Elizabeth Ashley
Elizabeth Ashley | |
|---|---|
| Born | Elizabeth Ann Cole August 30, 1939 Ocala, Florida, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1960–present |
| Spouse(s) |
(divorced) (divorced) 1 child James McCarthy (m. 1975–1981) |
Elizabeth Ashley (born August 30, 1939) 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.
Early life
Ashley was born Elizabeth Ann Cole in Ocala, Florida, the daughter of Lucille (née Ayer) and Arthur Kingman Cole,[1] and raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Career
Ashley earned a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for the play Take Her, She's Mine (1962), then later starred as Corie in the original Broadway production of Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park (1963) and, later, her defiantly sexual Maggie was praised[citation needed] 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. She also starred as the villain in the controversial but generally panned filmed Windows (1980).
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.
Personal life
Ashley was married to actors James Farentino and George Peppard (the leading man in her first movie, The Carpetbaggers), with whom she had a son, Christian, in 1968.[citation needed]
Other
Two of the roles she originated on stage, Corie in Barefoot in the Park 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.[2]
References
- ^ Film Reference bio
- ^ Actress: Postcards from the Road, Elizabeth Ashley and Ross Firestone. M. Evans, 1978. reprinted by Fawcett, ISBN 0-449-24104-1 (back cover reviews)
External links
- Elizabeth Ashley at the Internet Broadway Database
- Please use a more specific IOBDB template. See the template documentation for available templates.
- Elizabeth Ashley at IMDb
- Elizabeth Ashley at the TCM Movie Database
- InnerVIEWS with Ernie Manouse: Elizabeth Ashley (TV Interview)