Esmeralda's final fade-out :(

September 22, 2007 7:40 AM

"I knew I didn't look like an ingenue... My nose was too long. I had crooked teeth. I wasn't blond. I knew I looked like a character actress. But I also knew I'd find a way." One of the most accomplished scene stealers in the history of TV comedy, character actress Alice Ghostley, is dead at 81.

Here she was in 2003 on the Designing Women reunion show.

From imdb: Alice Ghostley originally did not appear as Esmeralda but as maid Naomi who caused havoc at the Stephens'. In the same episode ("Maid To Order"), she is asked to help with a client dinner at the Tate's home because their own maid was ill that night. The name of the Tate's usual maid was Esmeralda.

posted by miss lynnster (16 comments total)

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posted by DenOfSizer at 7:43 AM on September 22, 2007

Bewitched had the best twittering characters on TV
Agnes Moorehead as The G-Mother, Paul Lynde, and that
nosey neighbor Mrs. Crabtree who had those big fine hips like
the mom on Happy Days.
posted by doctorschlock at 8:05 AM on September 22, 2007

It was actually very common in sitcoms for a guest star to appear as a one-shot character, then return as a different, recurring character. This happened several times in "All in the Family", for instance.
posted by evilcolonel at 8:07 AM on September 22, 2007

Just a tiny correction, solely because as a kid I was a TOTAL Bewitched freak. The neighbors were Gladys & Abner Kravitz. And there were two Gladys (just like there were two Derwoods).

Or would that be Gladi?
posted by miss lynnster at 8:13 AM on September 22, 2007

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posted by gummi at 8:17 AM on September 22, 2007

Oh yeah...Kravitz. Wherever did I get Crabtree from...
oh right...The Lil Rascals.
posted by doctorschlock at 8:25 AM on September 22, 2007

So, that pretty much means the only one at the next Bewitched reunion will be Tabitha. I feel sooo-oo old.

(And who the heck was she in "The Graduate"?)
posted by RavinDave at 8:28 AM on September 22, 2007

evilcolonel: "It was actually very common in sitcoms for a guest star to appear as a one-shot character, then return as a different, recurring character."

M*A*S*H too. Harry Morgan played a crazy general on the show before he became Col. Potter.

And .
posted by octothorpe at 8:32 AM on September 22, 2007

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She had such an approachable, friendly face. One of the few "real looking" people on television. Very funny lady.
posted by SassHat at 9:07 AM on September 22, 2007

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she had a good ride tho--and was great in every show
posted by amberglow at 9:28 AM on September 22, 2007

Oh wow, I had completely forgotten about that "Black man, black man, where have you gone to?" song. So very very funny.
posted by 23skidoo at 9:50 AM on September 22, 2007

She looks like the nice lady down the road from me who raises big scary turkeys and keeps chickens in a Trabant up on blocks. I suppose that was part of Ghostley's appeal -- she looked like the kind of woman who might keep chickens in a Trabant.
posted by pracowity at 12:57 PM on September 22, 2007

Normally on these occasions I find an excuse to sing, but right now all I can muster is:

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posted by Julia F***ing Sugarbaker at 2:45 PM on September 22, 2007 [1 favorite]

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posted by Deathalicious at 3:46 PM on September 22, 2007

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posted by brandz at 8:38 PM on September 22, 2007

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posted by kimdog at 1:17 PM on September 23, 2007