Character Actress Alice Ghostley Dies at 81

[Zoneboy]

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Alice Ghostley, the Tony Award-winning comedic actress and singer who specialized in playing ditsy ladies and was best known on television for her supporting roles as Esmeralda on "Bewitched" and Bernice on "Designing Women," died Friday. She was 81.

Ghostley died at her home in Studio City after a long battle with colon cancer and a series of strokes, said Jim Pinkston, a longtime friend.

Ghostley made her Broadway debut in "Leonard Sillman's New Faces of 1952," the hit revue in which she received critical acclaim for singing the satirical send-up "The Boston Beguine," which became her signature song.

"She was just so wonderful," said Miles Kreuger, president of the Los Angeles-based Institute of the American Musical, who saw "New Faces of 1952" repeatedly and recalls Ghostley singing "The Boston Beguine."

"There was nothing glamorous about her," he said. "She was rather plain and had a splendid singing voice, and the combination of the well-trained, splendid singing voice and this kind of dowdy homemaker character was so incongruous and so charming."

Ghostley won the Tony Award for best featured actress in a play in 1965 for "The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window."

She also received a Tony nomination two years earlier for various characterizations in the 1962-63 Broadway comedy "The Beauty Part" with Bert Lahr.

"She was an exceptional actress," said Kaye Ballard, a longtime friend who appeared with Ghostley as the wicked stepsisters in a 1957 television production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Cinderella," starring Julie Andrews.

Although Ghostley was often compared to Paul Lynde, one of her "New Faces" co-stars, Ballard said Ghostley "was completely original. If anyone was influenced, it was Paul who was influenced by Alice."

Ghostley, she said, "was gentle and she was sincere and she was kind and she never said a cruel thing about anyone -- ever. I feel humor has changed today; everyone has mean humor. Alice was the epitome of class when it came to comedy.

"But Alice was superior in everything she did. She was a very special, special person."

Ghostley last appeared on Broadway in "Annie," taking over the role of Miss Hannigan, the wicked orphanage supervisor, in 1978 and playing the part until 1983.

During her show business career, she regularly moved between the stage, cabaret, movies and television.

On "Bewitched," she played the timid good witch Esmeralda, the housekeeper, from 1969 to 1972.

And from 1987 to 1993, she played Bernice Clifton on "Designing Women," a role that earned her an Emmy nomination for supporting actress in a comedy in 1992.

Among Ghostley's film credits are "To Kill a Mockingbird," "The Graduate," "Gator" and "Grease."

She was born Aug. 14, 1926, in the train station in Eve, Mo., where her father worked as a telegraph operator, and she grew up in Henryetta, Okla.

"When I was 5 years old, my mother took me to the Legion Hut and stood me on a table," she told the Boston Globe in 1990. "I recited poetry! I sang songs! I tap-danced! I didn't know it then, but that table was my first stage. There was applause.

"The second time my mother took me to the Hut, I made her give me a nickel before I stood on that table. I wanted the applause but, even at 5, I knew I had earned the applause."

After graduating from high school, Ghostley attended the University of Oklahoma but quit to move to New York with her sister Gladys.

Ghostley was known for her cabaret appearances as a singer and comedian before she was cast in "New Faces of 1952."

When she first arrived in New York, she recalled in the Boston Globe interview, she couldn't afford to take singing lessons, so she worked as a secretary to a music teacher in exchange for lessons.

"The best job I had then was as a theater usher," she said. "I saw all the plays for free. What I saw before me was a visualization of what I wanted to do and what I wanted to be. I saw all the first jobs I did, from waitressing to patch testing for a detergent company, as a bridge to the stage."

But she was a realist, she said.

"I knew I didn't look like an ingenue. My nose was too long. I had crooked teeth. I wasn't blond. I knew I looked like a character actress.

"But I also knew I'd find a way."

Ghostley, whose actor husband, Felice Orlandi, died in 2003, is survived by her sister Gladys.

[comedyfreak]

Aww, that is sad. She was a great actress.

[JT]

Love. Her. And I will definitely miss her. RIP.

[mstewart]

Lost another show business legend. Very good and underrated comic actress. I loved her as Bernice on Designing Women. She said things that people wanted to say but got away with it whereas no one else could had.

[Brian Damage]

[danfling]

She was also on Mayberry RFD for its final season.

[Mr. Television]

Awww that's so sad. She was a great actress. She also had a couple of great guest appearances on One Day at a Time. R.I.P. Alice.

[OH Nuts!]

Alice Ghostley will be sorely missed. I'll always remember her fondly as Esmerelda in Bewitched and Bernice in Designing Women. And Kaye's words on Alice are very touching.

Thank you for this very kind thread and your post zoneboy.

[catlover79]

I've always liked Alice Ghostley, too. Not only was she terrific as Esmeralda and Bernice, I enjoyed her role as the shop teacher in Grease. Thanks for the memories.

[OH Nuts!]

Originally Posted by catlover79

I've always liked Alice Ghostley, too. Not only was she terrific as Esmeralda and Bernice, I enjoyed her role as the shop teacher in Grease. Thanks for the memories.

OMG, I forgot about her in Grease. Yes FABU there too! (How could I have overlooked this)

[Sal]

Before gaining stardom for her role as Esmeralda, Alice Ghostley appeared on an episode of "Bewitched" from Season 2 called "Maid To Order" as a mortal maid named Naomi that was hired by the Tates to prepare a meal for a dinner party they were hosting. (She was filling in for their regular maid, who just happened to be named Esmeralda!) The problem was that she was a terrible cook and was very clumsy, so Samantha used witchcraft to help her without telling anyone. It was this role that set the stage for Alice's return a few years later as Esmeralda, and she was great at it. She was a great actress, a sweet person, with one of those faces you can't forget, and I will miss her.



"I don't expect my boys to let me down, and I won't let them down!"

---As Mrs. Murdoch, from "Grease"

[MikeLutton]

she was also on moonlighting

[catlover79]

I just remembered - she was the social worker assigned to Penny's case on Good Times! Wow, which show from back then WASN'T she on?

[Heidi Dawn]

Alice was very talented. As well as seeing her on Bewitched and Designing Women, I saw her on Gimme A Break and Golden Girls (I almost didn't recognize her, she was playing Stan's mother and was sporting a grey wig). I think now there's only Bernard Fox, the Murphy twins, and the Lawrence twins still alive from Bewitched (unless there's some guest stars still living).

[AB]

Such sad news. She was wonderful talented actress and I really enjoyed her playing Esmerelda and Berniece.