LOS ANGELES -- Audra Lindley, 79, a television actress best known for her portrayal of Helen Roper on "Three's Company," died Oct. 16 at a hospital here. She had leukemia.
She appeared as Helen Roper, the sexually frustrated landlady in the John Ritter-Suzanne Somers comedy "Three's Company," from 1977 to 1979. Miss Lindley and Norman Fell, who played her husband, Stanley, starred in a spinoff comedy called "The Ropers" from 1979 to 1980.
In recent years, she appeared in the film "The Relic," and played Phoebe's grandmother on the NBC comedy "Friends." She also joined legendary TV moms Barbara Billingsley, Florence Henderson and June Lockhart in a special Mother's Day episode of NBC's "The Mommies" in 1994.
Miss Lindley, a Los Angeles native, was a mainstay of several daytime TV soap operas in the 1950s and 1960s, including "Search for Tomorrow" and "Another World." From 1971 to 1973, she played Bridget's mother in the CBS comedy "Bridget Loves Bernie." She also worked extensively in theater, with roles in "Handy Dandy," "Take Her, She's Mine" and "Death of a Salesman," for which she won the Citadel Best Actress Award.
Her marriage to actor James Whitmore ended in divorce.
Survivors include three children.
