Joe Beaudoin Jr.: initial creation

2026-06-21T05:13:45Z

initial creation

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{{Cast Data
| image=
| size= 200px
| character= Elderly Woman
| series= Caprica
| born_month= 7
| born_day= 28
| born_year= 1926
| death_month= 2
| death_day= 3
| death_year= 2018
| nationality= UK
| imdb= 0709141
| sortkey= Ramus, Doreen
}}

Doreen Mildred Ramus (née Blyth; 28 July 1926 - 3 February 2018) was an English-born actress, registered nurse, and community theatre figure who portrayed the Elderly Woman in the ''[[Caprica]]'' episode "[[Unvanquished]]" (2010). Born in Milton Lilbourne, Wiltshire, England, she trained as a nurse and emigrated to Canada in 1952,<ref group="external" name="vancouversun_ramus_immigrants_journey">{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/497592251/#:~:text=I%20set%20sail%20from%20Glasgow|title=An Immigrant's Journey: The Ramus Family|author=Ramus, Doreen|work=The Vancouver Sun|date=10 June 2008|page=12|accessdate=20 June 2026}}</ref> eventually settling with her husband, Ken Ramus, in [[w:Garibaldi Highlands|Garibaldi Highlands]], near [[w:Squamish, British Columbia|Squamish, British Columbia]], where she worked for decades as a background and character actress in Vancouver-area film and television productions while also pursuing a long parallel career as a community theatre organizer.<ref group="external" name="imdb_ramus_biography_birth_death">{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0709141/#:~:text=July%2028%2C%201926|title=Doreen Ramus|publisher=IMDb|accessdate=20 June 2026}}</ref>

== Career ==

=== Screen career ===
Ramus worked as a background and character actress in film and television productions shot in and around Vancouver, British Columbia, from the early 1980s to 2012, almost always cast as an elderly woman.<ref group="external" name="tvguide_ramus_credits_filmography">{{cite web|url=https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/doreen-ramus/credits/3000000144/#:~:text=Doreen%20Ramus|title=Doreen Ramus List of Movies and TV Shows|publisher=TV Guide|accessdate=20 June 2026}}</ref> Her earliest documented screen role was Mrs. McCarthy in the television film ''[[w:The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (film)|The Best Christmas Pageant Ever]]'' (1983).<ref group="external" name="imdb_best_christmas_pageant_credit">{{cite web|url=https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0085231/characters/nm0709141/?ref_=ttfc_fcr_3_16#:~:text=Mrs.%20McCarthy|title=The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (TV Movie 1983) - Doreen Ramus as Mrs. McCarthy|publisher=IMDb|accessdate=20 June 2026}}</ref> She went on to appear in ''[[w:21 Jump Street|21 Jump Street]]'' (1989) and the television film ''[[w:Quarantine (1989 film)|Quarantine]]'' (1989), and played the Old Woman on Bus in the television film ''[[w:To Grandmother's House We Go|To Grandmother's House We Go]]'' (1992).<ref group="external" name="imdb_to_grandmothers_house_fullcredits">{{cite web|url=https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0105606/fullcredits/#:~:text=Doreen%20Ramus|title=To Grandmother's House We Go (TV Movie 1992) - Full cast & crew|publisher=IMDb|accessdate=20 June 2026}}</ref>

