Ted Ashley (August 3, 1922 – August 24, 2002) was the chairman of the Warner Bros. film studio from 1969 to 1980. He was born in Brooklyn as Theodore Assofsky in a Jewish family.
Ted Ashley, Jack Warner & Jack Valenti in 1969
At the age of 20 he started out as a William Morris agent (He changed his name at that time). In 1951 he started his own talent agency, Ashley-Famous, which was acquired by Kinney National Company in 1967. In 1969, Ashley suggested Kinney head Steve Ross to acquire the cash-stripped film company Warner Bros.-Seven Arts. Ted Ashley became CEO of the movie studio until 1981. He then became vice chairman of Warner Communications until his retirement in 1988. Ted Ashley died aged 80 in New York of leukemia, after a long illness.