Ozzie and Harriet

Oswald (Ozzie) George Nelson was born on March 20, 1906, Jersey City, New Jersey.

Harriet Nelson was born Peggy Lou Snyder on July 18, 1909, Des Moines, Iowa.

At the beginning of the Depression after graduating from Rutgers, Ozzie Nelson decided to try his hand at an entertainment career instead of continuing Law School. He played saxophone and formed the Ozzie Nelson Band. The band got their big break by edging out Paul Whiteman in a poll of the New York Daily Mirror for favorite band.

In 1932 Harriet Hillard was working in Vaudeville. She meet the young Band Leader Ozzie Nelson and he asked her to become the female vocalist in his band. Three years later they married and in 1936 she gave birth to their first son, David.

She also worked as a movie actress, she had a contract with RKO Pictures and were in 4 movies between 1936 and 1938. Even though the studio wanted her to continue her movie career, the decision was made to continue with the band.

The band recorded for Brunswick, then Vocalion, then back to Brunswick and finally Bluebird during the decade and in 1935 they had a number one hit with "And Then Some".

Ozzie and Harriet and their band were regulars on the Red Skelton Show beginning in the early 1940s. On that show they stuck to big band routines with occasional skits as a married-couple.

When Skelton left for the army in 1944, they were asked to develop their own show. Ozzie created a show that was a domestic comedy built around his own family life.

Thus was born the Adventure of Ozzie and Harriet which debuted October 8, 1944 on radio. At the beginning the show was built around Band Leader Ozzie Nelson and his wife and featured musical numbers along with the comedy sketch. Soon the musical numbers were eliminated.

Originally the parts of the couple's sons David and Ricky were played by actors. In 1949 Ozzie decided it would be better to have their own sons on the show.

In all, 402 radio episodes of the show would be produced with the final airing being on June 18, 1954. The show was launched on CBS, moving to NBC in mid-season of the 1949. The final years were on ABC.

The Radio Show The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet continued into the 1950s. But a new entertainment medium was moving to being the most popular, television.

The TV version of the show premiered the ABC network on October 10, 1952. Ozzie Nelson was the creative force behind the show. Not only was he one of the show's producer he was head writer and directed many of the shows. The shows were recorded on 35mm film stock and edited with care.

Ozzie Nelson was also a businessman who negotiated with ABC a non-cancellable ten-year contract. This guaranteed the family a basic salary for ten years whether the Nelsons worked or not.

The Radio and Television Show ran for two years at the same time. The radio show featured different scripts than the TV show.

When Ricky Nelson began a career in singing, becoming one of the teen idols of the 1950s, his singing and songs were incorporated into the series.

The show ended it's run on September 3, 1966 and 435 episodes. All but it's last was shot in Black and White.

CAST
Ozzie Nelson...................................................Himself
Harriet Nelson..................................................Herself
David Nelson...................................................Himself
Eric "Ricky" Nelson..........................................Himself
"Thorny" Thornberry (1952-59)....................Don DeFore
Darby (1955-61).........................................Parley Baer
Joe Randolph (1956-66)...............................Lyle Talbot
Clara Randolph (1956-66)......................Mary Jane Croft
Doc Williams (1954-65)..............................Frank Cady
Wally (1957-66)..........................................Skip Jones
Butch Barton (1958-60)...........................Gordon Jones
June (Mrs. David) Nelson (1961-66)................June Blair
Kris(Mrs. Rick) Nelson(1964-66).............Kristin Harmon
Fred (1958-64).........................................James Stacy
Mr. Kelley (1960-62)......................................Joe Flynn
Connie Edwards (1960-66).................Constance Harper
Jack (1961-66)........................................Jack Wagner
Ginger (1962-65)................................Charlene Salerno
Dean Hopkins (1964-66)...............................Ivan Bonar
Greg (1965-66)....................................... Greg Dawson
Sean (1965-1966)....................................Sean Morgan

PRODUCERS
Ozzie Nelson, Robert Angus, Bill Lewis, Leo Penn

AIRING SCHEDULE
October 1952-June 1956
- Friday 8:00-8:30
October 1956-September 1958
- Wednesday 9:00-9:30
September 1958-September 1961
- Wednesday 8:30-9:00
September 1961-September 1963
- Thursday 7:30-8:00
September 1963-January 1966
- Wednesday 7:30-8:00
January 1966-September 1966
- Saturday 7:30-8:00

In the early 1970s they attempted a spin-off of the old Ozzie and Harriet show called Ozzie's Girls. The premise of the series was now that Ricky and David were grown and moved away, they had extra room in their home. Instead of boys they rented the rooms to girls, college students Susan Hamilton (Susan Senett) and Brenda McKenzie (Brenda Sykes). The show lasted a single season in syndication and 24 episodes.

In his later life Ozzie suffered from recurring malignant tumors. He died of lung cancer on June 3, 1975.

After Ozzie's death Harriet guest-starred in a number of mini-series, TV movies and TV series until she died of congestive heart failure on October 2, 1994.

They are buried Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills). Harriet is buried between her husband Ozzie and her mother Hazel Hillard (1888-1971). Near them is buried their son, Eric (Ricky) Hillard Nelson, who died in a New Year's Eve plane crash in 1985.

Together Ozzie and Harriet has a Star on the Walk of Fame for their work in Radio and separately for their on Television.

On September 29, 1990 the band Nelson (Mathew and Gunnar Nelson) hit No. 1 with "(Can't Live Without Your) Love and Affection". This was the third generation of Nelson's to have a Number 1 song following The Ozzie Nelson Band and Ricky Nelson.