Elizabeth Ann Cole (born August 30, 1939), known professionally as Elizabeth Ashley, is an American actress of theatre, film, and television. She has been nominated for three Tony Awards, winning once in 1962 for Take Her, She's Mine. Ashley was also nominated for the BAFTA and Golden Globe awards for her supporting performance in The Carpetbaggers (1964), and was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1991 for Evening Shade. Ashley was a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson 24 times. She appeared in several episodes of In the Heat of the Night as Maybelle Chesboro. She also appeared in an episode of Mannix, "The Dark Hours", in 1974. She is a 2024 inductee into the American Theater Hall of Fame.
Early life Ashley was born Elizabeth Ann Cole in Ocala, Florida, to music teacher Arthur Kingman Cole and the former Lucille Ayer. She grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.Smith, Zach (December 30, 2011). "Persona: Elizabeth Ashley". New Orleans Magazine. Ayer left Elizabeth's father shortly after she was born and did not remarry. Ashley compared her to the Southern matriarch Amanda Wingfield from The Glass Menagerie.
Ashley left Louisiana State University after her freshman year and moved to New York. There, she studied acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in the same class as Jessica Walter and Brenda Vaccaro. She supported herself financially by working as the Jell-O pudding girl on a television program and as a showroom model.
Career Ashley has acted in film, television, and theater roles in seven decades, starting in the 1960s.
Theater career Ashley won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for Take Her, She's Mine.
In 1963, she starred as the female lead, Corie, in the original Broadway production of Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park. Ashley earned a Tony nomination for the role. The play was also a significant success that ran for four consecutive years. After a mental breakdown, Ashley took a sabbatical from the play to attempt a film career in Hollywood. At the end of the break, she decided to leave permanently, paying producer Saint Subber $35,000 in a breach-of-contract penalty. Ashley resented Subber for exacting the penalty when the show was financially successful, but said she regretted leaving due to her appreciation for director Mike Nichols.
After ten years in Hollywood, Ashley returned to Broadway as Maggie the Cat in the American Shakespeare Theatre's 1974 revival of Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Her performance earned strong praise from critics. John Simon wrote that Ashley "performs with such astonishing, such uncanny precision that not even her heady loveliness distracts us from her acting. Miss this performance at your soul's peril." Mel Gussow wrote that she "richly conveyed" Maggie's complexities. Clive Barnes concluded that while she was praised extensively for the role, she was still undersold. Ashley received a Tony nomination for the performance.
Ashley appeared on Broadway as Dr. Livingstone in Agnes of God (1982) and was a replacement in the role of Mattie Fae during the original Broadway run of August: Osage County.
Film and television career She has been featured in major motion pictures over five decades, including early roles in The Carpetbaggers (1964), Ship of Fools (1965), and The Third Day (1965). Her other film credits include The Marriage of a Young Stockbroker (1971), Rancho Deluxe (1975), Coma (1978), Paternity (1981), Dragnet (1987), and Vampire's Kiss (1989), and she starred as the villain in the controversial film Windows (1980).
She first appeared with Burt Reynolds in a 1969 season episode of Love, American Style, then later in the movie Paternity in 1981, as a guest star in his television series B.L. Stryker in 1989, and finally as a cast member in his final television series, Evening Shade, from 1990 to 1994 as Aunt Frieda Evans.
Ashley had the role of Kate in Sandburg's Lincoln, a six-part dramatization that ran on NBC in the mid-1970s. Her other television appearances include the 1987 miniseries The Two Mrs. Grenvilles, and guest roles in Ben Casey; Route 66; Sam Benedict; Stoney Burke; The Six Million Dollar Man; Family; Miami Vice; Caroline in the City; Mission: Impossible; Murder, She Wrote; Dave's World; Law & Order; Law & Order: Special Victims Unit; Touched by an Angel; The Larry Sanders Show; Homicide: Life on the Street; Russian Doll; and Better Things. She was featured in 14 episodes of the HBO series Treme as Aunt Mimi.
