Alberta Nelson

Alberta Nelson (August 14, 1937 – April 29, 2006) was an American television and film actress. After several dramatic parts in television in the early 1960s, she made five guest appearances on ''The Andy Griffith Show''.

Early years

Nelson was born in Erie, Pennsylvania, to Frank Alton Nelson (1909–1959) and Katherine Storkel Stephens Nelson (1900–1982). Her only sibling was a half-sister, Irene Stephens McAleer (1919–1994). After graduating from the Andrews School for Girls in Willoughby, Ohio, in 1955, she briefly attended St. John's Hospital School of Nursing in Cleveland, Ohio. In the late 1950s, she moved to New York City, where she modeled and did theatre acting.

Career

With the urging and assistance of her cousin, the theatrical producer John Kenley (February 20, 1906 – October 23, 2009), Nelson ventured into acting with the Erie Playhouse in Erie, Pennsylvania, and eventually played the lead in a production of ''The Seven Year Itch''. She went on to appear in Broadway plays including ''Once There Was a Russian'', ''The Wall'', and ''The Gang's All Here''.

Nelson appeared in seven movies in the 1960s as one of Eric Von Zipper's "mice" in the American International '' Beach Party'' series.

After her successful girl-next-door stint as Goober Pyle's girlfriend Flora on ''The Andy Griffith Show'' and her comedic career as biker girl Puss, Nelson starred in 1970s '' The Wild Scene'' as Dr. Virginia Grant, a female psychiatrist who talks graphically about her tawdriest cases. This and a 1970 appearance on ''Love, American Style'' would be Nelson's last credited roles.

Personal life

Nelson married Ryan MacDonald (Machunas) around 1956 in Erie, Pa. Their son Adam Ryan was born in New York City around 1957, but died of SIDS at two months of age. Adam is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Philadelphia, Pa., where Ryan's family lived. Alberta had no other children with MacDonald. Ryan and Alberta divorced around 1962 and after acting success in New York City, she moved to California, where she pursued an acting career. She remarried, to Herbert Lester Gilman (b. November 19, 1922 – June 29, 2007), on February 14, 1971, in Erie. She and Gilman had no children together but Herbert had three adult children from his first marriage.

Death

Nelson fought cancer of the jaw/throat for several years, dying on April 29, 2006, at age 68, in Erie, Pennsylvania.The book ''Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2006: Film, Television, Radio, Theatre, Dance, Music, Cartoons and Pop Culture'' says that she died in Pennsylvania. But according to her death certificate she died at Herbert Gilman's daughters house in Willoughby, Lake County Ohio. She was buried next to her mother and father at Laurel Hill Cemetery, Erie, Pennsylvania, on May 2, 2006. Herbert Gilman died on June 29, 2007. He was buried at Laurel Hill Cemetery on July 1, 2007.

Movie filmography

* '' Beach Party'' (1963) – rat pack member
* ''Muscle Beach Party'' (1964) – muscle girl (Lisa)
* ''Bikini Beach'' (1964) – Puss/Alberta (Rat Pack member)
* '' Pajama Party'' (1964) – Alberta (Rat Pack member)
* ''Beach Blanket Bingo'' (1965) – Puss (Rat Pack member)
* ''How to Stuff a Wild Bikini'' (1965) – Puss
* ''Sergeant Deadhead'' (1965) – NASA secretary
* ''Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine'' (1965) – "bad robot" reject #12
* ''The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini'' (1966) – Alberta / Puss
* '' The Wild Scene'' (1970) – Dr. Virginia Grant (final film role)

Notes

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Alberta
1937 births
2006 deaths
20th-century American actresses
American film actresses
American television actresses
Actors from Erie, Pennsylvania
Actresses from Cleveland
Deaths from cancer in Ohio
21st-century American women