Deborah Walley
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Deborah Walley (August 12, 1941 – May 10, 2001) was an American actress noted for playing the title role in Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961) and in several Beach Party films.
Contents
Life and Career
She was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut to Ice Capades skating stars and choreographers, Nathan and Edith Walley. She attended Central High School in Bridgeport. At fourteen, she was playing summer-stock theatre. During her sophomore year, she attended Rosarian Academy in West Palm Beach, Florida, where she was cast as Cinderella in the Academy's annual musical production at the Royal Poinciana Playhouse in Palm Beach, Florida. She studied acting at New York City's American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She began working on stage in the city.[citation needed]
She was discovered by agent Joyce Selznick in a performance in a production of Anton Chekov's Three Sisters. This led her to make her Hollywood film debut as Gidget[1] in 1961's Gidget Goes Hawaiian. From then until 1974 she appeared in fifteen feature-length films, including several of the "Beach Party" films produced by American International Pictures.[2] She also co-starred in the Elvis Presley film Spinout where she and Elvis bonded over a shared interest in spiritual matters.[3]
In 1967, with her movie career starting to decline, Walley portrayed Suzie Hubbard Buell in the comedy series The Mothers-in-Law, Comedienne Eve Arden playing her mother and singer-comedienne Kaye Ballard playing her mother-in-law. Actress Kay Cole had played Suzie in the original pilot but was replaced by Walley, who played her through the series' two seasons on the air.[4]
After moving to Sedona, Arizona to bring up her children, Walley co-founded two children's theater companies, Pied Piper Productions and the Sedona Children's Theatre.[citation needed]
Personal life
From 1962-66, Walley was married to actor John Ashley, a costar of ABC's Straightaway series about auto racing from 1961–1962. The couple had a son, Anthony Brooks Ashley. John Ashley preceded his former wife in death by four years. On his gravestone, the inscription says that he was a "loving husband and father".[citation needed]
Death
Walley died of esophageal cancer on May 10, 2001, in Sedona, aged 59.[5] She was survived by her two sons: Anthony Brooks Ashley, a director, editor, and producer in Hollywood; and Justin Ashley Reynolds, an internet entrepreneur in Phoenix, Arizona.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | Naked City | Heather Weston | Episode: "To Walk in Silence" |
| 1960 | Route 66 | Helen Page | Episode: "Ten Drops of Water" |
| 1961 | Gidget Goes Hawaiian | Gidget (Frances Lawrence) | |
| 1962 | Bon Voyage! | Amy Willard | |
| 1963 | Summer Magic | Julia Carey | |
| 1964 | Burke's Law | Gwenny Trent | Episode: "Who Killed Andy Zygmunt?" |
| 1964 | The Greatest Show on Earth | Anne | Episode: "This Train Don't Stop Till It Gets There" |
| 1964 | The Young Lovers | Debbie | |
| 1964 | Wagon Train | Nancy Styles | Episode: "The Nancy Styles Story" |
| 1965 | Beach Blanket Bingo | Bonnie Graham | |
| 1965 | Ski Party | Linda Hughes | |
| 1965 | Sergeant Deadhead | Airman Lucy Turner | |
| 1965 | Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine | Craig's Cafeteria Date | |
| 1966 | The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini | Lili Morton | |
| 1966 | Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. | Tina Tracy | Episode: "Lies, Lies, Lies" |
| 1966 | Spinout | Les | |
| 1966 | The Bubble | Katherine | |
| 1967 | It's a Bikini World | Delilah Dawes | |
| 1967-1969 | The Mothers-in-Law | Suzie Hubbard Buell | 56 episodes |
| 1970 | The Virginian | Corey Ann Skeet | Episode: "With Love, Bullets and Valentines" |
| 1971 | Drag Racer | Chris | |
| 1972 | Love, American Style | Nina | Episode: "Love and the Anxious Mama" |
| 1973 | The Severed Arm | Teddy Rogers | |
| 1974 | Benji | Linda | |
| 1978 | The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries | Gina Bartelli | Episode: "Mystery on the Avalanch Express" |
| 1986 | Simon & Simon | Gigi Dolores | Episode: "The Last Big Break" |
| 1989 | Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers | Lahwhinie (voice) | Episode: "Gadget Goes Hawaiian" |
| 1990 | Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers | Buffy Ratskiwatski / Foxglove (voice) | Episode: "Out of Scale" Episode: "Good Times, Bat Times" |
| 1999 | Baywatch | Ethel | Episode: "Baywatch Grand Prix" |
Awards
Walley was named Photoplay magazine's 'Most Popular Actress of 1961'.[2]
References
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to [[commons:Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 506: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).|Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 506: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).]]. |
- Deborah Walley at the Internet Movie Database
- Deborah Walley at Brian's Drive-in Theatre
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- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Deborah Walley at Central High School, Bridgeport CT
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Deborah Walley at the Internet Movie Database
- ↑ "Deborah Walley; Actress, 57" (obituary), New York Times, May 15, 2001.
- Pages with reference errors
- Use mdy dates from September 2012
- Pages using infobox person with unknown parameters
- Articles with hCards
- Articles with unsourced statements from August 2015
- Commons category link from Wikidata
- American film actresses
- American television actresses
- American stage actresses
- Actresses from Connecticut
- People from Sedona, Arizona
- 1941 births
- 2001 deaths
- Actresses from Bridgeport, Connecticut
- American Academy of Dramatic Arts alumni
- Deaths from esophageal cancer
- Cancer deaths in Arizona
- 20th-century American actresses
