Alice Ghostley Biography

Alice Ghostley	Born: 1926-08-14 Birthplace: Eve, MO Died: 2007-09-21 Location of Death: Studio City, CA Cause of Death: Cancer - Colon Race: White Field: Actor Famous for: Bernice Clifton on Designing Women
Field: Actor

Alice Ghostley was a Tony Award-winning American actress. She was best known for her roles as Bernice Clifton on Designing Women (Emmy Nomination, Best Supporting Actress; 1992), as "Esmeralda" on Bewitched, and as "Cousin Alice" on Mayberry R.F.D.

A veteran of early television, Ghostley appeared as one of the ugly step-sisters in the landmark 1957 musical television production of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein's Cinderella, which starred Julie Andrews in the title role. Ghostley's character, ironically named Joy, was paired with Kaye Ballard as the other stepsister, Portia.

Ghostley portrayed several well-known recurring characters on situation comedies, beginning with Esmeralda, a shy witch who served as a maid and babysitter to the Stephens household beginning in season six of Bewitched. The character appeared in fifteen episodes, and is best known for her invisibility and for sneezes that produced unexpected magical effects. Ghostley had previously guest starred once as another character, Naomi, on the show's second season.[2] During this period she also joined the cast of Mayberry R.F.D., playing "Cousin Alice" after Frances Bavier's character ("Aunt Bee") was written off the series.

Between 1986 and 1993, Ghostley portrayed Bernice Clifton on Designing Women, a kind but ditzy friend and client to the Sugarbakers. She later played "Irna Wallingsford" in six episodes of Evening Shade. Among many other guest starring roles, she appeared in a flashback episode as the crazed mother-in-law of Dorothy Zbornak (Bea Arthur) on The Golden Girls.

[edit] Stage

Ghostley first came to Broadway in Leonard Sillman's New Faces of 1952 and in the film version released in 1954. She appeared in the 1960 revue A Thurber Carnival and in The Beauty Part (1962), playing several distinct roles in each. She also performed in several musical comedies, including Shangri-La (1956).

She won the 1965 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her role as Mavis Parodus Bryson in Lorraine Hansberry's The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window. In 1978 she succeeded Dorothy Loudon, who had created the role of "Miss Hannigan" in the original Broadway run of the musical Annie.

Among her forays into motion pictures, Ghostley appeared in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), playing "Aunt Stephanie Crawford". She also appeared in the film version of Grease as shop teacher "Mrs. Murdock" (a role which does not exist in the Broadway version of the stage version).

Ghostley and Marion Lorne had cameos in one scene of 1967's The Graduate at the hotel where Mrs. Robinson and Benjamin have their first tryst. Ironically, on Bewitched, Ghostley's character, Esmeralda, was brought in to try to fill the void after Lorne, who played "Aunt Clara", died suddenly in 1968.

Ghostley stood in for friend and fellow New Faces alumna, Maggie Smith, in 1970, when Smith won as Best Actress for her starring role in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, but who could not attend the Oscar telecast that year.

Alice Ghostley died at her home in Studio City, California on September 21, 2007 after a long battle with colon cancer and a series of strokes. She was 81 years old.