Harriet Nelson

File:Diana Gibson, Marjorie Weaver, and Harriet Hilliard, c. 1937.jpg, Marjorie Weaver, and Hilliard (1937)]]

Nelson was born Peggy Lou Snyder in Des Moines, Iowa,{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9906E2D8143DF937A35753C1A962958260|title=Harriet Nelson, 85, Matriarch Of 'Ozzie and Harriet' Show|date=1994-10-04|newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=24 March 2011}} the daughter of Hazel Dell née McNutt (1888–1971) and Roy Hilliard Snyder (1879–1953).[http://www.genealogy.com/famousfolks/harriet-nelson/d0/i0000002.htm] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101124140000/http://www.genealogy.com/famousfolks/harriet-nelson/d0/i0000002.htm|date=November 24, 2010}} She appeared on the vaudeville stage when she was three years old and made her debut on Broadway in her teens.{{cite news|last=Weinraub|first=Bernard|title=Dousing the Glow Of TV's First Family; Time for the Truth About Ozzie and Harriet|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/06/18/arts/dousing-the-glow-of-tv-s-first-family-time-for-the-truth-about-ozzie-and-harriet.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm|access-date=3 November 2013|newspaper=New York Times|date=18 June 1998}}

File:Harriet Hilliard - Radio Mirror, March 1936.jpg

She frequented the Cotton Club, and began smoking at age thirteen. She wed the comedian, Roy Sedley (1901-1989), in 1930. They were briefly married, but Roy was abusive and lived what has been described as "a high-flying life". They separated a year later, and the marriage was annulled in 1933.{{cite web|title=Nelson, Harriet Hilliard|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/nelson-harriet-hilliard|website=Encyclopedia.com|publisher=The Gale Group, Inc.|access-date=14 October 2016}} 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.{{cite news|last=Folkart|first=Burt A., and Dennis Mc Lellan|title=Harriet Nelson, '50s model mother, dies at age 85|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/1994/10/04/harriet-nelson-50s-model-mother-dies-at-age-85/|access-date=3 November 2013|newspaper=Baltimore Sun|date=4 October 1994}} By 1932, she was still performing in vaudeville when she met the saxophone-playing bandleader Ozzie Nelson. 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 signed her to a one-year contract in 1936, and she appeared in three feature films, the most famous being the Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers musical Follow the Fleet. She was very much in demand during the World War II 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.{{cite book |last=Nelson|first=Ozzie |title=Ozzie |publisher=Prentice-Hall |date=1973 |isbn=0136477682}}

Although the couple occasionally appeared together in movies, either as a duo (in Honeymoon Lodge) or as separate characters (in Hi, Good Lookin'!), 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. 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 and David, 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.

In 2009, Harriet was included in Yahoo!'s Top 10 TV Moms from Six Decades of Television for the time period 1952–1966.{{cite web|last=Adair|first=Aly|title=Top 10 Favorite TV Moms|url=http://voices.yahoo.com/top-10-favorite-tv-moms-2778263.html?cat=25|publisher=Yahoo!|access-date=June 17, 2012|date=February 27, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021092742/http://voices.yahoo.com/top-10-favorite-tv-moms-2778263.html?cat=25|archive-date=October 21, 2012}}

Harriet (then known as Peggy Lou Snyder) wed the comedian Roy Sedley (1901-1989), in 1930. They were briefly married, but Roy was abusive and lived what has been described as "a high-flying life". They separated a year later, and the marriage was annulled in 1933. In 1935, she married bandleader Ozzie Nelson.{{Cite book |last=Homer |first=Sheree |title=Rick Nelson, Rock 'n' Roll Pioneer |publisher=McFarland |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-7864-6060-1 |location=Jefferson, NC |pages=11 |language=English}} They had two sons, David (born in 1936) and Eric (known as Ricky, born in 1940).{{Cite book |last=Wilson |first=Scott |title=Resting Places : The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons |publisher=McFarland & Company |year=2016 |isbn=978-0-7864-7992-4 |edition=3rd |pages=545 |language=English}} The couple remained married until Ozzie's death from liver cancer in 1975.{{Cite journal |date=1974 |title=The New York Times Biographical Service |journal=The New York Times Biographical Service |language=English |volume=28 |pages=108 |issn=0161-2433 |via=WorldCat}} Her grandchildren include actress Tracy Nelson and musicians Matthew and Gunnar Nelson. She was also the mother-in-law of Rick's wife Kristin Harmon and David's wife June Blair.

Nelson and her husband were charter members of the Hollywood Republican Committee.{{Cite news |date=1947-10-20 |title=Film Notables Open Drive for G.O.P. President |pages=8 |work=Los Angeles Times}}

In 1978, Harriet Nelson moved full-time to the Laguna Beach, California, beach home the family had built in 1954.{{cite news | title=Memories of Life With Ozzie | newspaper=Nashua Telegraph | agency=Los Angeles Times News Service| date=September 1, 1981 | page=29}} She died of congestive heart failure 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 in Los Angeles.

For her contribution to the television industry, Harriet Nelson has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard.

File:Adv of Ozzie and Harriet Nelson Family 1952.jpg

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{{Commons}}

• {{IMDb name|384948}}
• {{Find a Grave|1834}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20071206053744/http://iowarocknroll.com/inductee-details.php?id=167 Iowa Rock'n Roll Music Association 2007 Hall of Fame Inductee]
• [https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv929418 Ozzie and Harriet Nelson papers] at the American Heritage Center

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Category:1909 births

Category:1994 deaths

Category:20th-century American actresses

Category:American film actresses

Category:American radio actresses

Category:American television actresses

Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)

Harriet Nelson

Category:Actresses from Des Moines, Iowa

Category:Traditional pop music singers

Category:American vaudeville performers

Category:RKO Pictures contract players

Category:20th-century American singers

Category:20th-century American women singers