Asa Maynor, born Virginia Maynor, embarked on a cinematic journey, making her motion picture debut as the female lead in the 1956 creature feature Man Beast, a low-budget film that told the story of an expedition to the Himalayas beset by irate Yetis. The producers subsequently changed her stage name to Asa, as her birth name bore an uncanny resemblance to that of established Hollywood star Virginia Mayo.
Man Beast, however, proved to be an unideal launching platform for a budding starlet, and Asa found herself relegated to supporting roles. By 1961, she shifted her focus to television work, and it was during this period that she gained recognition for her portrayal of a stewardess attempting to calm an unhinged passenger, played by William Shatner, in the iconic Twilight Zone episode "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet." She went on to guest-star in several other early 1960s shows, including Mike Hammer, Perry Mason, Hawaiian Eye, and McHale's Navy, before concluding her screen career with a small part in Conquest of the Planet of the Apes in 1972.
In her personal life, Asa Maynor married actor Edd Byrnes in March 1962. At the time, Byrnes was particularly popular among younger audiences for his role as the jive-talking parking lot attendant "Kookie" in TV's 77 Sunset Strip. The couple had a son, Logan Byrnes, who went on to graduate from the University of Southern California and enjoy a successful career in broadcast journalism. However, Asa filed for divorce from Edd in 1971, citing his reliance on drugs and alcohol as the reason.
Following her retirement from acting, Asa reinvented herself as an interior designer, and in the 1990s, she returned to the entertainment industry as an executive with NBC.
