Background
Ashley was born to a Jewish family in Brooklyn as Theodore Assofsky.
Ashley was born to a Jewish family in Brooklyn as Theodore Assofsky.
At the age of 20 he started out as a William Morris agent (He changed his name at that time). In 1951, he started his own talent agency, Ashley-Famous, which was acquired by Kinney National Company in 1967 in exchange for 12,750,000 in Warner"s stock. Ashley made the sale for personal reasons, indicating that he did not want to be an agent anymore.
In an interview, Ashley quotes, “There’s something undermining to one’s sense of one’s self about that whole relationship” (referencing the agent and client partnership).
The purchase was made and Ashley was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the movie studio where he served until 1981. Beginning with the unexpected success of the concert documentary Woodstock (1970), the company started scoring box office hits again, reestablishing Warner Brothers as a major studio.
He then became vice chairman of Warner Communications until his retirement in 1988.