who sold Barney the car on The Andy Griffith Show. When I see her, I see that lady but I’m getting better 🥰The car turned out to be a ‘lemon’ & the name of the episode is ‘Barney’s New Car’ in season 3. ☺️
I would love to read this book she wrote ! ❤️
netty12967 wyo307pink 41 months ago
hahahahahhaa, me too! Love it!
Pacificsun wyo307pink 20 months ago
😉 [ we start out here in comments with a fun emoji just to say we're smiling ]

At the same time, am noticing a whole new collection of avatars (meaning your user name). And the observation is unusual because there isn't usually a thought behind an actor being in one part or another. For example, so many of our famous Classic TV Series actors appeared at least once in Twilight Zone or Alfred Hitchcock is some very "iffy" roles. And yet, there's no identity issues. I've watched EC in TAGS, and actually what surprised me, was her playing a cheater. Not that she isn't the perfect grandmother!
Lillyrose 55 months ago
Ellen Corby was also Miss Hannah on the episode of "I Love Lucy" called "Lucy Meets Orson Welles." Hilarious!
Debby 55 months ago
I loved The Waltons. One of my all-time favorite TV shows. I used to watch it with my grandfather each week. He would tell me about his younger years, and I was fascinated. Ellen Corby reminded me of my own grandmother who passed away suddenly in 1974.
Angela 55 months ago
I really liked salty Grandma Walton, but after her stroke when the only words she could say were, "Oh, my", it was painful to watch the show.😕
RandallHamm Angela 44 months ago
Or in one of her last appearances, on one of the Movies. He's here, he's here.
Mblack RandallHamm 20 months ago
Is she talking about John Boy?
RobCertSDSCascap 55 months ago
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