Alice Margaret Ghostley (August , â€" September , ) was an American
actress and singer. She was best known for her roles as Esmeralda
(â€"; ) on Bewitched, as Cousin Alice (â€") on Mayberry R.F.D., and as
Bernice Clifton (â€") on Designing Women, for which she received an
Emmy nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in .
She was a regular on Nichols (â€") and The Julie Andrews Hour
(â€").Ghostley was born in Eve, Missouri, in to Edna Muriel (née
Rooney) and Harry Francis Ghostley, who worked as a telegraph
operator. She grew up in Henryetta, Oklahoma. She attended the
University of Oklahoma, but dropped out to pursue a career in
theater.Ghostley first came to Broadway in Leonard Sillman's New Faces
of and in the film version released in . She appeared in the revue A
Thurber Carnival and in The Beauty Part (), playing several distinct
roles in each. She also performed in several musical comedies,
including Shangri-La (). In , she succeeded Dorothy Loudon, who had
created the role of Miss Hannigan in the original Broadway run of the
musical Annie.[citation needed]A veteran of early television, Ghostley
appeared as Joy, one of the ugly stepsisters in the 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 , Where Are You?, with Joe E. Ross and Fred Gwynne.
She portrayed recurring characters on several situation comedies,
beginning with Bewitched in 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 â€" season,
actress-comedian Alice Pearce, who was featured as nosy neighbor
Gladys Kravitz on Bewitched, died. The producers of the series
immediately offered the role of Gladys to Ghostley, who refused it. As
a result, in the fall of , character actress Sandra Gould assumed the
role of Gladys. In September , 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 Stephens' household. Ghostley's character of
Esmeralda was created to replace Aunt Clara's role as a bumbler of
magic. (Coincidentally, Ghostley and Lorne shared a brief scene
together in the film The Graduate, a few months prior to Lorne's
death and before Ghostley was cast in Bewitched.)
actress and singer. She was best known for her roles as Esmeralda
(â€"; ) on Bewitched, as Cousin Alice (â€") on Mayberry R.F.D., and as
Bernice Clifton (â€") on Designing Women, for which she received an
Emmy nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in .
She was a regular on Nichols (â€") and The Julie Andrews Hour
(â€").Ghostley was born in Eve, Missouri, in to Edna Muriel (née
Rooney) and Harry Francis Ghostley, who worked as a telegraph
operator. She grew up in Henryetta, Oklahoma. She attended the
University of Oklahoma, but dropped out to pursue a career in
theater.Ghostley first came to Broadway in Leonard Sillman's New Faces
of and in the film version released in . She appeared in the revue A
Thurber Carnival and in The Beauty Part (), playing several distinct
roles in each. She also performed in several musical comedies,
including Shangri-La (). In , she succeeded Dorothy Loudon, who had
created the role of Miss Hannigan in the original Broadway run of the
musical Annie.[citation needed]A veteran of early television, Ghostley
appeared as Joy, one of the ugly stepsisters in the 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 , Where Are You?, with Joe E. Ross and Fred Gwynne.
She portrayed recurring characters on several situation comedies,
beginning with Bewitched in 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 â€" season,
actress-comedian Alice Pearce, who was featured as nosy neighbor
Gladys Kravitz on Bewitched, died. The producers of the series
immediately offered the role of Gladys to Ghostley, who refused it. As
a result, in the fall of , character actress Sandra Gould assumed the
role of Gladys. In September , 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 Stephens' household. Ghostley's character of
Esmeralda was created to replace Aunt Clara's role as a bumbler of
magic. (Coincidentally, Ghostley and Lorne shared a brief scene
together in the film The Graduate, a few months prior to Lorne's
death and before Ghostley was cast in Bewitched.)
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