Audra Lindley

Audra Lindley (September 24, 1918 – October 16, 1997) was an American actress born in Los Angeles, California, who built a career spanning Broadway, television, and film over several decades. She is best known for portraying landlady Helen Roper on the sitcom Three's Company and its spin-off The Ropers.

Lindley made her Broadway debut in 1942, playing Judy Garrett in the comedy Comes the Revelation. Her stage career extended across multiple decades, with credits including Fire!, Spofford, Heads or Tails, and the play Hear That Trumpet, among other productions. Her Broadway work continued through 1969, and in 1991 she received a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Play.

Following a period away from acting during which she raised five children, Lindley returned to steady work in television in the early 1960s. She took on the role of Sue Knowles on the soap opera Search for Tomorrow and subsequently spent five years playing the manipulative Aunt Liz Matthews on Another World. She later appeared as Meredith Baxter's mother in the sitcom Bridget Loves Bernie, a role that earned her a Golden Globe nomination in 1973, and as Lee Grant's best friend in the short-lived series Fay.

Her film work began in earnest with the 1971 Czech-American production Taking Off, the first American film directed by Miloš Forman. She appeared in Cannery Row in 1982 as Fauna, the owner of a brothel, and that same year had a role in Best Friends, starring Goldie Hawn and Burt Reynolds. Her other film credits include Revenge of the Stepford Wives (1980), the lesbian-themed drama Desert Hearts (1985), Troop Beverly Hills (1989), Sudden Death (1995), and The Relic (1997).

Lindley's most prominent television role came with Three's Company, which ran from 1977 to 1979. She wore a wig throughout the series to maintain Helen Roper's distinctive hairstyle. The character proved popular enough to anchor a spin-off, The Ropers, co-starring Norman Fell as her husband Stanley, which ran for two seasons from 1979 to 1980. Her performance on Three's Company earned her a second Golden Globe nomination in 1979. She also made multiple guest appearances on The Love Boat between 1977 and 1981. In 1987, she played Judith Light's mother in the television movie Dangerous Affection, and in 1995 she appeared as Phoebe Buffay's grandmother Frances on Friends. Among her final roles was the recurring part of Virginia Sheridan, Cybill Shepherd's character's mother on the sitcom Cybill — a casting choice that echoed her earlier role as Shepherd's on-screen mother in the 1972 film The Heartbreak Kid. An episode of Cybill was later dedicated to her memory.

In her personal life, Lindley was married to Hardy Ulm from 1943 until his death in 1970, with whom she had five children. She was subsequently married to actor James Whitmore from 1972 to 1979. Lindley died on October 16, 1997, at Cedars Sinai Medical Center from complications related to leukemia at the age of 79. She was cremated, and her ashes were interred near her parents at Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery in Santa Monica, California.