She is most widely known for her portrayal of Daisy May "Granny" Moses, mother-in-law of Buddy Ebsen's character Jed Clampett on the long-running TV series The Beverly Hillbillies (1962–1971).

[citation needed] Ryan began her performing career at age 11, when she won $3 (equal to $94.72 today) for singing "Pretty Baby" in an amateur contest at the Valencia Theater in San Francisco.

They performed in vaudeville as a double act, known in show business as a "Dumb Dora" routine, and epitomized by George Burns and Gracie Allen.

The films were usually vehicles for their vaudevillian dialogue, with Irene as the flighty young woman who drives Tim to distraction.

[citation needed] Substituting for Jack Benny in 1936, they starred in The Jell-O Summer Show on NBC's Red Network.

In 1946, she joined the cast of The Jack Carson Show on CBS Radio, playing "a neighborhood storekeeper who operates a combination candy shop and lending library.

According to Filmways publicist Ted Switzer, series creator and producer Paul Henning had decided to cast Bea Benaderet as Granny, but when Ryan read for the role "with her hair tied back in a bun and feisty as all get-out," everyone was taken with her performance.

[13] In 1966, Irene Ryan played Granny in the comedy Don't Worry, We'll Think of a Title, co-starring Rose Marie and Morey Amsterdam.

On March 10, 1973, Ryan suffered an apparent stroke during a performance of Pippin, flew home to California on her doctor's orders, and was hospitalized.

The scholarship provides "recognition, honor, and financial assistance to outstanding student performers wishing to pursue further education."