Book Ashley's autobiography Actress: Postcards from the Road was published in a hardcover edition on June 1, 1978, by M. Evans & Co (now part of the Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group). A paperback publication followed on October 12, 1979, through Fawcett Publications.
Personal life Ashley is thrice married and divorced. Her first and second husbands were actors James Farentino and George Peppard. The latter was her leading man in her first movie, The Carpetbaggers (1964). The couple had a son, Christian. Her divorce from Peppard is rumored to have caused the cancellation of his television series Banacek. According to an unconfirmed story, he quit the show to prevent her from receiving a larger percentage of his earnings as part of their divorce settlement. Filmink called the account of Peppard in Ashley's memoirs "fascinating – paying tribute to his talent, charisma and kindness, as well as his violent, abusive, alcoholic nature."
At 25, Ashley retired from acting "to make a home for my husband, see that he had his dinner on time, realize myself as a woman." She resumed her career four years later. In a 1974 profile in The New York Times, she denounced her ex-spouse and the institution of marriage: "A man I was married to once said to me, ‘Everything you do I could hire done better.' [...] And I thought to myself, oh my God. Is that what it's about? Loving, in marriage, becomes for a woman doing for free what he can hire done better. Well, I don't care for that, myself. I found marriage to be mutilating, barbaric, inhumane. People get married for social reasons, for convenience, for emotional safety. It wasn't for me."In 1975, Ashley married James McCarthy. They divorced in 1981. Between her second and third marriage, she also dated writer Tom McGuane and credits their liaison with reawakening a sexuality that she used when she portrayed Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
While starring in the long-running Barefoot in the Park on Broadway, Ashley suffered mental issues and checked into a psychiatric hospital. Though it was originally reported as bronchitis, the breakdown ended up informing her decision to leave the play entirely.
In the 1980s, Ashley injured herself in a sailing crash in the Caribbean and received major facial reconstructive surgery.
She is an Episcopalian and sits on the Advisory Board for the Episcopal Actors Guild.https://www.actorsguild.org/officers-and-council.html
Filmography
Film Year Title Role Notes1964Monica Winthrop1965Ship of FoolsJenny Brown1965The Third DayAlexandria Mallory1971Nan1972When Michael CallsHelen Connelly1973Paperback HeroLoretta1974Golden NeedlesFelicity1975Rancho DeluxeCora Brown197592 in the ShadeJeannie Carter1976Nancy Sue1976One of My Wives Is MissingElizabeth1978ComaMrs. Emerson1980WindowsAndrea Glassen1981PaternitySophia Thatcher1982Split ImageDiana Stetson1986 Stagecoach Dallas1987DragnetJane Kirkpatrick1988Vampire's KissDr. Glaser1988Dangerous CurvesMiss Reed1989Gloria1995MallratsGov. Dalton Extended cut only1996Shoot the MoonMrs. Comstock1997Sleeping TogetherMrs. Tuccinini1998HappinessDiane Freed1999Just the TicketMrs. Paliski2000Labor PainsJanice2001Home Sweet HobokenBeth Flowers2002Hey Arnold!: The MovieMrs. Vitello (voice)2007Marg Kaminski2017Fry DayDeirdreShort2017Just Getting StartedLily2018SeveranceFrancescaShort2018Ocean's 8Ethel
