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'Alice Ghostley' (born August 14, 1926 in Vernon County, Missouri), is a Tony Award-winning American actress, best known for playing the characters Bernice Clifton on ''Designing Women'' (Emmy Nomination, Best Supporting Actress; 1992), Esmerelda on ''Bewitched'', and Cousin Alice on ''Mayberry R.F.D.''.

Contents

Television

Stage

Film

Personal

References

External links

Television

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, Joy, was paired with Kaye Ballard as the other stepsister, Portia.
Since then she has portrayed several well-known recurring characters on situation comedies, beginning with Esmerelda, 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.^[1] 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 out of 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 as the crazed mother of Stanley Zbornak on ''The Golden Girls''.

Stage

Ghostley first came to Broadway in ''Leonard Sillman's New Faces of 1952''. 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). Ghostley won the 1965 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her role as Mavis Parodus Bryson in ''The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window''. (She had previously been nominated in the same category in 1963 for ''The Beauty Part''.) In 1978 she replaced Dorothy Loudon as the evil Miss Hannigan in the original run of the musical ''Annie''.

Film

Among her few forays into motion pictures, Ghostley found herself in a supporting role in the classic ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' (1962), playing Dill's Aunt Stephanie Crawford. She also appeared in the hit movie version of ''Grease'' where she played shop teacher Mrs. Murdock. Ghostley had a small role in 1967's ''The Graduate'' in a scene with Marion Lorne. Ghostley's character in ''Bewitched'' was essentially created to replace Lorne's character, Aunt Clara, when the latter actress died in 1968.

Personal

Ghostley was married to Felice Orlandi, an actor, from 1953 until his death from lung cancer on May 21, 2003.

References

1. When Esmerelda Sneezed

External links

★

★ Alice Ghostley in the Internet Broadway Database (IBDB)