Harriet Nelson (formerly Hilliard; born Peggy Lou Snyder; July 18, 1909 – October 2, 1994) was an American actress and singer.
Nelson is best known for her role on the
sitcom
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...
''
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet'' is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from October 3, 1952, to April 23, 1966, and starred the real-life Nelson family. After a long run on radio, the show was brought to television, where it ...
''.
Early life and career
Nelson was born Peggy Lou Snyder in
Des Moines, Iowa
Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...
,
the daughter of Hazel Dell née McNutt (1888–1971) and Roy Hilliard Snyder (1879–1953). She appeared on the
vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...
stage when she was three years old and made her debut on Broadway in her teens.
![Harriet Hilliard - Radio Mirror, March 1936](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Harriet_Hilliard_-_Radio_Mirror%2C_March_1936.jpg)
She frequented the
Cotton Club
The Cotton Club was a New York City nightclub from 1923 to 1940. It was located on 142nd Street and Lenox Avenue (1923–1936), then briefly in the midtown Theater District (1936–1940).Elizabeth Winter"Cotton Club of Harlem (1923- )" Blac ...
, began smoking at age thirteen, was briefly married to an abusive comedian and lived what has been described as "a high-flying life".
She wed the comedian, Roy Sedley (1901-1989), in 1930. They separated a year later, and the marriage was annulled in 1933. She left high school before graduating and joined the Corps de Ballet at the
Capitol Theater, later dancing in the Harry Carroll Revue and working as a straight woman for comedians
Ken Murray and
Bert Lahr
Irving Lahrheim (August 13, 1895 – December 4, 1967), known professionally as Bert Lahr, was an American actor. He was best known for his role as the Cowardly Lion, as well as his counterpart Kansas farmworker "Zeke", in the MGM adaptation of ...
.
By 1932, she was still performing in vaudeville when she met the saxophone-playing bandleader
Ozzie Nelson
Oswald George Nelson (March 20, 1906 – June 3, 1975) was an American actor, director, producer, screenwriter, musician, composer, conductor and bandleader. He originated and starred in ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet'', a radio and tel ...
. Nelson hired her to sing with the band, under the name Harriet Hilliard. They married three years later.
Hilliard had a respectable film career as a solo performer, apart from the band.
RKO Radio Pictures
RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orphe ...
signed her to a one-year contract in 1936, and she appeared in three feature films, the most famous being the
Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz; May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American dancer, choreographer, actor, and singer. He is often called the greatest dancer in Hollywood film history.
Astaire's career in stage, film, and tele ...
-
Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers (born Virginia Katherine McMath; July 16, 1911 – April 25, 1995) was an American actress, dancer and singer during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her starri ...
musical ''
Follow the Fleet
''Follow the Fleet'' is a 1936 American RKO musical comedy film with a nautical theme starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in their Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, fifth collaboration as dance partners. It also features Randolph Scott, Harriet ...
''. She was very much in demand during the
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
years for leading roles in escapist musicals, comedies, and mysteries.
In Ozzie Nelson's book, he wrote that Harriet was quite popular during her short time at RKO, and that he and she wanted her to continue her solo film career. However, they decided it was more important for her to continue with the band and subsequent radio show.
Although the couple occasionally appeared together in movies, either as a duo (in ''
Honeymoon Lodge
''Honeymoon Lodge'', also known as ''Second Honeymoon'', is a 1943 American musical comedy film directed by Edward C. Lilley for Universal Pictures and starring David Bruce, Harriet Hilliard, June Vincent, and Rod Cameron.
Plot
Cast
* David ...
'') or as separate characters (in ''
Hi, Good Lookin'!
''Hi, Good Lookin'!'' is a 1944 American comedy film directed by Edward C. Lilley and written by Paul Gerard Smith, Bradford Ropes and Eugene Conrad. The film stars Harriet Nelson, Eddie Quillan, Kirby Grant, Betty Kean, Roscoe Karns, Vivian Aust ...
''), they are best known for their broadcasting efforts. In 1944, the Nelsons began a domestic-comedy series for radio, ''
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet'' is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from October 3, 1952, to April 23, 1966, and starred the real-life Nelson family. After a long run on radio, the show was brought to television, where it ...
