Biography

Joel Thomas Ashley was born in Atlanta, GA, to Alsie Ashley and Beulah Mariah Rodgers, daughter of Joel Thomas Rodgers and Laura Mariah Jones. He attended Georgia Military Academy, Peekskill (NY) Military Academy and graduated from Black Foxe Military Academy in Los Angeles, CA, in 1935 at age 16. He attended the University of Southern California and then the American Academy of Dramatic Art, but did not graduate, because he got a part in a Broadway play at age 17. Thereafter, he appeared in 8 Broadway plays, including twice playing Abraham Lincoln in "Prologue to Glory" and "War President." Among other plays he starred in were "Sun Field" and "Catherine Was Great" with Mae West, and other touring plays with Kay Francis and Elisabeth Bergner, as well as many plays in summer stock. He began working in television in New York in the live dramatic anthology series of the 1950s, including "Studio One" and television plays sponsored by Hallmark, Kraft, Philco, Lux and US Rubber. His mellifluous voice also announced for Lucky Strike and he took several roles on radio soap operas and dramas, such as "The Shadow," and live television drama series, such as "Captain Video." Ashley moved to Hollywood to appear in "The Ten Commandments" as a slave driver, and stayed on. Among his other films, some of which are still playing from time to time on cable tv, are "Tension at Table Rock," "Wild in the Streets," "Ghost Town," "Broken Star," and "The Great Locomotive Chase." He also appeared in several episodes of the television series, "Gunsmoke" (one of which won an Emmy), and also frequently as the bad guy in "Have Gun Will Travel, " Death Valley Days," "Wagon Train," "Cisco Kid," and "The Lone Ranger." As chairman of the Theatre Committee of the Masquer's Club for many years, Ashley directed and acted in several plays, including "Othello," and "Inherit the Wind." During World War II, he joined the Marines in 1941 and was wounded at Guadalcanal. In 1942, Joel Ashley married Margalo Francis Wilson (1920-1960), daughter of Francis Wilson, who was the founding president of Actor's Equity, and Edna Bruns, his former leading lady. They had two daughters together. In 1961, he married Erna Maria Rade, formerly of Leipzig, Germany, who died in 1984. His companion of over a decade, Connie Egan, died in 1998. He was survived by his daughter, Margalo Ashley-Farrand, J.D., and her children, Marc Alexander Bennett and Aliza Margalo Bennett and her stepsons, Michael and Robert Bennett, as well as the children on his deceased daughter, Laurel Mariah Ashley Petersen, Ph.D., Joel C. Petersen, Ryan Petersen, and Ashley Sarah Petersen and her stepsons, Matthew and Timothy Petersen. A Memorial service was held on May 13, 2000, at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Hollywood, California. The family requests donations to The Actors Fund of America.
- IMDb mini biography by: Marc Alexander Bennett, his grandson.