Alice Margaret Ghostley (August 14, 1923 – September 21, 2007) was an American actress and singer on stage, film and television. Ghostley was best known for her roles as bumbling witch Esmeralda (1969–72) on Bewitched, as Cousin Alice (1970–71) on Mayberry R.F.D., and as Bernice Clifton (1986–93) on Designing Women.
Ghostley dropped out of the University of Oklahoma to pursue a career in theater. She first starred on Broadway in New Faces of 1952 and in the film version of the play released in 1954. She portrayed recurring characters on several sitcoms, including Bewitched (1969-1972), Mayberry R.F.D., Nichols (1971–72) and The Julie Andrews Hour (1972–73). Between 1986 and 1993, Ghostley portrayed Bernice Clifton on Designing Women. Over the years, Ghostley had numerous guest starring roles, including on Hogan's Heroes, Good Times, Maude, One Day at a Time, The Odd Couple, What's Happening!!, Evening Shade, and The Golden Girls. She also appeared in film in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), Gator, the film version of Grease, in the 1985 comedy Not for Publication, and in the direct-to-video movie Addams Family Reunion.
Ghostley received a Tony nomination in 1963 for her roles in the comedy The Beauty Part. She also received a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress for her role in The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window and, in 1992, she was nominated for an Emmy for her role in Designing Women.
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Early life
Alice Margaret Ghostley was born on August 14, 1923 at a train station in Eve, Missouri, to Edna Muriel (née Rooney) and Harry Francis Ghostley, who worked as a telegraph operator. Ghostley grew up in Siloam Springs Arkansas and Henryetta, Oklahoma. She attended the University of Oklahoma, but dropped out to pursue a career in theater.
Career
Stage
Alice Ghostley first came to Broadway in Leonard Sillman's New Faces of 1952 and in the film version released in 1954. Her featured number was "The Boston Beguine", a comic song about finding romance and danger in the very proper Boston, Massachusetts. Ghostley recorded her vocal for an RCA Victor 45-rpm single; the other side was New Faces co-star Eartha Kitt singing "Monotonous".
Television
Ghostley established herself as a plain-looking, sad-smiling comedienne in early television. She appeared as Joy, one of the ugly stepsisters in the 1957 musical television production of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein's Cinderella, which starred Julie Andrews in the title role. The other stepsister was played by actress Kaye Ballard. Twelve years later, Ghostley guest-starred as a harried maternity nurse on Ballard's comedy series, The Mothers-in-Law.
Ghostley guest-starred on the NBC police comedy, Car 54, Where Are You? with Joe E. Ross and Fred Gwynne, filmed in New York. In the musical episode "Christmas at the 53rd", she sang the comic torch song "Irving". She also appeared in two 1961 episodes of The Tom Ewell Show. She was also a favorite of Jackie Gleason's, who featured her in his "American Scene Magazine" variety hours of the 1960s. In the recurring sketch "Arthur and Agnes", Gleason played a loudmouthed, inconsiderate braggart talking to Ghostley on her front stoop. Gleason's character treated her thoughtlessly for several minutes before walking away, leaving Ghostley alone to confide to the audience, "I'm the luckiest girl in the world!"
She portrayed recurring characters on several situation comedies, beginning with Bewitched in 1966 in "Maid to Order", in which Ghostley played an inept maid named Naomi, who was hired by Darrin Stephens (played by Dick York) to assist his wife Samantha (Elizabeth Montgomery) during her pregnancy. Towards the end of the series' 1965–66 season, actress-comedienne Alice Pearce, who was featured as nosy neighbor Gladys Kravitz, died. The producers of the series immediately offered the role of Gladys to Ghostley, who refused it. As a result, in the fall of 1966, character actress Sandra Gould assumed the role of Gladys. In September 1969, after the death of actress Marion Lorne, who played Aunt Clara, Ghostley joined Bewitched as a semiregular in the role of Esmeralda, a shy witch who served as a maid and babysitter to the Stephenses' household. Ghostley's character of Esmeralda was created to replace Aunt Clara's role as a bumbler of magic.
