:\'(  RIP You made us laugh in many of your roles.  Does anyone remember what character she played in "To Kill a Mockingbird"?

LOS ANGELES, California -- Alice Ghostley, the Tony Award-winning actress best known on television for playing Esmeralda on "Bewitched" and Bernice on "Designing Women," has died. She was 81.

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

Ghostley made her Broadway debut in "Leonard Sillman's New Faces of 1952." She received critical acclaim for singing "The Boston Beguine," which became her signature song.

Miles Kreuger, president of the Los Angeles-based Institute of the American Musical, said part of Ghostley's charm was that she was not glamorous.

"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," Kreuger said.

In the 1960s, Ghostley received a Tony nomination for various characterizations in the Broadway comedy "The Beauty Part" and eventually won for best featured actress in "The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window."

From 1969 to 1972, she played the good witch and ditzy housekeeper Esmeralda on TV's "Bewitched." She played Bernice Clifton on "Designing Women" from 1987 to 1993, for which she earned an Emmy nomination in 1992.

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

She was born on August 14, 1926, in Eve, Missouri, where her father worked as a telegraph operator. She grew up in Henryetta, Oklahoma.

After graduating from high school, Ghostley attended the University of Oklahoma but dropped out and moved to New York with her sister to pursue theater.

"The best job I had then was as a theater usher," she said in a 1990 Boston Globe interview. "I saw the plays for free. What I saw before me was a visualization of what I wanted to do and what I wanted to be."

She was well aware of the types of roles she should pursue.

"I knew I didn't look like an ingenue," she told The Globe. "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," she added.

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

Alice was also known as "The Female Paul Lynde".

RIP Alice...

I loved her as Bernice on 'Desnigning Women'.  One episode really killed me .. she needed to get to the hospital to visit someone (I forget who), so she called for an ambulance.  When the ambulance got there, they told her that it's not a taxi service, but when they saw how loopy she was acting, they were like "Maybe we'd better take her along just in case" LOL

R.I.P. Alice ...

All I had to see was her face and I started to laugh, knowing I would anyway.

:\'(

She was so wonderful in Bewitched and Designing Women... she even had a memorable guest role on The Golden Girls playing Stan's cruel, over-bearing mother. Truly, a gifted actress and comedienne, she will definitely be missed...  :(

I was also very sad to hear of her passing.  I have always gotten such a kick out of her...she's just so funny. 


:\'(   RIP You made us laugh in many of your roles.  Does anyone remember what character she played in "To Kill a Mockingbird"?



She played Aunt Alexandra.  Hard to imagine, huh!



I loved her as Bernice on 'Desnigning Women'.  One episode really killed me .. she needed to get to the hospital to visit someone (I forget who), so she called for an ambulance.  When the ambulance got there, they told her that it's not a taxi service, but when they saw how loopy she was acting, they were like "Maybe we'd better take her along just in case" LOL

R.I.P. Alice ...


Oh my heck, that was just so funny.  She had so many fabulous moments on that show - she was definitely my favorite character.  She will be sorely missed.