79
Age
35
Movies
31
TV Shows
6.5
Rating
Audra Marie Lindley (September 24, 1918 – October 16, 1997) was an American actress, most famous for her role as landlady Helen Roper on the sitcom Three's Company and its spin-off, The Ropers.
79
Died at
35
Movies
31
TV Shows
6.5
Avg Rating
Audra Marie Lindley (September 24, 1918 – October 16, 1997) was an American actress, most famous for her role as landlady Helen Roper on the sitcom Three's Company and its spin-off, The Ropers.
1961
Audra Marie Lindley (September 24, 1918 – October 16, 1997) was an American actress, most famous for her role as landlady Helen Roper on the sitcom Three's Company and its spin-off, The Ropers.
Born in Los Angeles, California, Lindley was the daughter of show business parents. She got her early start in Hollywood by being a stand-in, which eventually progressed to stunt work. Nothing panned out, and she went to New York in her mid-20s to work in theater. Among her many Broadway plays were: On Golden Pond, Playhouse 90, Long Day's Journey into Night, and Horse Heavens. She took time off to get married and raise five children. Upon resuming her career, she began to make steady appearances on television, including the role of Sue Knowles on the CBS soap opera Search for Tomorrow, and a six-year stint as manipulative "Aunt Liz" Matthews on the NBC soap opera Another World. She also had regular roles as Meredith Baxter's mother in the sitcom Bridget Loves Bernie, as well as Lee Grant's best friend in Fay.
Her greatest fame arrived when she began playing the wisecracking, perpetually unfulfilled and sexually frustrated Helen Roper on the hit sitcom Three's Company (1977). (Lindley wore a wig to maintain the character's exaggerated hairstyle.) The character and her husband, Mr. Roper (played by Norman Fell), were spun off to their own show, The Ropers (1979), which was not a success. Lindley continued to appear steadily on television and in film, such as Revenge of the Stepford Wives in 1980 and as Fauna, the owner of the "Bear Flag Restaurant," a Monterey, CA brothel portrayed in the 1982 film Cannery Row. In 1982, she appeared in the film Best Friends starring Goldie Hawn and Burt Reynolds.
One of her last roles was a character part in the lesbian-themed film Desert Hearts (1985). Lindley wanted to reshoot one key scene. The director, Donna Deitch, replied that they did not have the budget for reshooting. Lindley said that she would buy a portion of the film if Deitch let her do just that one take again. Deitch agreed, and Lindley kept her word.
Lindley garnered further parts of all sizes in various TV films and series, including playing Phoebe Buffay's grandmother on Friends, and her last, a recurring role as Cybill Shepherd's mother on the CBS sitcom Cybill. She had also played Shepherd's mother in the 1972 film The Heartbreak Kid.
Lindley died from leukemia on October 16, 1997, at Cedars Sinai Medical Center with a Cybill script by her hospital bedside.
She was married to and divorced from Dr. Hardy Ulm (1943–1960); they had five children. She later married and divorced James Whitmore (1972–1979)
Description above from the Wikipedia article Audra Lindley, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia
Gender
Female
Birthday
September 24, 1918
Died
October 16, 1997
Birthplace
Los Angeles, California, USA
Desert Hearts
1985
One Foot in Heaven
1941
The Relic
1997
Cannery Row
1982
The New Love Boat
1977
Absolute Strangers
1991
The New Age
1994
Getting Married
1978
Sunday Drive
1986
The Day the Bubble Burst
1982
The Canterville Ghost
1974
Sudden Death
1995
The Male Animal
1942
Take My Daughters, Please
1988
Spellbinder
1988
Stamp of a Killer
1987
Best Friends
1982
Troop Beverly Hills
1989
The Heartbreak Kid
1972
Dangerously They Live
1941
+ 15 more movies
Friends
1994
Murder, She Wrote
1984
The Mike Douglas Show
1961
The Love Boat
1977
The Love Boat
1977
The Love Boat
1977
The Love Boat
1977
The Love Boat
1977
Matlock
1986
Three's Company
1977
Tales from the Crypt
1989
Robert Montgomery Presents
1950
Robert Montgomery Presents
1950
The Philco Television Playhouse
1948
Route 66
1960
Naked City
1958
Naked City
1958
Naked City
1958
Cybill
1995
Search for Tomorrow
1951
+ 11 more TV shows