Biography
Audra Lindley made her film bow with a blink-and-you-miss-her bit in 1942's
The Male Animal. An established Broadway actress by the 1950s, Lindley has appeared in such plays as Take Her She's Mine, Spofford and
A Case of Libel. Her TV work has included regular stints on such soap operas as
Search for Tomorrow,
From These Roots and The Edge of Night; she spent several years as Liz Mathews on NBC's
Another World. Equally busy in TV's nighttime hours, Lindley was a regular on the 1970s sitcoms
Bridget Loves Bernie,
Fay and
Doc. Her most famous prime-time TV assignment was as long-suffering Helen Roper in
Three's Company (1977-79) and its 1979 spin-off
The Ropers. She also appeared as
Elizabeth Montgomery's mother in a brace of "Edna Buchanan" TV movies, and as Phoebe's grandmother on a 1994 episode of
Friends. She made her final film appearance in
Peter Hyams's action thriller
Sudden Death (1995). Lindley was for many years the wife of actor
James Whitmore. She died at age 79 from complications of leukemia on Oct 16, 1997. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide