Background
Ashley was born Elizabeth Ann Cole in Ocala, Florida, to Lucille (née Ayer) and Arthur Kingman Cole, and raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Ashley was born Elizabeth Ann Cole in Ocala, Florida, to Lucille (née Ayer) and Arthur Kingman Cole, and raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
She has been nominated for three Tony Awards, winning once in 1962 for Take Her, She"s Mine. She received Tony nominations for both performances. She appeared on Broadway as Doctor Livingstone in Agnes of God (1982) and was a replacement in the role of Mattie Fae during the original Broadway run of August: Osage County.
She has been featured in major motion pictures over five decades, including early roles in, and
Her other film credits include,,, and, and she starred as the villain in the controversial film. Her most recent film roles were as Diane Freed in, and as Marg in the 2007 film The Cake Eaters.
In 1991, this role garnered her an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. She was originally supposed to appear in the 1995 movie Mallrats, playing the Governor of New Jersey.
However, owing to timing issues, the entire sequence was cut and replaced by a new one.
Her other television appearances include the 1987 miniseries The Two Mistress Grenvilles, and guest roles in Ben Casey. Route 66; Sam Benedict.
Stoney Burke.
The Six Million Dollar Manitoba Family; Miami Vice; Caroline in the City. Mission: Impossible; Murder, She Wrote.
Dave"s World.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Touched by an Angel; The Larry Sanders Show. And Homicide: Life on the Street.
She was also featured in 14 episodes of the Home Box Office series Treme as Aunt Mimi.
Ashley was also nominated for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and Golden Globe awards for her performance in The Carpetbaggers (1964), and was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1991 for Evening Shade. Ashley won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for Take Her, She"s Mine, then later starred as Corie in the original Broadway production of Neil Simon"s Barefoot in the Park (1963) and, later, as Maggie in a successful Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams" Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1974).
Having earlier appeared with Burt Reynolds in Paternity in 1981 and as a guest star in his television series Bachelor of Laws Stryker in 1989, Ashley became a cast member of Reynolds" next television series, Evening Shade, from 1990–1994 as "Aunt Frieda Evans".
