Married actress Deborah Walley in 1962 and they subsequently
became sand-and-surf playmates in the film Beach Blanket Bingo (1965). They had one son, TV associate producer Anthony Brooks Ashley born on May 4, 1963, but divorced three years later.
Earned a B.A. in economics at Oklahoma State University.
Died of a sudden heart attack while in his parked car in a parking lot just outside the New York City studio where the film Scar City (1998) was being made, which Ashley was one of the producers.