- Was adopted when only a few months old. Never knew his birth parents.
- Played Frankie Avalon's best pal in a few "beach party" flicks of the 1960s.
- Lost out to Michael Landon for the title lead in I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957).
- 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.
- Both Motorcycle Gang (1957) and Hot Rod Gang (1958) featured John's singing skills. He later had recording contracts with a few labels
- Produced exploitation films shot in the Philippines, and even produced Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now as it was filmed there.
- Interviewed by Tom Weaver in the book "Interviews with B Science Fiction and Horror Movie Makers" (McFarland & Co., 1988).
- Father of Anthony Brooks Ashley.
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