a lot of crew members said, 'I got a feeling about this'. It's like catching lightning, this kind of success -- it only happens once in your life, finding someone like Mr. T and having him and the show become the phenomenon they have". Frank Lupo persuaded Ashley to play a cameo in the show's second two-hour special, as a backer for a bogus horror movie proposed by series regular Dirk Benedict, called The Beast of the Yellow Night. A few seconds from that episode, showing Benedict with his arm around Ashley, can be glimpsed in the series' opening credits sequence. "One of the things I like about the series is working with young actors who come in and read for us", he said in 1985. "A lot of them have their own little bits of business. Sometimes it's funny, sometimes it's a little sad. But I know what it's like. I've been there." Later career Ashley then produced Werewolf (1987), created by Lupo, which ran for 28 episodes. He produced Something Is Out There (1988), a miniseries which led to a short-lived series. He also worked on Police Story: Gladiator School (1988) with Conrad, Hardball (1989), the TV movie Dark Avenger (1990), The Raven (1992) and the TV movie Journey to the Center of the Earth (1993). Ashley produced some seasons of Walker, Texas Ranger. He did another TV series for Cannell, Marker (1995), and a series starring Brian Bosworth, Lawless (1997), which was canceled after one episode. Ashley briefly returned to acting with a small role in Invisible Mom (1996), directed by his friend Fred Olen Ray. He had previously turned down a role in the 1987 beach party parody Back to the Beach. His last film as producer was Scar City (1998). Personal life Ashley married actress Deborah Walley in 1962. They had one son, Anthony Ashley, before they divorced in 1966. Ashley later married his second wife, Nancy Moore, and had a son, Cole Ashley. He later married his third wife, Jan Ashley Glass. Ashley was a noted fundraiser for President Lyndon B. Johnson. Death On October 3, 1997, Ashley died of a heart attack in New York City at the age of 62. He had just left the set of the movie Scar City, and died in his car in the parking lot outside the studio. Selected filmography Dragstrip Girl (1957) – Fred Armstrong Motorcycle