Alice Margaret Ghostley (August 14 1926 – September 21 2007) was a Tony Award-winning American actress. She was best known for her roles as Esmeralda on Bewitched (in which she guest-starred from 1969 to 1972), as Cousin Alice on Mayberry R.F.D. (1970-1971) and as Bernice Clifton on Designing Women (1986-1993) (Emmy Nomination, Best Supporting Actress; 1992).

A veteran of early television, Ghostley appeared as one of the ugly step-sisters in the landmark 1957 musical television production of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein's Cinderella, which starred Julie Andrews in the title role.

As a character actress, Ghostley's uneasy and sometimes spastic delivery was reminiscent of fellow comic performers Charlotte Rae, Joe Besser, Charles Nelson Riley, and "Bewitched" alum Paul Lynde. While the delivery may have been similar, Ghostley was in a league of her own.

Apart from her stage recognition, Ghostley portrayed several well-known recurring characters on situation comedies, beginning with Esmeralda, a shy witch who served as a maid and babysitter to the Stephens household beginning in season six of Bewitched. Ghostley's role of Esmerelda was created after the passing of Marion Lorne in May 1968, whose portrayal of lovable, forgetful Aunt Clara could simply not be replicated. Rather than replace the character, Bewitched producers opted to create a new lovable, befuddled character; hence, Esmerelda was born. Interestingly, Lorne and Ghostley appeared side-by-side in The Graduate as partygoers Miss DeWitte and Mrs. Singleman the year before Lorne's passing. Bewitched fans have often joked that Lorne was passing her torch on to Ghostley. Ghostley's "Esmerelda" appeared in 15 episodes between 1969 and 1972. Ghostley had previously guest starred once as a mortal character, "Naomi", during Bewitched 's second season.

During this period she also joined the cast of Mayberry R.F.D., playing Cousin Alice after Frances Bavier's character, Aunt Bee, was written off the series. She appeared in 17 episodes. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s Ghostley continued to lend her recognizable voice and her nervously concerned style as a character actress to memorable episodes of popular situation comedies such as Good Times, Maude, One Day at a Time, The Odd Couple and What's Happening!!.

Between 1986 and 1993, Ghostley portrayed Bernice Clifton on Designing Women. She later played Irna Wallingsford in six episodes of Evening Shade. Among many other guest starring roles, she appeared in a flashback episode as the crazed mother-in-law of Dorothy Zbornak (Bea Arthur) on The Golden Girls. Ghostley also made a few guest appearances on the daytime drama Passions in 2000, playing the ghost of Matilda Matthews, a former friend (and later enemy) of the witch Tabitha Lenox.

Ghostley first came to Broadway in Leonard Sillman's New Faces of 1952 and in the film version released in 1954. She appeared in the 1960 revue A Thurber Carnival and in The Beauty Part (1962), playing several distinct roles in each. She also performed in several musical comedies, including Shangri-La (1956).

She won the 1965 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her role as Mavis Parodus Bryson in Lorraine Hansberry's The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window. In 1978 she succeeded Dorothy Loudon, who had created the role of Miss Hannigan in the original Broadway run of the musical Annie.

Among her forays into motion pictures, Ghostley appeared in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), playing Stephanie Crawford, the fussy aunt of Dill Harris. She also appeared in the film version of Grease as shop teacher Mrs. Murdock (a non-existent role in the Broadway version).

Ghostley stood in for friend and fellow New Faces alumna Maggie Smith in 1970, when Smith won the Academy Award as Best Actress for her starring role in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie but could not attend the ceremony.

Alice Ghostley was born on August 14 1922 in Eve, Missouri, where her father worked as a telegraph operator. She grew up in Henryetta, Oklahoma. After graduating from high school, she attended the University of Oklahoma but dropped out to pursue a career in theatre.

Ghostley was married to Felice Orlandi, an Italian-American actor, for fifty years (from 1953 until his death from lung cancer on May 21 2003); they had no children.

Alice Ghostley died at her home in Studio City, California on September 21 2007 after a long battle with colon cancer and a series of strokes. A "Celebration of Life" service was done at her home, where the actress was fondly remembered by family, friends, and former costars. She is survived by a sister, Gladys Ghostley.

* * *Obituary in The Times, 18 October 2007 *The Final Taxi Podcast on Alice Ghostley