Ronnie Claire Edwards

Acting career

Edwards was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. She acted professionally from 1963 and is best known for the role of the domineering Corabeth Walton Godsey, the wife of storekeeper Ike Godsey played by Joe Conley, in the CBS television series The Waltons, created by Earl Hamner, Jr. She played Charlene's mother, Ione Frazier, on two episodes of CBS's Designing Women. Edwards played Aunt Dolly in Hamner's series Boone, which aired on NBC from 1983–84. She co-starred in the NBC series Sara (1985) opposite Geena Davis. She briefly appeared on an episode of PBS's Antiques Roadshow (2008) from Dallas, Texas, when she brought in for appraisal a chair formerly owned by P. T. Barnum. She also appeared in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Thine Own Self" and the remake of Inherit the Wind (1999).

In 2008, HBO decided not to air the television series 12 Miles of Bad Road, in which Edwards had a role. She subsequently retired from acting.

Her work in films included The Dead Pool (1988).

Other

Edwards was the author of several books, including memoirs published in 2012. In 2000, The Knife Thrower's Assistant: Memoirs of a Human Target, was published. She had previously created and performed a one-woman show under the same title, which she took to the Edinburgh Fringe in 1993. She also co-wrote a musical play, Idols of the King, as a tribute to Elvis Presley's career, legacy and most passionate fans.

Death

Edwards died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in her sleep on June 14, 2016, at age 83. She left no immediate survivors. (Her obituary in The Washington Post says, "Survivors include a brother and sister.")