Elizabeth Ashley
Encyclopedia
Elizabeth Ashley is an American actress who first came to prominence as the ingenue in the Broadway
play Take Her, She's Mine
, which earned her a Tony Award
as Best Featured Actress in a Play.
, the daughter of Lucille (née Ayer) and Arthur Kingman Cole, and raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
.
's Barefoot in the Park
(1963) and, later, her defiantly sexual Maggie was praised in a successful Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams
' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
(1974). Ashley received Tony nominations for both performances. She also appeared on Broadway as Dr. Livingstone in Agnes of God
(1982). She was also a replacement in the role of Mattie Fae during the original Broadway run of the Pulitzer Prize
-winning play August: Osage County
.
She has been featured in major motion pictures over five decades since her early roles in The Carpetbaggers
in 1964 and Ship of Fools
in 1965. She had supporting parts in the films Coma
in 1978, Split Image
in 1982, and Dragnet
in 1987.
Having appeared in a Burt Reynolds
comedy film, Paternity
in 1981 and as a guest star in his television series B.L. Stryker
in 1989, Ashley became a cast member of Reynolds' next TV series, Evening Shade
, from 1990-1994 as "Freida". In 1991, this role garnered her an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Other television career appearances include Sam Benedict
, Miami Vice
, Caroline in the City
, Mission: Impossible
, Murder, She Wrote
, Dave's World
, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
, Touched By An Angel
, The Larry Sanders Show
, and Homicide: Life on the Street
. She was also featured in seven episodes of the 2011 season of the HBO series Treme
as Aunt MiMi.
and George Peppard
(the leading man in her first movie, The Carpetbaggers
), with whom she had a son, Christian, in 1968.
and Dr. Livingstone in Agnes of God
were played in the film versions by Jane Fonda
. Ashley published an autobiography, Actress: Postcards from the Road, in 1978, coauthored by Ross Firestone. The book was praised by Tennessee Williams
.
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
play Take Her, She's Mine
Take Her, She's Mine
Take Her, She's Mine is a 1963 comedy film starring James Stewart and Sandra Dee. The film was written by Henry Ephron, Phoebe Ephron, and Nunnally Johnson, with Dee's character based on the then 22-year-old Nora Ephron, and directed by Henry Koster...
, which earned her a Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
as Best Featured Actress in a Play.
Early life
Ashley was born Elizabeth Ann Cole in Ocala, FloridaOcala, Florida
Ocala is a city in Marion County, Florida. As of 2007, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 53,491. It is the county seat of Marion County, and the principal city of the Ocala, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had an estimated 2007 population of 324,857.-History:Ocala...
, the daughter of Lucille (née Ayer) and Arthur Kingman Cole, and raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge is the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and is the second-largest city in the state.Baton Rouge is a major industrial, petrochemical, medical, and research center of the American South...
.
Career
Ashley starred as Corie in the original Broadway production of Neil SimonNeil Simon
Neil Simon is an American playwright and screenwriter. He has written numerous Broadway plays, including Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and The Odd Couple. He won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Lost In Yonkers. He has written the screenplays for several of his plays that...
's Barefoot in the Park
Barefoot in the Park
This article is about the Broadway production. For the film adaptation see Barefoot in the Park .Barefoot in the Park is a romantic comedy by Neil Simon. The original Broadway production, directed by Mike Nichols, opened October 23, 1963, with the four lead roles taken by actors Elizabeth Ashley ,...
(1963) and, later, her defiantly sexual Maggie was praised in a successful Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is a play by Tennessee Williams. One of Williams's best-known works and his personal favorite, the play won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1955...
(1974). Ashley received Tony nominations for both performances. She also appeared on Broadway as Dr. Livingstone in Agnes of God
Agnes of God
Agnes of God is a play by John Pielmeier which tells the story of a novice nun who gives birth and insists that the dead child was the result of a virgin conception. A psychiatrist and the mother superior of the convent clash during the resulting investigation...