Through the late 1990s and 2000s she accumulated further small roles, including in ''[[w:Da Vinci's Inquest|Da Vinci's Inquest]]'' (1999), ''[[w:Scary Movie|Scary Movie]]'' (2000), in which she played the Old Lady in Theatre,<ref group="external" name="imdb_scary_movie_credit">{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0175142/characters/nm0709141/#:~:text=Old%20Lady%20in%20Theatre|title=Scary Movie (2000) - Doreen Ramus as Old Lady in Theatre|publisher=IMDb|accessdate=20 June 2026}}</ref> ''[[w:Alice, I Think|Alice, I Think]]'' (2006), ''[[w:Stargate SG-1|Stargate SG-1]]'' (2007), ''[[w:Smallville|Smallville]]'' (2007), on which she played the Daily Planet Mail Delivery Lady in the episode "Gemini,"<ref group="external" name="imdb_smallville_gemini_credit">{{cite web|url=https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1032127/characters/nm0709141/#:~:text=Daily%20Planet%20Mail%20Delivery%20Lady|title="Smallville" Gemini (TV Episode 2007) - Doreen Ramus as Daily Planet Mail Delivery Lady|publisher=IMDb|accessdate=20 June 2026}}</ref> ''[[w:Gym Teacher: The Movie|Gym Teacher: The Movie]]'' (2008), and ''[[w:Reaper (TV series)|Reaper]]'' (2009).<ref group="footnotes" name="footnote_doreem_ramus_alternate_credit">On the 2009 ''Reaper'' episode "To Sprong, with Love," she was credited under the alternate spelling "Doreem Ramus."</ref>

In 2010 Ramus took three further guest roles in genre television, appearing as an Old Lady in ''[[w:Supernatural (American TV series)|Supernatural]]'', as the Elderly Woman in ''Caprica'', and as the Elderly Neighbor in the ''[[w:Human Target (2010 TV series)|Human Target]]'' episode "Embassy Row."<ref group="external" name="imdb_human_target_embassy_row_credit">{{cite web|url=https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1519000/characters/nm0709141#:~:text=Elderly%20Neighbor|title="Human Target" Embassy Row (TV Episode 2010) - Doreen Ramus as Elderly Neighbor|publisher=IMDb|accessdate=20 June 2026}}</ref> She closed out her screen career with roles in ''[[w:Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules|Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules]]'' (2011),<ref group="external" name="imdb_wimpy_kid_rodrick_rules_fullcredits">{{cite web|url=https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1650043/fullcredits/#:~:text=Doreen%20Ramus|title=Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (2011) - Full cast & crew|publisher=IMDb|accessdate=20 June 2026}}</ref> the television series ''[[w:Endgame (Canadian TV series)|Endgame]]'' (2011), ''[[w:The Big Year (film)|The Big Year]]'' (2011), and ''[[w:Girl in Progress|Girl in Progress]]'' (2012).

=== Stage work ===
In 1965, Ramus co-founded the Howe Sound Drama Club, also known as the Howe Sound Players, in Squamish.<ref group="external" name="squamishreporter_andersen_drama_club_history">{{cite news|url=https://www.squamishreporter.com/2014/05/20/squamish-honours-theatre-veteran-doreen-ramus/#:~:text=approximately%2090%20plays|title=Squamish Honours Theatre Veteran Doreen Ramus|author=Andersen, Eric|work=The Squamish Reporter|date=20 May 2014|accessdate=20 June 2026}}</ref> The club's first production was ''Aladdin'' in 1966, and over the following 35 years, concluding with ''[[w:Camelot (musical)|Camelot]]'' in 2000, it staged "approximately 90 plays and musical theatre events," drawing an estimated 2,500 to 3,000 people into performing and behind-the-scenes roles across Squamish, Brackendale, Britannia Beach, Woodfibre, Whistler, and Pemberton.<ref group="external" name="squamishreporter_andersen_drama_club_history" />

She remained active in local theatre into her late eighties, including a 2013 turn as Lady Cravenshire in a production of ''[[w:Calendar Girls (play)|Calendar Girls]]'' staged by Between Shifts Theatre; a tribute published in the ''Squamish Chief'' recalled that she would "garner huge applause just for walking on stage."<ref group="external" name="squamishchief_letter_calendar_girls_tribute">{{cite news|url=https://www.squamishchief.com/opinion/letter-in-tribute-to-doreen-ramus-3347814#:~:text=garner%20huge%20applause|title=LETTER: In tribute to Doreen Ramus|work=Squamish Chief|accessdate=20 June 2026}}</ref> In April 2014, the Squamish community held a fundraising tribute event, billed as the "Doreen Ramus Roast," in support of a history project documenting the Howe Sound Drama Club.<ref group="external" name="squamishreporter_andersen_drama_club_history" />

