John Ashley

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. Early life 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. Acting career 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.