Elizabeth Ashley

Elizabeth Ashley Headshot

Actress

Birth Date: August 30, 1939

Age: 85 years old

Birth Place: Ocala, Florida

Spouses: George Peppard, James Farentino

A gifted, spirited Broadway lead of the early 1960s ("Take Her She's Mine" 1961, "Barefoot in the Park" 1963), Elizabeth Ashley has also proven popular on talk shows where she has become a quick-talking raconteur with the edge of someone fraught, wrought and distraught.

Ashley spent more than two decades as a Broadway star before becoming known to TV audiences playing the eccentric Aunt Frieda on "Evening Shade" (CBS, 1990-94). While still a teen-ager when she made her Broadway debut in 1959 in "The Highest Tree," she was a mere 22 when she won a Tony for "Take Her, She's Mine." A nervous breakdown, about which she later wrote in her book, "Postcards From the Road" (1978), almost derailed her career, but she bounced back, starring on Broadway as the idealistic young bride to Robert Redford's slightly stuffy groom in Neil Simon's "Barefoot in the Park" and has since gone on to shine as Maggie in the 1974 revival of Tennessee Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," the chain-smoking psychiatrist in "Agnes of God" and in revivals of "The Skin of Our Teeth" and "Caesar and Cleopatra." In 1995, she returned once again to Broadway (and Williams) portraying Violet Venable in "Suddenly Last Summer."

Ashley made her screen debut in "The Carpetbaggers" (1964), as the second of the women George Peppard loves and leaves on his way up the ladder. (They subsequently married after meeting on the film). In "Ship of Fools" (1965), she was a young married woman taking guidance from Vivien Leigh. Subsequent roles have been sporadic and decidedly supporting, including "The Great Scout and Cathouse Thursday" (1976), "Paternity" (1981), and even "Dragnet" (1987).

Ashley first appeared on TV in a 1960 episode of "The Dupont Show of the Month" and appeared in numerous episodics during the decade, as well as doing celebrity player turns on such game shows as "Password." She even guest hosted NBC's "Saturday Night Live" in 1982. Ashley made her TV-movie debut "Harpy" (CBS, 1971) and has occasionally participated in the genre. She also appeared on the NBC soap opera "Another World" for a short period in 1990, but her most extensive TV work was the four seasons she was a member of the ensemble of "Evening Shade," alongside her "Paternity" co-star Burt Reynolds. In 1996, she was cast as the eccentric romantic novelist with whom Brooke Shield must contend on the NBC sitcom pilot "Suddenly Susan." It was later announced, however, that the show would be completely overhauled and taken in a new direction, and Ashley's character was dropped.

Credits

Horton Foote: The Road to Home

Self
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2020

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Actor
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97%

Severance

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Francesca
Movie
2018

Just Getting StartedStream

Actor
Lily
Movie
2017
4%

Fry Day

Actor
Deirdre
Movie
2017

TremeStream

Guest Star
Aunt Mimi
Series
2010
97%

The Cake Eaters

Actor
Marg
Movie
2007

Broadway: The Golden Age

Self
Movie
2004

Le gourou

Actor
Movie
2003

Home Sweet Hoboken

Actor
Movie
2001

Law & Order: Special Victims UnitStream

Actor
Serena Benson
Series
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78%

Just the Ticket

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1999

Happiness

Actor
Diane Freed
Movie
1998
83%

Sleeping Together

Actor
Mrs. Tuscinini
Movie
1997

Theater Talk

Guest
Show
1996

Hey Arnold!Stream

Guest Voice
Series
1996

Shoot the Moon

Actor
Mrs. Comstock
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1996

Caroline in the CityStream

Guest Star
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1995

Women of the HouseStream

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Series
1995
38%

Touched by an AngelStream

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Series
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1994

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Series
1993

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1991

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1991

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1990

Law & OrderStream

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1990

Blue Bayou

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1990

The Joan Rivers Show

Guest
Talk
1989

Vampire's KissStream

Actor
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1989
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1989

Dangerous Curves

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1988

Ruth Rendell Mysteries

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Show
1987

The Two Mrs. Grenvilles

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1987

DragnetStream

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1987
50%

Warm Hearts, Cold Feet

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1987

StagecoachStream

Actor
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1986

Alfred Hitchcock Presents

Actor
Show
1985

Murder, She WroteStream

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HunterStream

Guest Star
Felicia Green
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Miami ViceStream

Guest Star
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71%

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Actor
Freddie Fox
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1984

Svengali

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Eve Swiss
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1983

Paternity

Actor
Sophia Thatcher
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1981

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1980

Windows

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ComaStream

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81%

The War Between the Tates

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1977

The Great Scout & Cathouse Thursday

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Nancy Sue
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1976

Saturday Night LiveStream

Host
Series
1975

Rancho Deluxe

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1975

92 in the Shade

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Golden Needles

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1972

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1971

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1971

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1970

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MannixStream

Guest Star
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1967

The Third Day

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1965

Ship of FoolsStream

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1965
61%

The Carpetbaggers

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1964

Ben Casey

Guest Star
Jane Brewster
Series
1961

Route 66Stream

Guest Star
Maria Cardenas
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1960

What's My Line?Stream

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Game Show
1950