Ann Wedgeworth, known for ‘Three’s Company’ role, dies

NEW YORK » Actress Ann Wedgeworth, who gained fame on film and Broadway before taking on the role of a flirty divorcee on “Three’s Company,” has died at age 83.

Wedgeworth died Thursday in the New York area after a long illness, her daughter Dianna Martin said.

Wedgeworth landed her first Broadway role in the 1958 comedy “Make a Million” and continued to take on stage roles for decades. She won the 1978 Tony award for best featured actress in a play for her performance in Neil Simon’s “Chapter Two.”

She acted in several soap operas and also found success in Hollywood with roles alongside Gene Hackman in the 1973 film “Scarecrow” and Robert De Niro in “Bang the Drum Slowly” the same year.

But she’s perhaps best known for her brief tenure on the TV sitcom “Three’s Comedy,” where she played Lana Shields, an older woman with her eyes set on her young neighbor Jack, played by John Ritter.

She appeared on only nine episodes of the show before her character was written out, which she said took her by surprise. In a 1980 interview with People, Wedgeworth said she “had no warning or explanation. Suddenly everyone was very cold to me.”

Wedgeworth continued to tally TV and film credits for decades, including appearing in “Steel Magnolias” in 1989 and starring on the CBS series “Evening Shade” with Burt Reynolds from 1990 to 1994.