Alice Ghostley

Prolific TV actress-comedienne first received attention onstage in such revues as "New Faces of 1952"; two years later she reprised her role in the film adaptation, committing her hilarious rendition of "The Boston Beguine" to celluloid. By the time of her Tony-winning performance in "The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window" (1965), though, Ghostley had largely transferred her energies to the small screen.

One of the most accomplished scene-stealers in the history of TV comedy, Ghostley perfected a dithering manner and a flustered, hesitant style of line delivery. A regular on "The Jonathan Winters Show," "The Julie Andrews Hour" and "The Golddiggers," she played recurring or supporting roles on such comedies as "Mayberry R.F.D.," "Car 54, Where Are You?" and, perhaps most memorably, "Bewitched," where her incompetent babysitting witch Esmeralda constantly conjured up one sitcom disaster after another. Ghostley busied herself in feature films during the late 70s and later made a triumphant return to TV comedy in the 80s as Bernice, the human non sequitur, on "Designing Women."