HARRIET HILLIARD
Name: Harriet Nelson
Born: 18 July 1909
Harriet Nelson (also known as Harriet Hilliard) was an American singer and
actress.
Born Peggy Lou Snyder in Des Moines, Iowa on July 18, 1909, to Roy Hilliard
Snyder and Hazel Dell McNutt. By 1932, she was 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.
Harriet 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's book, he wrote that Harriet was quite popular during the short time
at RKO and they wanted her to continue her solo film career, but decided that it
was more important for her to continue with the band and subsequent radio show.
Although Ozzie and Harriet 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 through 1966. The Nelsons' two sons, Eric "Ricky"
Nelson and David Nelson, were featured continuously on the show.
Ozzie and Harriet also appeared in the syndicated 1973 sitcom, Ozzie's Girls.
In the 1980s Harriet Nelson lived in Laguna Beach, California. She died of
congestive heart failure on October 2, 1994, at the age of 85.
She is interred with her husband and younger son Ricky (who died in a plane
crash) in the Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.
Name: Harriet Nelson
Born: 18 July 1909
Harriet Nelson (also known as Harriet Hilliard) was an American singer and
actress.
Born Peggy Lou Snyder in Des Moines, Iowa on July 18, 1909, to Roy Hilliard
Snyder and Hazel Dell McNutt. By 1932, she was 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.
Harriet 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's book, he wrote that Harriet was quite popular during the short time
at RKO and they wanted her to continue her solo film career, but decided that it
was more important for her to continue with the band and subsequent radio show.
Although Ozzie and Harriet 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 through 1966. The Nelsons' two sons, Eric "Ricky"
Nelson and David Nelson, were featured continuously on the show.
Ozzie and Harriet also appeared in the syndicated 1973 sitcom, Ozzie's Girls.
In the 1980s Harriet Nelson lived in Laguna Beach, California. She died of
congestive heart failure on October 2, 1994, at the age of 85.
She is interred with her husband and younger son Ricky (who died in a plane
crash) in the Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.