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Audra Lindley

Audra Lindley brought a sharp comic edge to characters who were restless, outspoken or simply unwilling to hide what they wanted. Born in Los Angeles on September 24, 1918, she began acting on Broadway in 1942 as Judy Garrett in Comes the Revelation. After stepping away from acting to raise five children, she returned to build a steady television career in the early 1960s. Her early screen work included substantial soap-opera roles as Sue Knowles on Search for Tomorrow and the manipulative Aunt Liz Matthews on Another World. Regular parts followed in Bridget Loves Bernie, playing Meredith Baxter’s mother, and Fay, as Lee Grant’s best friend. Lindley received Golden Globe nominations for Bridget Loves Bernie in 1973 and Three’s Company in 1979. It was Three’s Company that gave Lindley her best-known role. As Helen Roper, she turned marital frustration and wisecracking candor into the character’s defining rhythm, playing opposite Norman Fell as her husband, Stanley. The pair carried their characters into the spin-off The Ropers, which ran for two seasons from 1979 to 1980. Lindley’s work was not confined to sitcoms. She appeared in Miloš Forman’s first American film, Taking Off, in 1971, and later played Fauna in Cannery Row. Her film roles also included Best Friends, Desert Hearts and Troop Beverly Hills, where she played the outspoken director of the Wilderness Girls. She moved comfortably into darker material as well, appearing in Tales from the Crypt and The Hidden Room. Later audiences saw her as Phoebe Buffay’s grandmother, Frances, on Friends, as well as in Sudden Death and The Relic. Her final role was the recurring part of Virginia Sheridan, mother to Cybill Shepherd’s character on Cybill. Across stage, television and film, Lindley made a career from vivid supporting parts and comic characters with plenty left to say.