Television Year Title Role Notes1961Joyce Harkavy"The Prowler"1962Barbara Bowers"The Barbara Bowers Story"1962Ben CaseyJane Brewster"And Even Death Shall Die"1963Route 66Maria Cardenas"The Cage Around Maria"1963Sam BenedictCindy Messerman"Season for Vengeance"1963Stoney BurkeDonna Weston"Tigress by the Tail"1966Run for Your LifeDina Fuller"The Grotenberg Mask"1966HawkDonna"H Is for a Dirty Letter"1969Laddie TurnbowTV film1969Sally DevlinTV film1970Love, American StylePenny Dunbar"Love and the Banned Book" (with Burt Reynolds)1970Faith Andrews"The West vs. Colonel MacKenzie"1970Medical CenterAnne Forley"Brink of Doom"1971InsightSally"The War of the Eggs"1971HarpyMarianTV film1971Sally DillmanTV film1971Mission: ImpossibleLois Stoner"Encounter"1972When Michael CallsHelen ConnellyABC Movie of the Week1972Second ChanceEllie SmithABC Movie of the Week1972Ghost StoryKaren Dover"At the Cradle Foot"1972Diane CraddockABC Movie of the Week1972Your Money or Your WifeLaurel PlunkettTV film1973Mission: ImpossibleAndrea"The Question"1973Sally Baker"Pilot"1973Police StoryJannette Johnson"Dangerous Games"1973Dr. Erica BergnerABC Movie of the Week1974MannixKaren Winslow"The Dark Hours"1974IronsideLaura Keyes"Close to Your Heart"1974Claire"Diamond Run"1975LincolnKate Chase Sprague"Sad Figure, Laughing"1976One of My Wives Is MissingElizabeth CorbanTV film1977FamilyElizabeth Kraft"Lovers and Strangers"1977Erica TateTV film1978Tom and JoannJoan HammilTV film1978Sharon AllanTV film1982Saturday Night LiveHerself (host)"Elizabeth Ashley/Hall & Oates"1983Freedom to SpeakJane Addams / Dorothea DixTV miniseries1983SvengaliEve SwissTV film1984He's Fired, She's HiredFreddie FoxTV film1985Nancy Bricker2 episodes1985Cagney & LaceyMichelle Zal"The Psychic"1985Mrs. Baxter"Out of the Night"1986StagecoachDallasTV film1987Babette Van DeganTV miniseries1987Warm Hearts, Cold FeetBlanche WebsterTV film1987Miami ViceD.E.A. Agent Linda Colby"Knock, Knock... Who's There?"1988Eisenhower and LutzEleanor"Pride and Prejudice"1989Alfred Hitchcock PresentsKaren Lawson / Kate Lawson"Mirror Mirror"1989B.L. StrykerAlthea Campbell"Blues for Buder"1989HunterFelicia Green"A Girl Named Hunter"1989American Playwrights Theater: The One-ActsAnnie Sweeney"The Rope"1989Murder, She WroteVera Gerakaris"Truck Stop"1990Blue BayouLolly FontenotTV film1990Another WorldEmma Frame OrdwayTV series1990–1994Evening ShadeFreida EvansMain role1991Reason for Living: The Jill Ireland StoryVickyTV film1991Love and Curses... And All That JazzEmmalinaTV film1992In the Best Interest of the ChildrenCarla ScottTV film1993Elizabeth Ashley"Off Camera"1993Harnessing PeacocksGrandmotherTV film1994In the Heat of the NightMaybelle Cheseboro"Maybelle Returns"1994Law & OrderGwen Young"Second Opinion"1995Mrs. ClossonTV miniseries1995Burke's LawMary Burton"Who Killed the Motor Car Maverick?"1995Women of the HouseElizabeth Ashley"Women in Film"1995Murder, She WroteEmily Broussard Renwyck"Big Easy Murder"1995Touched by an AngelSandy Latham"Angels on the Air"1996Dave's WorldJeanette"Double Fault"1996Larissa Fontaine"A Dead Man Is Hard to Find"1996All My ChildrenMadge SinclairTV series1996Hey Arnold!Mrs. Vitello (voice)"Arnold's Hat/Stoop Kid"1996–97Caroline in the CityNatalie Karinsky"Caroline and Richard's Mom", "Caroline and the Bad Trip"1997Margaret Lipton"May and June: Part One"1998Hey Arnold!Mrs. Vitello (voice)"Part Time Friends/Biosquare"1999Homicide: Life on the StreetMadeline Pitt"Truth Will Out"1999Law & Order: Special Victims UnitSerena Benson"Payback"2010–2013TremeAunt MimiRecurring role2015UnderstudiesDotty BuggettTV film2019–2022Russian DollRuth BrennerMain cast2020The Bold TypePam Sheard"#Scarlet"2020Better ThingsMiss Louise"New Orleans"
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