Elizabeth Ashley

Elizabeth Ashley
Born	Elizabeth Ann Cole August 30, 1939 (1939-08-30) (age 70) Ocala, Florida, USA
Occupation	Actor
Spouse(s)	James Farentino (1962-1965) George Peppard (1966-1972) James McCarthy (1975-1981)

Elizabeth Ashley (born August 30, 1939) is a distinctively husky-voiced 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.

Life and career

Ashley was born Elizabeth Ann Cole in Ocala, Florida, the daughter of Lucille (née Ayer) and Arthur Kingman Cole.^[1] Ashley 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 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 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, Dragnet in 1987, and Happiness in 1998.

Having appeared in a Burt Reynolds comedy film, Paternity in 1981 and as a guest star in his television series B.J. Striker in 1989, Ashley became a cast member of Reynolds' next TV series, Evening Shade, from 1990-1994 as "Freida Evans." In 1991, this role garnered her an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Other television career includes appearances in 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, and Homicide: Life on the Street.

Ashley has been married to actors George Peppard (the leading man in her first movie, The Carpetbaggers, 1964) and James Farentino. In a memoir entitled Actress. Postcards from the Road (1978; written with Ross Firestone), she gave conspicuous exposure to a relationship with novelist Thomas McGuane. She starred in a pair of mid-1970s films that McGuane wrote, 92 in the Shade (which he also directed) and Rancho Deluxe.

With Peppard she had a son, Christian, in 1968.

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.

References

External links

• Elizabeth Ashley at the Internet Broadway Database
• Elizabeth Ashley at the Internet off-Broadway Database
• Elizabeth Ashley at the Internet Movie Database
• Elizabeth Ashley at the TCM Movie Database
• InnerVIEWS with Ernie Manouse: Elizabeth Ashley (TV Interview)