John Ashley (actor)

John Ashley (December 25, 1934 – October 3, 1997) was an American actor, producer and singer.

He was best known for his work as an actor in films for American International Pictures, producing and acting in horror films shot in the Philippines, and for producing various television series, including The A-Team.

Ashley never knew his unmarried parents who gave him up for adoption.

He was adopted by a doctor, Roger Atchley and his wife Lucille, and reared in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he had a younger sister, Kathryn.

He attended Will Rogers High School in Tulsa, where he was a champion wrestler, then went to Oklahoma State University in Stillwater on a wrestling scholarship, where he earned a bachelor's degree in economics.

While still in college, Ashley was holidaying in California.

He visited an alumnus of his college fraternity, Sigma Chi, who was a press agent who represented Dick Powell and John Wayne.

The agent took him to the set of The Conqueror (1956), where he met Wayne, who had also belonged to Sigma Chi.

Wayne was impressed with the young man's good looks and set him up with an interview with William Castle.

Castle was then making the TV anthology series Men of Annapolis, and was looking for someone to play a role that involved wrestling.

Ashley's wrestling experience helped him get the job, and he did two episodes of the series, which helped him get an agent.

Ashley broke into films when he accompanied a girlfriend to an audition at American International Pictures for a part in Dragstrip Girl (1957), directed by Edward L. Cahn.

"We had a date at 6 p.m. but first she had to read for a part in a movie", he later recalled.

"I was sitting in American International Picture's waiting room and a guy walked out and said, `Have we read everyone? What about this young man here?' It was the old Hollywood story -- I got a part in the film and she didn't."

He ended up getting the part as the villain; his audition included an Elvis Presley impersonation.

AIP signed Ashley to a four-picture non-exclusive contract expected to run for two years.

Dragstrip Girl was a success relative to its small budget.

Ashley became a particular favorite of the daughters of James H. Nicholson, one of the main figures at AIP, and Nicholson always hoped Ashley would become a big star.

Ashley unsuccessfully auditioned for the lead in I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957) but appeared in several of AIP's other movies.

Ashley's second role for AIP, Motorcycle Gang (1957), was almost identical to Dragstrip Girl (it was again directed by Cahn).

By this stage, Ashley had been drafted, and production was held up until he completed his basic training and could go on leave.

Ashley only served six months in the Army, at the Presidio in San Francisco.

Outside AIP, he had a small role as a singer for Paramount's Zero Hour! (1957), had the lead in Frankenstein's Daughter (1958) and guest starred on Jefferson Drum (1958) in the episode "Arrival".

In addition to acting, Ashley was also a singer.

His manager, Jerry Capeheart, also managed Eddie Cochran and in July 1957 his first single was released on Intro Records – the standard "Bermuda" and the song "Let Yourself Go Go Go"; Ashley performed the latter in Zero Hour!.

The release of the single was timed to coincide with the release of Dragstrip Girl.

AIP got an early release for him to appear in a war film, Suicide Battalion (1958), directed by Cahn.

Ashley went on to make a number of records, including the singles "Seriously in Love" (1958), "Let the Good Times Roll" (1958), "Born to Rock" (1958), and "Little Lou" (1961).

Ashley was given a cameo as a singer in AIP's How to Make a Monster (1958) at the request of Nicholson.

Ashley later said "that was casting more or less against type at that point because I had been playing delinquents and heavies."

AIP wanted Ashley to make a film called Hot Rod Gang (1958) aka Fury Unleashed, written by Rusoff and directed by Lew Landers.

Gene Vincent played himself and sang several songs, as did Ashley.

It was Ashley's first sympathetic lead role.

He was offered a part on the TV series Matinee Theatre, in an episode called "The Alleyway" with Janis Paige, and asked for the movie to be postponed so he could take it.

However, Samuel Arkoff of AIP refused, and got an injunction preventing Ashley from appearing on TV.

"I never really forgave him for that", said Ashley.

In 1959, he recorded a double-sided single, "The Net" and "The Hangman," both of which were early collaborations between songwriters Burt Bacharach and Hal David.

Ashley would perform the occasional concert; one of his musicians for a time was Glen Campbell.

Ashley later said Randy Wood, head of Dot Records, "was terrific... but the kind of music he wanted me to sing was the kind of material I really didn't feel I sang that well. He was a very clean cut image guy. He didn't necessarily want a hard rocker."

In 2001, the German label Hydra Records released Born to Rock, a compact disc collection of Ashley's music.