Ida Engel

Ida Engel (July 20, 1903 – April 30, 2002) was an American actress and singer.

Ida Engel was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada to parents of Russian-Jewish descent. In 1907, at the age of 4, she moved to Los Angeles, California. Engel took up the piano at 15 and then matriculated at UCLA.

In 1924, she married Murray Engel, a Czech immigrant.

In 1985, Engel appeared on The Gong Show, singing the song "Secondhand Rose". A Generation X slacker in his thirties would make demands of his grandmother, played by Engel, and the grandmother would cachinnate, and ask, "What do you think this is, the Holiday Inn?"