
Audra Lindley
Known for ActingBorn 1918-09-24Died 1997-10-16Los Angeles, California, USA
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 WikipediaRead more
Movies & web series
★ 10.0View details →
Sunday Drive
1986 · Movie
Take My Daughters, Please
★ 9.0View details →
Take My Daughters, Please
1988 · Movie
★ 9.0View details →
Skyward Christmas
1981 · Movie
★ 8.4View details →
Friends
1994 · Series
★ 8.0View details →
Sisters and Other Strangers
1997 · Movie
★ 8.0View details →
Tales from the Crypt
1989 · Series
★ 7.6View details →
Three's Company
1977 · Series
★ 7.5View details →
Murder, She Wrote
1984 · Series
★ 7.5View details →
Search for Tomorrow
1951 · Series
★ 7.1View details →
Matlock
1986 · Series
★ 7.1View details →
Desert Hearts
1985 · Movie
★ 7.0View details →
Deadline for Murder: From the Files of Edna Buchanan
1995 · Movie
★ 6.9View details →
Hart to Hart: Crimes of the Hart
1994 · Movie
★ 7.0View details →
The Canterville Ghost
1974 · Movie
★ 6.9View details →
Perry Mason: The Case of the Lady in the Lake
1988 · Movie
★ 6.8View details →
Bridesmaids
1989 · Movie
★ 6.9View details →
Taking Off
1971 · Movie
An American Girl
★ 7.0View details →
An American Girl
1958 · Movie
★ 6.8View details →
Bridget Loves Bernie
1972 · Series
★ 6.7View details →
Route 66
1960 · Series
★ 6.6View details →
The Heartbreak Kid
1972 · Movie
★ 6.9View details →
One Foot in Heaven
1941 · Movie
★ 6.6View details →
The Merv Griffin Show
1962 · Series
Lux Video Theatre
★ 6.7View details →
Lux Video Theatre
1950 · Series
★ 6.8View details →
Manpower
1941 · Movie
★ 6.6View details →
The Philco Television Playhouse
1948 · Series
★ 6.3View details →
The Love Boat
1977 · Series
★ 6.1View details →
The Relic
1997 · Movie
★ 6.0View details →
Sudden Death
1995 · Movie
★ 6.0View details →
Just My Imagination
1992 · Movie
★ 6.0View details →
The Hidden Room
1991 · Series
★ 6.1View details →
The Ropers
1979 · Series
★ 6.2View details →
Chico and the Man
1974 · Series
★ 5.9View details →
Cybill
1995 · Series
★ 6.0View details →
Getting Married
1978 · Movie
★ 6.0View details →
Pearl
1978 · Series
★ 5.9View details →
Spellbinder
1988 · Movie
The Bob Crane Show
★ 6.0View details →
The Bob Crane Show
1975 · Series
★ 5.9View details →
Cannery Row
1982 · Movie
★ 6.3View details →
Dangerously They Live
1941 · Movie
★ 5.8View details →
When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder?
1979 · Movie
★ 5.7View details →
Troop Beverly Hills
1989 · Movie
★ 5.7View details →
Stamp of a Killer
1987 · Movie
★ 6.0View details →
Robert Montgomery Presents
1950 · Series
★ 5.6View details →
The New Age
1994 · Movie
★ 5.8View details →
The Mike Douglas Show
1961 · Series
★ 5.7View details →
Naked City
1958 · Series
★ 5.3View details →
Revenge of the Stepford Wives
1980 · Movie