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Nancy Olson

 
Actor: Nancy Olson
Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Actors
  • Born: Jul 14, 1928 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
  • Occupation: Actor
  • Active: '50s-'70s
  • Major Genres: Drama, Action
  • Career Highlights: Sunset Boulevard, Pollyanna, The Absent-Minded Professor
  • First Major Screen Credit: Canadian Pacific (1949)

Biography

The daughter of a Milwaukee physician, Nancy Olson attended UCLA, then briefly acted on stage before signing a Paramount Pictures contract in 1949. Her best screen assignment at Paramount was as self-effacing script clerk Betty Schaffer in Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard. She went on to be teamed with her Boulevard co-star William Holden in Union Station (1950), Force of Arms (1951) and Submarine Command (1951). Olson briefly retired in the mid-1950s when she married songwriter Alan Jay Lerner (they later divorced; her second husband was record executive Alan Livingston). In 1960, Olson went back before the cameras as Betty Carlisle, ever-patient fiance of would-be inventor Ned Brainard (Fred MacMurray) in Disney's The Absent Minded Professor; she repeated this characterization in the 1963 sequel Son of Flubber. She went on to do a smattering of TV films, including the 1967 pilot of the Darren McGavin private eye series The Outsider. Nancy Olson also played continuing roles in the 1977 weekly Kingston: Confidential and the 1984 prime-time soaper Paper Dolls. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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Wikipedia: Nancy Olson
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Nancy Olson

Olson in Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Born Nancy Ann Olson
July 14, 1928 (1928-07-14) (age 81)
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
Occupation Actress
Years active 1948–1997
Spouse(s) Alan Jay Lerner (1950–1957)
Alan W. Livingston (1962-2009) (his death)

Nancy Ann Olson[1] (born July 14, 1928) is an American actress.

Contents

Career

Olson was signed to a film contract by Paramount Pictures in 1948 and, after a few supporting roles, producers began to consider her for more prominent parts. She was up for the role of Delilah in Cecil B. DeMille's 1949 film Samson and Delilah, for which Olson later said she was not suited. When she was passed over in favor of Hedy Lamarr, Billy Wilder cast her for his upcoming project. In Sunset Boulevard (1950) she played Betty Schaefer, for which she garnered an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Her pairing with William Holden was considered a success and she appeared with him in other films during the 1950s, but none repeated their success in Sunset Boulevard. Other film credits include So Big (1953) and Battle Cry (1955).

Olson's career stalled, though she did make several memorable appearances in films for the Walt Disney studio. The Absent-Minded Professor and Son of Flubber paired her with Fred MacMurray and were popular with movie-goers. She also appeared alongside Hayley Mills in Pollyanna and Dean Jones in Snowball Express. Olson then moved to New York City where she appeared on Broadway.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, she did guest roles on television, and has been retired since the mid 1980s, although she made a brief, uncredited appearance in Flubber, the 1997 remake of The Absent-Minded Professor.

Personal life

Olson was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the daughter of Evelyn (née Bergstrom) and Henry J. Olson, who was a physician.[1]

She married the lyricist Alan Jay Lerner, as his third wife, in 1950, had two daughters, Liza and Jennifer.[2] They divorced in 1957.

In 1962 she married longtime Capitol Records executive Alan W. Livingston, best known for creating "Bozo the Clown" and for signing Frank Sinatra and The Beatles, among other legends, with Capitol. He died in 2009; they had one son, Christopher.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b Nancy Olson Biography (1928-)
  2. ^ New York Times (March 17, 2009)
  3. ^ New York Times (March 17, 2009)

External links

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