Ghostley's Esmeralda appeared in 15 episodes of Bewitched between 1969 and 1972. During her two years on Bewitched, Ghostley 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. She appeared in 14 episodes.
On February 22, 1969, she appeared as Aggie on The Ghost & Mrs. Muir (starring Edward Mulhare and Hope Lange). The episode was entitled "Make Me a Match". The captain and Mrs. Muir matched her with Claymore Gregg (Charles Nelson Reilly). On March 6, 1970, she appeared on another episode of The Ghost & Mrs. Muir, "Curious Cousin". She played nosey Cousin Harriet, who interferes with Mrs. Muir's private life. To divert her excessive attention, Claymore, posing as Captain Gregg, comes to court her.
Film
Among her roles in motion pictures, Ghostley appeared in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), playing Stephanie Crawford, the neighborhood gossip. She starred in Gator as Gator's partner in crime who brings her cats along on a burglary. She appeared in the film version of Grease as shop teacher Mrs. Murdock. In 1985, she had a supporting role in the Nancy Allen comedy Not for Publication. Alice played Grandmama in the direct-to-video movie Addams Family Reunion.
Awards
Ghostley received a Tony nomination in 1963 for different roles she played in the Broadway comedy The Beauty Part. She also received a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress for her role in The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window.
In 1992, she earned an Emmy nomination for her role in Designing Women.
Personal life and death
Alice Ghostley was married to Felice Orlandi, an Italian-American actor, from 1953 until his death in 2003.
Ghostley died at her home in Studio City, California, on September 21, 2007, of colon cancer and a series of strokes.
Selected filmography
New Faces (1954) - Herself
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) - Miss Stephanie Crawford
My Six Loves (1963) - Selena Johnson
The Flim-Flam Man (1967) - Mrs. Packard
The Graduate (1967) - Mrs. Singleman
With Six You Get Eggroll (1968) - Molly
Viva Max (1969) - Hattie
Ace Eli and Rodger of the Skies (1973) - Sister Lite
Gator (1976) - Emmeline Cavanaugh
Blue Sunshine (1977) - O'Malley's Neighbor
Record City (1978) - Worried Wife
Rabbit Test (1978) - Nurse Tumm
Grease (1978) - Mrs. Murdock
Not for Publication (1984) - Doris Denver
The Odd Couple II (1998) - Esther, the Whiner
Addams Family Reunion (1998, TV Movie) - Grandmama Addams
Palmer's Pick-Up (1999) - Mrs. Eleanor Palmer
Whispers: An Elephant's Tale (2000) - Tuskless (voice)
Mothers and Daughters (2006) - The Doctor (final film role)
Select television credits
Lights Out as Chambers' Secretary (1951, "Perchance To Dream")
The Best of Broadway as Clara Hyland (1955, "The Show-Off")
Star Stage (1955, "A Letter to Mr. Priest")
Playwrights '56 as Mrs. Hope (1956, "Flight")
The United States Steel Hour as Ida Routzeng (1959, "A Taste of Champagne" and 1962; Episode - "You Can't Escape")
Dow Hour of Great Mysteries as Charlotte (1960, "The Dachet Diamonds")
Play of the Week (1960, "Highlights of New Faces")
Art Carney Special (1961, "Everybody's Doin' It!")
The Tom Ewell Show as Polly (1961, "The Chutney Caper") and as Lavinia Barrington (1961, "I Don't See It")
Car 54, Where Are You? as Bonita Kalsheim (1961, "Christmas at the 53rd" and "Love Finds Muldoon")
Naked City as Clara, the Bookkeeper (1963, 'One, Two, Three, Rita Rakahowski")
The Trials of O'Brien as Eve Roberti (1965, "The Trouble with Archie")
Bewitched as Naomi Hogan (1966, "Maid to Order") and as Esmeralda (1969-1972, 15 appearances)
Get Smart as Verna (1966, "The Last One in Is a Rotten Spy") and as Naomi Farkas (1968, "The Farkas Fracas")