Tony Award winning actress and former soap opera star Ann Wedgeworth passed away on Thursday. She was 83.
Wedgeworth's daughter Dianna Martin said the actress died close to her home in New York City after a long illness in a nursing home.
After playing Marie Warren and, later, Angie Talbot on CBS soap The Edge of Night, Wedgeworth moved to NBC's Another World in 1967 to create the role of Lahoma Vane. In March 1970, Lahoma and her husband, Sam Lucas, left Bay City for the spin-off series Somerset. Wedgeworth left Somerset in September 1973.
In a 1980 People magazine interview, Wedgeworth described her six years in the soaps as "dreary and horrible".
She went on to win a Tony Award in 1978 for her work in "Chapter Two," and later memorably played Lana Shields on ABC's hit sitcom Three's Company.
Wedgeworth's numerous other TV credits included Filthy Rich, Evening Shade, One Life to Live (as Charlie Barnes), Roseanne and Trapper John, M.D.
Her movie appearances included Scarecrow, Bang the Drum Slowly, Steel Magnolias, Love and a .45, Hard Promises and Made in Heaven. She also starred as country music singer Patsy Cline's mom in the 1985 film Sweet Dreams.
She was born in Abilene, Texas, in 1934. Her father was the superintendent of a local school and her mother died when Ann was 2 years old. After getting a drama degree from Southern Methodist University, she moved to New York City in the 1950s to pursue a theater career.
She married actor Rip Torn and the couple had a daughter, Danae Torn, before ending their five-year marriage in 1961. Wedgeworth later married acting teacher Ernest Martin and had her second daughter, Martin.
Survivors include her husband, her two daughters and stepsons Michael Martin and Greg Martin.
You can catch a glimpse of Wedgeworth on Another World in the clip below starting at the 39:27 mark.
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ReplyDeleteShe was good
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ReplyDeleteShe played Charles Durning's wife on Evening Shade (Burt Reynolds last foray into television).....
ReplyDeleteShe also played in Three's Company as the sex addict Lana Shields chasing John Ritter everywhere. That's where I know I her from. The cast treated her like crap on that show complaining she was getting too much air time and stealing the spotlight she stated. Hell, how couldn't she? She was a GREAT ACTRESS. A total natural. And she was in Steel Magnolias as well. What a loss.
ReplyDeleteShe was amazing, I loved her. RIP, Ms. Wedgeworth. You are sorely missed.
ReplyDeleteShe also played Patsy Cline's mom in the film, "Sweet Dreams."
ReplyDeleteMy first memories of Ann were when she was on Another World... I'm sad to hear of her passing.. RIP ����
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