Irene Tedrow (August 3, 1907 Denver, Colorado – March 10, 1995 North Hollywood, California) was an American character actor in stage, film, television and radio.

A founding member of the Old Globe Theater Irene Tedrow was cast as a young pretty ingenue, but with age found more work in film cast as the meddling old woman. She however did have an intermittently recurring role as Mrs. Elkins on Dennis the Menace television sitcom in the 1950s where her character was a kind woman. Being a character actor she was never given substantial roles despite appearing in many shows from The Twilight Zone to the Facts of Life. On radio in the late 40s she was the voice of Dorothy Regent in "Chandu the Magician". Theater offered a better outlet and Tedrow appeared on Broadway even through her eighties in such productions as "Our Town" and "Pygmalion."

Denver-born supporting actress Irene Tedrow is another in a long line of "I know the face...but not the name" character actors whose six-decade career was known more for its durability than for the greatness of roles she played. Born in 1907, she was a lady primarily of the stage, beginning her acting career as a teen. She trained in drama at Carnegie Tech in Cleveland, Ohio, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1929. A slim, handsome woman in her early days, her features grew more severe with age, which ultimately typed her as puritanical meddlers and no-nonsense matrons practically from her entrance into film in 1937. She seldom, if ever, found a meaty part, appearing way, way down the list of credits, if at all. A founding member of the Old Globe Theatre, she was featured in such classical productions as "Richard III," "Hamlet" and "Henry IV, Part I." She became a primary player on radio during the war years, notably for the maternal role of Mrs. Janet Archer in the popular serial "Meet Corliss Archer" (1951), which she transferred to TV for one season. Her radio role lasted for nine years (43-52). Irene appeared in hundreds of episodic guest appearances for nearly 35 years in everything "Dragnet," "The Andy Griffith Show, and "The Twilight Zone" to the more recent "The Facts of Life," "St. Elsewhere" and "L.A. Law." Never a regular series player, she is probably best remembered as the kindly Mrs. Elkins who appeared occasionally on the "Dennis the Menace" (1959) sitcom. Over the years, Irene never abandoned the stage, gracing a number of show in her senior years including "Our Town" on Broadway, plus "Foxfire," "The Hot L. Baltimore" and "Pygmalion." Continuing to work as an octogenarian, she died of a stroke at age 87 in the Los Angeles area.