'Three's Company' actress Ann Wedgeworth dies at 83

Ann Wedgeworth, pictured here in 1978, gained fame on Broadway before taking her best-known role, on 'Three's Company.' (AP/File)

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 Company," 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 a starring role on the CBS series "Evening Shade" with Burt Reynolds from 1990 to 1994.

She was born in Abilene, Texas, in 1934. Her father was the superintendent of a local school and her mother died when Ann was 2 years old. After getting a drama degree from Southern Methodist University, she moved to New York City in the 1950s to pursue a theater career.

She married actor Rip Torn and the couple had a daughter, Danae Torn, before ending their five-year marriage in 1961. Wedgeworth later married acting teacher Ernest Martin and had her second daughter, Dianna Martin.

Wedgeworth is survived by her husband, her two daughters and stepsons Michael Martin and Greg Martin.