Accepted the Best Actress Oscar in 1969 on Maggie Smith's behalf for Ms. Smith's performance in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969). Ms. Smith was in London on Academy Awards night, and Ms. Ghostley filled in since the two actresses had previously starred together on Broadway in "New Faces of 1956."
According to her friend Kaye Ballard, she was actually born in 1924 and made herself two years younger.
Ghostley, who became a regular as the insecure Aunt Esmerelda, actually made her first appearance on "Bewitched" as a bumbling mortal maid. The producers were so impressed with her that they created Esmerelda for her, the Stephen's babysitter who disappeared either fully or partially when she felt inadequate or upset.
Her death on September 21, 2007 left Bernard Fox as the last surviving adult cast member of "Bewitched" (1964). Fox played Dr. Bombay in eighteen episodes of the series between 1966 and 1972.
Her father was a telegraph operator.
In one scene of The Graduate (1967), she had a cameo appearance with Marion Lorne. Two years later, her character Esmeralda on "Bewitched" (1964) should fill the void after Lorne, playing Aunt Clara, had suddenly died in 1968.
She earned a Tony nomination as Best Featured Actress in a Play for her various characterizations in "The Beauty Part" in 1963, and won the award in 1965 for Lorraine Hansberry's "The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window."
Was partially inspired to become an entertainer by a cousin who was a tightrope walker for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus.