Ann Wedgeworth
Born	Elizabeth Ann Wedgeworth (1934-01-21)January 21, 1934 Abilene, Texas, U.S.
Died	November 16, 2017(2017-11-16) (aged 83) North Bergen, New Jersey, U.S.
Education	Highland Park High School
Alma mater	University of Texas
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1957–2006
Known for	Three's Company Chapter Two Evening Shade
Spouses	Rip Torn ​ ​ (m. 1955; div. 1961)​ Ernest Martin ​ (m. 1970)​
Children	2

Elizabeth Ann Wedgeworth (January 21, 1934 – November 16, 2017) was an American character actress, known for her roles asLana Shields inThree's Company, Hilda Hensley inSweet Dreams, and Merleen Elldridge inEvening Shade. She won theTony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play forChapter Two (1978).

Elizabeth Ann Wedgeworth was born inAbilene, Texas. She graduated fromHighland Park High School inUniversity Park, Texas, where she was a childhood friend and high school classmate ofJayne Mansfield.^[1] She dropped her first name after graduating from theUniversity of Texas in 1957, and moved to New York City. After auditioning several times, she was admitted toThe Actors Studio.^[2][3]

Wedgeworth made her Broadway debut in the playMake a Million in 1958.^[1] She later had many roles onBroadway andoff-Broadway productions, includingPeriod of Adjustment,Blues for Mister Charlie,The Last Analysis, andThieves.^[4] In 1978, she won theTony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play forChapter Two.^[5]

Wedgeworth appeared off-Broadway at New York's Promenade Theatre from December 5, 1985, until June 1, 1986, inSam Shepard'sA Lie of the Mind, co-starringHarvey Keitel andGeraldine Page; coincidentally, Page, a decade Wedgeworth's senior, had married actorRip Torn after his divorce from Wedgeworth.^[6] At the time, Page and Torn were married, but were estranged at the time of Page's death in 1987. For her performance inA Lie of the Mind, Wedgeworth was nominated for aDrama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play.^[4]

Wedgeworth had supporting roles in many movies. She had the female leading role oppositeGene Hackman in the 1973 filmScarecrow. She later co-starred inBang the Drum Slowly,Law and Disorder,One Summer Love, andThieves. In 1977, she won theNational Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance inHandle with Care.^[7]

Through the 1980s, Wedgeworth had many supporting roles, often playing mothers, such as inNo Small Affair asJon Cryer's character's, inSweet Dreams asPatsy Cline's mother, followed by 1987'sMade in Heaven as one unknowingly reunited with her dead son. In 1989, she portrayed Aunt Fern inSteel Magnolias. She appeared asSissy Spacek's character's mother in the 1991 filmHard Promises. She also appeared in two films oppositeRenée Zellweger:Love and a .45 andThe Whole Wide World. Wedgeworth had her final film role inThe Hawk Is Dying, withPaul Giamatti, which opened at theSundance Film Festival in 2006.^[6]

In early years, Wedgeworth had main roles on numerous daytimesoap operas. She played the roles of Angela Talbot onThe Edge of Night from 1966 to 1967, and later joined the cast ofAnother World as Lahoma Vane Lucas. She played the role from 1967 to 1970, and from 1970 to 1973 appeared on its spinoff,Somerset.^[8][1]

In 1979, Wedgeworth was cast as divorcéeLana Shields on the hitABC sitcomThree's Company. Producers introduced her character to fill the void left byAudra Lindley, who had left to star in the show's spin-off,The Ropers. According to behind-the-scenes reports, the addition of Lana to the cast caused tension between series starJohn Ritter and the show's writers. Ritter believed it would be out of character for his character, the womanizingJack Tripper, to inexplicably turn down the advances of Lana, a sexually voracious, attractive older woman. The writers reasoned that because Lana was older than Jack, he would be turned off. Ritter did not believe that the middle-aged Lana, only meant to be in her 40s (whereas Jack was in his late 20s/early 30s), would repel Jack. Wedgeworth claimed that she asked to be released from her contract because of Lana's dwindling role in the show.^[9] Wedgeworth appeared in just nine episodes of the series before her character was written out without any explanation and never referred to again.^[10]

In 1982, Wedgeworth worked withLinda Bloodworth-Thomason in her first comedy series,Filthy Rich, playing ditsy, good-natured Bootsie Westchester. The series was canceled after two seasons in 1983. In 1989, she guest-starred as Audrey Conner, the emotionally fragile mother of Dan Conner (played byJohn Goodman) on the ABC sitcom,Roseanne. Her longest role was on the CBS sitcomEvening Shade as Merleen Eldridge. The series aired from 1990 to 1994. In 1994, Wedgeworth starred in the unsuccessfulEvening Shade spin-off,Harlan & Merleen.

Wedgeworth marriedRip Torn in 1955. They had a daughter, actress Danae Torn. The couple divorced in 1961.^[10] In 1970, she married acting teacher and director Ernie Martin, and, in 1972, had a daughter, actress/acting teacher/writer Diánna Martin.^[1]

In 2017, Wedgeworth died after a long illness, at a nursing home inNorth Bergen, New Jersey, aged 83.^[11][7][6]

• Ann Wedgeworth at theInternet Off-Broadway Database (archived)
• Ann Wedgeworth at theInternet Broadway Database
• Ann Wedgeworth atIMDb
• Ann Wedgeworth atRotten Tomatoes

• 1934 births
• 2017 deaths
• 20th-century American actresses
• 21st-century American actresses
• Actresses from Texas
• American stage actresses
• American soap opera actresses
• American television actresses
• American film actresses
• People from Abilene, Texas
• University of Texas at Austin alumni

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles with hCards
• Internet Off-Broadway Database person ID same as Wikidata
• IBDB name template using Wikidata