''. It was highly popular and made a successful transition to television. It was one of the stalwarts of the
ABC-TV schedule from 1952 to 1966. The Nelsons' two sons,
Ricky Ricky may refer to:
Places
*Říčky (Brno-Country District), a village and municipality in the Czech Republic
*Říčky v Orlických horách, a village in the north of the Czech Republic
* Rickmansworth, a town in England sometimes called "Ricky" ...
and
David
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
, were featured continuously on the show. Peter Jones, director of the television documentary ''Ozzie and Harriet: The Adventures of America's Favorite Family,'' has described Harriet Nelson: "She was a bombshell. She liked gay people. She liked a good off-color joke. She enjoyed her cocktails at night. She had the talent to go on and be a big star, but she made that decision to be Ozzie's wife."
In 1973, Ozzie and Harriet also appeared in the sitcom ''
Ozzie's Girls
''Ozzie's Girls'' is an American sitcom starring Ozzie and Harriet Nelson that was broadcast in first-run syndication from September 1973 to September 1974. It served as a continuation and revival of ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet'', whic ...
''.
In 2009, Harriet was included in
Yahoo!
Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds managed by Apollo Global Man ...
's Top 10 TV Moms from Six Decades of Television for the time period 1952–1966.
Personal life
Harriet Hilliard married bandleader Ozzie Nelson in 1935. They had two sons, David (born in 1936) and Eric (known as Ricky, born in 1940). The couple remained married until Ozzie's death from liver cancer in 1975. Her grandchildren include actress
Tracy Nelson and musicians
Matthew
Matthew may refer to:
* Matthew (given name)
* Matthew (surname)
* ''Matthew'' (ship), the replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497
* ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith
* Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Ch ...
and
Gunnar Nelson. She was also the mother-in-law of Rick's wife
Kristin Harmon
Sharon Kristin Nelson (née Harmon; June 25, 1945 – April 27, 2018) was an American primitive painter, actress, and author. She was married to the actor and musician Ricky Nelson for nineteen years, and is the sister of actor Mark Harmon.
Ear ...
and David's wife
June Blair
Margaret June Blair (October 20, 1932 – December 4, 2022) was an American model and actress. She was best known for being ''Playboy'' magazine's Playmate of the Month for its January 1957 issue and for being part of the TV series ''The Advent ...
.
Later years and death
In 1978, Harriet Nelson moved full-time to the
Laguna Beach, California
Laguna Beach (; ''Laguna'', Spanish language, Spanish for "Lagoon") is a seaside resort city located in southern Orange County, California, in the United States. It is known for its mild year-round climate, scenic coves, environmental preservat ...
, beach home the family had built in 1954.
She died of
congestive heart failure
Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...
on October 2, 1994.
She is interred with her husband and younger son Ricky (who died in a plane crash in 1985) in the
Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills
Forest Lawn Memorial Park – Hollywood Hills is one of the six Forest Lawn cemeteries in Southern California. It is located at 6300 Forest Lawn Drive, Los Angeles, California 90068, in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Histor ...
in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
.
For her contribution to the television industry, Harriet Nelson has a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a historic landmark which consists of more than 2,700 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, Californ ...
at 6801
Hollywood Boulevard
Hollywood Boulevard is a major east–west street in Los Angeles, California. It begins in the east at Sunset Boulevard in the Los Feliz district and proceeds to the west as a major thoroughfare through Little Armenia and Thai Town, Hollywoo ...
.
Filmography
References
External links
*
*
Iowa Rock'n Roll Music Association 2007 Hall of Fame InducteeOzzie and Harriet Nelson Papersat the
University of Wyoming
The University of Wyoming (UW) is a public land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, and opened in September 1887. The University of Wyoming ...
-
American Heritage Center
The American Heritage Center is the University of Wyoming's repository of manuscripts, rare books, and the university archives. Its collections focus on Wyoming and the Rocky Mountain West (including politics, settlement, and western trails) and ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Harriet
1909 births
1994 deaths
20th-century American actresses
American film actresses
American radio actresses
American television actresses
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)
Actresses from Des Moines, Iowa
Traditional pop music singers
Vaudeville performers
RKO Pictures contract players
20th-century American singers
20th-century American women singers