Oswald George Nelson (March 20, 1906 – June 3, 1975) was an American actor, filmmaker, musician, and bandleader. He originated and starred in The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, a radio and television series with his wife Harriet and two sons David and Ricky Nelson.
Early life
Nelson was born March 20, 1906, in Jersey City, New Jersey, United States. He graduated from Rutgers University with a bachelor's degree and earned a law degree from Rutgers School of Law, Newark, New Jersey, in 1930. Nelson was made a doctor of humane letters by Rutgers University in 1957. As a student, he made pocket money playing saxophone in a band and coaching football. Nelson was rejected to be the vocalist for the Rutgers Jazz Bandits, led by Scrappy Lambert and later Hawley Ades. Nelson was not discouraged and was gracious about this rejection when he met Ades years later. During the Depression, he turned to music as a full-time career. Nelson developed and produced his own radio series, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. The show originally aired in 1944, with their sons played by actors until 1949. In 1952, it moved to television, where David and Ricky appeared on camera. The radio version continued for another two years, and the last television episode aired in 1966.
The TV show starred the entire family, as America watched Ozzie and Harriet raise their boys. Nelson was producer and director of most of the episodes, and he co-wrote many of them. Nelson's brother, Don, was also one of the writers. Ozzie was hands-on, involved with every aspect of both radio and TV programs. Throughout the 1950s, notably, Ozzie's prior bandleading career and Harriet's singing, acting, and dancing careers were seldom mentioned. The younger audience would have had no idea that Ozzie and Harriet had previously been involved in music.
Nelson appeared as a guest panelist on the June 9, 1957, episode of What's My Line?
His last television show, in the fall of 1973, was Ozzie's Girls, which lasted for a year in first-run syndication. The premise involved Ozzie and Harriet renting their sons' former room to two college girls—actresses Brenda Sykes and Susan Sennett—and portrayed the Nelsons' efforts at adjusting to living with two young women after raising two sons.
For his contribution to the television industry, Ozzie Nelson has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6555 Hollywood Boulevard. He has an additional star with his wife at 6260 Hollywood Boulevard for their contribution to radio.
Personal life
thumb|The Nelsons in 1960
Nelson met singer Harriet Hilliard in 1932. She became his band's vocalist, and they married on October 8, 1935. They had two sons, David (1936–2011), who became an actor and director, and Eric (known as Ricky, 1940–1985) a popular singer with 18 top 10 hits. The couple remained married until Ozzie's death in 1975. His grandchildren include actress Tracy Nelson and musicians Matthew and Gunnar Nelson. He was also the former father-in-law of Kristin Harmon and June Blair.
Cultural historians have noted that the on-screen laid-back character was very different from the real-life Ozzie Nelson, who has been characterized as an authoritarian figure who monitored every aspect of his children's lives. In 1998, A&E broadcast a documentary entitled Ozzie and Harriet: The Adventures of America's Favorite Family, which depicted Ozzie Nelson as a dictatorial personality who "thwarted his sons, preventing them from attending college and reminding them that they were obliged to work on television". David Halberstam, author of "The Fifties” (Villard) said "the Nelsons arguably were a dysfunctional family. In real life, Ozzie was a workaholic who stole his sons’ childhood (by having them grow up in show business)... Then later, Ozzie co-opted Ricky’s rock ‘n’ roll music... the theft of Ricky’s childhood and the co-opting of his rock music led to ... drug problems and a shattered marriage".
David and Ricky were not initially part of the Nelson's radio program and their roles were played by professional actors. After Bing Crosby's son appeared on Bing's program, David and Ricky requested that they also be allowed to play themselves on the program, and Ozzie agreed to that. While they acted in The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet for all of its 14 seasons, Ozzie fully supported their other interests. David flunked out of college in his first year and Ricky chose not to attend college so that he could focus on his singing career; neither of which pleased Ozzie who had attended Rutgers and earned a law degree. Ozzie supported the boys acting in movies - The Big Circus and Rio Bravo - and allowed David to pursue his behind-the-camera interest by directing episodes of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. Ozzie allowed Ricky to perform on the show, make the record "I'm Walkin'", and supported the addition of rock music to the show despite his personal belief that Ricky should focus more on ballads. He used his law knowledge to negotiate Ricky's music contract and he wrote a show highlighting the trapeze skills that David had learned for The Big Circus. The money that David and Ricky earned from the show included both salary and stock in sponsor companies, and all of that was held in trusts and given to them at age 21 and 30. Ozzie ensured that rights to the show remained with the Nelson family so that his sons and their children would benefit.
Nelson and his wife were charter members of the Hollywood Republican Committee.
In 1973, Ozzie Nelson published his autobiography, Ozzie (Prentice Hall, 1973, ).
Death
Nelson suffered from recurring malignant tumors in his later years, and eventually succumbed to liver cancer. He died at his home in the San Fernando Valley on June 3, 1975, with his wife and sons at his bedside.
Services were held at the Church of the Hills at Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills, California, on Friday, June 6. He is interred with his wife and son Ricky in the Forest Lawn – Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.
When his elder son David died in 2011, he was cremated, having chosen a niche in Westwood Memorial Park's outdoor Garden of Serenity columbarium in Los Angeles, rather than interment in the Nelson family plot.
Selected filmography
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| 1941
| Sweetheart of the Campus
| Ozzie Norton
|
|-
| 1942
| Strictly in the Groove
| Ozzie Nelson
|
|-
| 1943
| Honeymoon Lodge
| Ozzie Nelson, Band Leader
| Credited as Ozzie Nelson and His Orchestra
|-
| 1944
| Wave-a-Stick Blues
| Ozzie Nelson
|
|-
| 1946
| People Are Funny
| Ken
|
|-
| 1952
| Here Come the Nelsons
| Ozzie Nelson
|
|-
| 1952–1966
| The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
| Ozzie Nelson
| 435 episodes<br>Director, producer, writer
|-
| 1956
| The Jane Wyman Show
| Dr. Phil Dunning
| Episode: "Shoot the Moon"
|-
| 1958
| The Bob Cummings Show
| Ozzie Nelson
| Episode: " Bob Becomes a Stage Uncle"
|-
| 1965
| Love and Kisses
|
| Screenwriter, producer
|-
| 1968
|The Impossible Years
| Dr. Herbert J. Fleischer
|
|-
| 1968
| The Mothers-in-Law
| Ossie Snick/Owen Sinclair/Ossie Snick
| Episode: "Didn't You Use to Be Ozzie Snick?"
|-
| 1971
| Adam-12
| Ted Clover
| Episode: "The Grandmothers"
|-
| 1972
| Night Gallery
| Henry Millikan
| Episode: "You Can Come Up Now, Mrs. Millikan/Smile, Please"
|-
| 1973
| Ozzie's Girls
| Ozzie Nelson
| 24 episodes<br>Producer, director
|-
| 1973
| Love, American Style
| Dan
| Segment: "Love and the Unmarriage"
|-
| 1973
| Bridget Loves Bernie
|
| Director, 3 episodes
|}
References
External links
- Ozzie Nelson recordings at the Discography of American Historical Recordings.
- Museum of Broadcast Communications: Ozzie and Harriet Nelson (archived)
- The Ozzie and Harriet Nelson papers, at the American Heritage Center