(1982). She was also a replacement in the role of Mattie Fae during the original Broadway run of the Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
-winning play August: Osage County
August: Osage County
August: Osage County is a darkly comedic play by Tracy Letts. It was the recipient of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The play premiered at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago on 28 June 2007, and closed on 26 August 2007. Its Broadway debut was at the Imperial Theater on 4 December 2007 and...
.
She has been featured in major motion pictures over five decades since her early roles in The Carpetbaggers
The Carpetbaggers
The Carpetbaggers is the title of a 1961 bestselling novel by Harold Robbins, which was adapted into a 1964 film of the same title.The term "carpetbagger" refers to an outsider relocating to exploit locals . It derives from post-bellum South usage, where it referred specifically to opportunistic...
in 1964 and Ship of Fools
Ship of Fools
The ship of fools is an allegory that has long been a fixture in Western literature and art. The allegory depicts a vessel populated by human inhabitants who are deranged, frivolous, or oblivious, passengers aboard a ship without a pilot, and seemingly ignorant of their own direction...
in 1965. She had supporting parts in the films Coma
Coma (film)
Coma is a 1978 suspense film based on the novel of the same name by Robin Cook. The film rights were acquired by director Michael Crichton, and the movie was produced by Martin Erlichmann for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer...
in 1978, Split Image
Split Image (film)
Split Image is a 1982 film that tells the story of an all-American college athlete who becomes involved in a youth-oriented "cult", and his family's struggle to bring him home...
in 1982, and Dragnet
Dragnet (1987 film)
Dragnet is a 1987 film comedy starring Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks, directed by Tom Mankiewicz, based on the television crime drama of the same name starring Jack Webb. The screenplay is written by Aykroyd, Alan Zweibel and Mankiewicz. The original music score is by Ira Newborn...
in 1987.
Having appeared in a Burt Reynolds
Burt Reynolds
Burton Leon "Burt" Reynolds, Jr. is an American actor. Some of his memorable roles include Bo 'Bandit' Darville in Smokey and the Bandit, Lewis Medlock in Deliverance, Bobby "Gator" McCluskey in White Lightning and sequel Gator, Paul Crewe and Coach Nate Scarborough in The Longest Yard and its...
comedy film, Paternity
Paternity (film)
Paternity is a 1981 film comedy that stars Burt Reynolds, Beverly D'Angelo, Paul Dooley, Elizabeth Ashley and Lauren Hutton, directed by David Steinberg. The film was released by Paramount Pictures on October 2, 1981.-Plot:...
in 1981 and as a guest star in his television series B.L. Stryker
B.L. Stryker
B.L Stryker is an American detective drama that aired on ABC from February 13, 1989 to May 1990 as part of the ABC Mystery Movie along with Gideon Oliver, Columbo and Kojak. The series was executive produced by Tom Selleck.-Premise:...
in 1989, Ashley became a cast member of Reynolds' next TV series, Evening Shade
Evening Shade
Evening Shade was an American sitcom television series that aired on CBS from 1990 to 1994. The series starred Burt Reynolds as Wood Newton, an ex-professional football player for the Pittsburgh Steelers, who returns to rural Evening Shade, Arkansas to coach a high school football team with a long...
, from 1990-1994 as "Freida". In 1991, this role garnered her an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Other television career appearances include Sam Benedict
Sam Benedict
Sam Benedict is an American legal drama that aired on NBC from September 1962 to March 1963. The series was created and executive produced by E. Jack Neuman....
, Miami Vice
Miami Vice
Miami Vice is an American television series produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series starred Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as two Metro-Dade Police Department detectives working undercover in Miami. It ran for five seasons on NBC from 1984–1989...
