Deborah Walley

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Deborah Walley
Walley in the late 1960s.
Born	August 12, 1941(1941-08-12) Bridgeport, Connecticut, U.S.
Died	May 10, 2001(2001-05-10) (aged 59) Sedona, Arizona, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1960 – 1999
Spouse	John Reynolds (?-?) (divorced) 1 child John Ashley (1964-1966) (divorced) 1 child Chet McCracken (1968-1975) (divorced)

Deborah Walley (12 August 1941 – 10 May 2001) was an American actress.

Biographical Information

Deborah Walley was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to Ice Capades skating stars and choreographers Nathan and Edith Walley. She attended Central High School in Bridgeport. At fourteen she was playing summer-stock theatre. She studied acting at New York City's American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She began working on stage in the city and made her Hollywood film debut in 1961's Gidget Goes Hawaiian, a role for which she is most remembered. From then until 1974 she appeared in fifteen feature length films, including several of the "Beach Party" films produced by American International Pictures.^[1]

From 1964–1966, Walley was married to actor John Ashley, a costar of ABC's Straightaway series about auto racing from 1961–1962. He preceded her in death by two years.

On television, she portrayed Suzie Hubbard Buell in the comedy series The Mothers-in-Law. Comedienne Eve Arden played her mother, Eve Hubbard, while singer-comedienne Kaye Ballard played her mother-in-law, Kaye Buell. Originally, actress Kay Cole (A Chorus Line) had played Suzie in the original pilot, but Walley later replaced her, and played her through the series' two seasons on the air.

After moving to Arizona to bring up her children in the 1970s, Walley co-founded two children's theater companies, Pied Piper Productions and the Sedona Children's Theatre in Sedona.

She also loaned her voice to the character Nico Robin in Ala-Ka-Robin the Great. According to Walley, she said it was her mother that wanted her to be involved in the film. Prior to The Brothers and the Sisters Movie, she voiced Ikki Tenryou (one of the Japanooga Packs) in The Medabots movie: Ikki: The Big Wish Movie.^{[citation needed]}

Walley succumbed to esophageal cancer, on 10 May 2001 in Sedona, Arizona.^[2] She was survived by two of her three sons: Anthony Brooks Ashley, a noted director, editor, and producer in Hollywood; and Justin Ashley Reynolds, an internet entrepreneur in Phoenix, Arizona.

Filmography

Awards

Walley was named Photoplay magazine's 'Most Popular Actress of 1961'.^[1]

References

External links

• Deborah Walley at the Internet Movie Database