Beulah Ashley

Beulah Maria Ashley (née Rodgers; January 24, 1899 – July 6, 1965) was an American character actress in silent film, and script supervisor active during Hollywood's Golden Age. She was the mother of actor Joel Ashley.

Early life and career

Born on January 24, 1899, in Meridian, Mississippi, and raised there and in Macon, Georgia, Ashley was one of at least six daughters born to Laura Mariah (née Jones) and Joel Thomas Rodgers, a repairman employed by Central of Georgia Railway.

In either 1934 or 1935 (following the marriage of actress Barbara Rogers—Ashley's sister, née Emma Lee Rodgers—to Warner Brothers executive William Koenig), Beulah moved to Los Angeles with her son Joel. Her Hollywood debut, at least as a writer, came shortly thereafter, in the form of an uncredited rewrite on Warner Brothers' G-Men. In April 1935, virtually coinciding with that film's release, Ashley—along with her sister—helped her son make his unofficial West Coast debut at Hollywood Military Academy, in Aunt Julia's Pearls, a three-act comedy by Boston-based educator/playwright Hope Hearn Moulton.

In the July 27, 1944 issue of The Hollywood Reporter, Ashley was one of a near pageful of alphabetically listed cast and crew members thanked for their work in MGM's Bathing Beauty (1944), including—among others in Ashley's immediate vicinity—bandleader Irving Aaronson, choreographer Robert Alton, assistant director E. J. Babille, and film editor Margaret Booth.

Personal life and death

Ashley married at least twice: in the late 19-teens to Alsie Ashley, with whom she had her only child, actor Joel Ashley, and in 1931, to the Russian-born Morris Feldstein.

In December 1935, Ashley was one of a plethora of Hollywood professionals testifying on behalf of their colleague, director/choreographer Busby Berkeley, then on trial for second degree murder, with Ashley, her brother-in-law William Koenig, and several others testifying as to Berkeley's sobriety in the period immediately preceding the fatal mishap.

Asley died in Los Angeles on July 6, 1965, aged 66, following a lengthy illness. She was survived by her son and four sisters.

Selected filmography

• G Men (1935)
• Bathing Beauty (1944) (uncredited)

Notes

References

Further reading

• "Waycross, Georgia". The Atlanta Constitution. May 12, 1918. p. 15A. "Miss Beulah Rodgers has gone to New York, where she will make her home | with her sister, Mrs. Leo Sherwood."
• "Weddings and Engagements". The Macon Telegraph. April 20, 1913. p. 15. "At the home of the bride on Albany avenue, Waycross, Wednesday afternoon at 5 o'clock Miss Inez Rogers and Leo Sherwood were armried, Rev. W. H. Scruggs, officiating. Both have many friends who will be interested in the announcement of their marriage."
• "Social Notes: Waycross, GA". The Atlanta Constitution. April 20, 1913. p. 7. "At the home of the bride on Albany avenue Wednesday afternoon at o'clock, Miss Inez Rogers and Mr. Leo Sherwood were married, Rev. W. H. Scruggs officiating. Both have many friends who will be interested in the announcement of their marriage."

External links