Deborah Walley

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Deborah Walley bigraphy, stories - American actor

Deborah Walley : biography

August 12, 1941 – May 10, 2001

Deborah Walley (August 12, 1941May 10, 2001) was an American actress.

Filmography

Film and Television
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|The Greatest Show on Earth (TV series)}} Anne Episode: "This Train Don’t Stop Till It Gets There"
1964 The|Young Lovers|nolink=1}} 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|The Bubble (1966 film)}} Caterine
1967 It’s a Bikini World Delilah Dawes
1967-1969 The|Mothers-in-Law}} Suzie Hubbard Buell 56 episodes
1970 The|Virginian|The Virginian (TV series)}} 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}}
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"

Biographical Information

Deborah Walley was born in Bridgeport in southern 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. She studied acting at New York City’s American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She began working on stage in the city and made her Hollywood film debut 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. She also co-starred in the Elvis Presley film Spinout where she and Elvis bonded over a shared interest in spiritual matters.

From 1964 to 1966, 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, before they divorced. John Ashley preceded his former wife in death by four years. On his gravestone, the inscriptions says that he was a "loving husband and father."

In 1967, with her movie career starting to slide, Walley portrayed Suzie Hubbard Buell in the comedy series The Mothers-in-Law. Comedienne Eve Arden played her mother, Eve Hubbard, while singer-comedienne Kaye Ballard played her mother-in-law, Kaye Buell. Actress Kay Cole (A Chorus Line) had played Suzie in the original pilot, but Walley later replaced her, and played her through the series’ two seasons on the air.

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.

Walley succumbed to esophageal cancer on May 10, 2001, in Sedona. She was survived by two of her three sons: Anthony Brooks Ashley, a director, editor, and producer in Hollywood; and Justin Ashley Reynolds, an internet entrepreneur in Phoenix, Arizona.

Awards

Walley was named Photoplay magazine’s ‘Most Popular Actress of 1961’.