== Personal life ==
Ramus trained as a nurse and midwife at the Royal East Sussex Hospital in Hastings, England, from 1946 to 1949, completing four years of nursing and midwifery training in total.<ref group="external" name="tunbridgewellscourier_ramus_nurse_training_letter">{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/876983316/#:~:text=Royal%20East%20Sussex%20Hospital|title=Transatlantic Search|author=Ramus, Doreen M.|work=Tunbridge Wells Courier|date=4 March 1994|page=6|accessdate=20 June 2026}}</ref><ref group="external" name="vancouversun_ramus_immigrants_journey" /> In a 1994 letter to the ''Tunbridge Wells Courier'' seeking out former training-school friends, she signed as Doreen M. Ramus and gave her maiden name as Doreen Blyth.<ref group="external" name="tunbridgewellscourier_ramus_nurse_training_letter" />

In 1952, Ramus sailed from Glasgow to Montreal aboard a merchant navy vessel, landing in Canada as what she later described as a "landed immigrant."<ref group="external" name="vancouversun_ramus_immigrants_journey" /> She soon found nursing work at the Montreal Neurological Institute, joining a research team under neurosurgeon [[w:Wilder Penfield|Wilder Penfield]] studying the causes and treatment of epilepsy.<ref group="external" name="vancouversun_ramus_immigrants_journey" /> She and a travelling companion later worked as paid delivery drivers, taking a new Chevrolet cross-country from a General Motors factory in Oshawa, Ontario, to the west coast by way of Hamilton, the Prairies, and Calgary before crossing into British Columbia.<ref group="external" name="vancouversun_ramus_immigrants_journey" />

She and her husband, Ken Ramus, settled in Garibaldi Highlands, where they were still living as of 1993.<ref group="external" name="vancouversun_ramus_ozone_wedding_announcement">{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/495078042/#:~:text=Garibaldi%20Highlands|title=Ramus - Ozone (wedding announcement)|work=The Vancouver Sun|date=6 March 1993|page=77|accessdate=20 June 2026}}</ref> Their son, Bruce Ramus, married Lynne Ozone, of Maitland, Florida, in Cambridge, England, on 27 February 1993.<ref group="external" name="vancouversun_ramus_ozone_wedding_announcement" /> Ken Ramus predeceased her in 1995.<ref group="external" name="seatoskyreview_tribute_family_life" /> Ramus was also a founding member of the Squamish Writers Group and, in 2016, self-published a memoir, ''My Life's Journey'', recounting her move from England to Canada.<ref group="external" name="ramus_blog_about_memoir_background">{{cite web|url=http://doreenramus.blogspot.com/p/about.html#:~:text=My%20Life%27s%20Journey|title=Doreen Ramus: About me|publisher=Doreen Ramus (blog)|accessdate=20 June 2026}}</ref>

Ramus died in the Squamish area on 3 February 2018, at age 91; a celebration of her life was held later that month at the West Coast Railway Heritage Park in Squamish.<ref group="external" name="seatoskyreview_tribute_family_life">{{cite web|url=http://www.seatoskyreview.ca/news-updates/2018/2/14/this-lovely-lady-#:~:text=predeceased%20by%20her%20husband|title=This Lovely Lady - Goodbye Doreen Ramus|publisher=Sea to Sky Review|date=14 February 2018|accessdate=20 June 2026}}</ref>

== References ==

=== Notes ===
{{reflist|group=footnotes}}

=== External Sources ===
{{reflist|group=external}}

Doreen Ramus - Revision history

Joe Beaudoin Jr.: initial creation