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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ClassyCo" data-source="post: 335859" data-attributes="member: 7">One of my favorite TV actresses is Ann Wedgeworth. She was born in Abilene, Texas, where she graduated from Highland Park High School. She was a childhood friend and high school classmate of future film star Jayne Mansfield (she's featured as an interviewee in a few Mansfield biographies). In 1957, she moved to New York, and after multiple auditions, she was eventually welcomed into the Actors Studio. Wedgeworth made her stage debut in 1958 when she appeared in the play MAKE A MILLION on Broadway. She would become a recognizable stage actress throughout her career, appearing in numerous successful Broadway and Off-Broadway plays, such as PERIOD OF ADJUSTMENT and BLUES FOR MISTER CHARLIE. In 1978, she won the Tony Award for her work in CHAPTER TWO. It's hard to know just how good Wedgeworth was on the stage because, y'know, theater isn't taped, but her reviews were solid and she was nominated for several awards. I'm most familiar with Wedgeworth and her work on TV. In her earliest days in the medium, she appeared in a few daytime soap operas. She played Angela Talbot on THE EDGE OF NIGHT from 1966 to 1967, and from there, she played Lahoma Vane Lucas on ANOTHER WORLD beginning in 1967. She stayed with the show until 1970 when she moved over to its spin-off, SOMERSET, where she stayed until 1973. She signed a contract with ABC in the late-'70s, and in 1979, she was cast on the top-rated sitcom THREE'S COMPANY, where she played Lana Shields, a multi-divorced woman who has the hots for womanizer Jack Tripper (John Ritter). Wedgeworth was added to the cast essentially to replace Audra Lindley's love-starved Mrs. Roper, who, along with Norman Fell, had moved over to the ill-fated spin-off called THE ROPERS. The producers of THREE'S COMPANY were enthusiastic about Ann joining their show, although her co-stars were less happy. Apparently there was some friction among the cast (I'm looking hard at Suzanne Somers and possibly Joyce DeWitt, but to a lesser extent) over the size of Wedgeworth's role. Once Don Knotts joined the cast, he and Wedgeworth shared a delicious on-screen banter as she refused his advances while pursuing Ritter. Ultimately, it was decided that Wedgeworth's Lana was too one-note to remain with the series long-term, and she was written out without explanation after nine episodes. Wedgeworth continued acting on film and TV for the rest of her career. She befriend writer-producer Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, who cast her in her show FILTHY RICH in 1982, a send-up of the popular primetime soap operas flooding the networks in the early-'80s. She co-starred on the show with future stars Delta Burke and Dixie Carter. The show was unsuccessful, and was canned after airing 15 episodes. I still wish Wedgeworth would've shown up as a relative of the Sugarbakers on DESIGNING WOMEN, therefore reuniting her with Burke and Carter on a much more successful show. She played Dan Conner's (John Goodman) fragile mother Audrey on ROSEANNE in 1989, and although she wasn't brought back for later appearances of the character (Debbie Reynolds eventually took the role), she's the actress I think of when the show mentions Audrey. Her longest-running role came on the CBS sitcom EVENING SHADE, starring Burt Reynolds. She played Merleen Eldridge for the show's entire run from 1990 to 1994. Her career slowed after EVENING SHADE ended, and she ultimately passed away in 2017, aged 83.  [ATTACH=full]40052[/ATTACH]</blockquote>

Verification: What month follows July?