Audra Lindley was born in Los Angeles, California, on September 24, 1918. Lindley began acting on Broadway in 1942, portraying Judy Garrett in
Comes the Revelation. In 1971, she starred in
Taking Off, the first American film of
Miloš Forman. She was nominated twice for a
Golden Globe Award, in 1973 for her role in
Bridget Loves Bernie and in 1979 for her role in ''
Three's Company''. Lindley continued to appear steadily on television and in films, such as
Revenge of the Stepford Wives in 1980 and as Fauna, the owner of a brothel in the 1982 film
Cannery Row. In 1982, she appeared in the film
Best Friends, starring
Goldie Hawn and
Burt Reynolds. She played a supporting role in the lesbian-themed film
Desert Hearts (1985). In 1987, she had another supporting role as
Judith Light's mother in the TV movie
Stamp of a Killer. She also appeared in 1989's
Troop Beverly Hills as outspoken director of the Wilderness Girls. Also in 1989, she was the main character of an episode of the horror anthology series
Tales from the Crypt. In 1991, she starred in an episode of the horror anthology series
The Hidden Room. In 1995, she played
Phoebe Buffay's grandmother, Frances, on
Friends and appeared in the movie
Sudden Death. In 1997, some of her last roles include an episode of
Nothing Sacred, the TV movie
Sisters and Other Strangers, and the theatrical movie
The Relic. Her final role was as Virginia Sheridan, a recurring part as
Cybill Shepherd's character's mother on the sitcom
Cybill (having previously also played Shepherd's on-screen mother in the 1972 film
The Heartbreak Kid). A later episode of
Cybill was dedicated to her. ==Personal life and death==