, Caroline in the City
Caroline in the City
Caroline in the City is an American situation comedy that ran from September 21, 1995 to April 26, 1999 on the NBC television network. It starred Lea Thompson as cartoonist Caroline Duffy. The series premiered in the two-hour Thursday night block led by Friends.-Premise:Caroline Duffy is a...
, Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible is an American television series which was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicled the missions of a team of secret American government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force . The leader of the team was Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, except in...
, Murder, She Wrote
Murder, She Wrote
Murder, She Wrote is an American television mystery series starring Angela Lansbury as mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher. The series aired for 12 seasons from 1984 to 1996 on the CBS network, with 264 episodes transmitted. It was followed by four TV films and a spin-off series,...
, Dave's World
Dave's World
Dave's World is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from 1993 to 1997. The series was based on the writing of Miami Herald columnist Dave Barry.-Plot:...
, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it is also primarily produced...
, Touched By An Angel
Touched by an Angel
Touched by an Angel is an American drama series that premiered on CBS on September 21, 1994 and ran for 211 episodes and nine seasons until its conclusion on April 27, 2003. Created by John Masius and produced by Martha Williamson, the series stars Roma Downey, as an angel named Monica, and Della...
, The Larry Sanders Show
The Larry Sanders Show
The Larry Sanders Show is a satirical television sitcom that aired from August 1992 to May 1998 on the HBO cable television network in the United States. It starred stand-up comedian Garry Shandling as vain, neurotic talk show host Larry Sanders, and centered on the running of his TV show, and the...
, and Homicide: Life on the Street
Homicide: Life on the Street
Homicide: Life on the Street is an American police procedural television series chronicling the work of a fictional version of the Baltimore Homicide Unit. It ran for seven seasons on NBC from 1993 to 1999, and was succeeded by a TV movie, which also acted as the de-facto series finale...
. She was also featured in seven episodes of the 2011 season of the HBO series Treme
Treme
Tremé is a neighborhood of the city of New Orleans. A subdistrict of the Mid-City District Area, its boundaries as defined by the City Planning Commission are Esplanade Avenue to the north, North Rampart Street to the east, St. Louis Street to the south and North Broad Street to the west...
as Aunt MiMi.
Personal life
Ashley was married to actors James FarentinoJames Farentino
James Farentino is an American actor. He has appeared in almost one hundred roles, among them in The Final Countdown, Jesus of Nazareth, and Dynasty.-Career:...
and George Peppard
George Peppard
George Peppard, Jr. was an American film and television actor.Peppard secured a major role when he starred alongside Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's , portrayed a character based on Howard Hughes in The Carpetbaggers , and played the title role of the millionaire sleuth Thomas Banacek in...
(the leading man in her first movie, The Carpetbaggers
The Carpetbaggers
The Carpetbaggers is the title of a 1961 bestselling novel by Harold Robbins, which was adapted into a 1964 film of the same title.The term "carpetbagger" refers to an outsider relocating to exploit locals . It derives from post-bellum South usage, where it referred specifically to opportunistic...
), with whom she had a son, Christian, in 1968.
Other
Two of the roles she originated on stage, Corie in Barefoot in the ParkBarefoot in the Park
This article is about the Broadway production. For the film adaptation see Barefoot in the Park .Barefoot in the Park is a romantic comedy by Neil Simon. The original Broadway production, directed by Mike Nichols, opened October 23, 1963, with the four lead roles taken by actors Elizabeth Ashley ,...
and Dr. Livingstone in Agnes of God
Agnes of God
Agnes of God is a play by John Pielmeier which tells the story of a novice nun who gives birth and insists that the dead child was the result of a virgin conception. A psychiatrist and the mother superior of the convent clash during the resulting investigation...
were played in the film versions by Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other movie awards and nominations during more than 50 years as an...
. Ashley published an autobiography, Actress: Postcards from the Road, in 1978, coauthored by Ross Firestone. The book was praised by Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
.
External links
- InnerVIEWS with Ernie Manouse: Elizabeth Ashley (TV Interview)