Eric Hilliard Nelson, known professionally as Ricky Nelson, was an American singer, musician, and actor. From age eight he starred alongside his family in the radio and television series The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. In 1957, he began a long and successful career as a popular recording artist. The expression "teen idol" was first coined to describe Nelson, and his fame as both a recording artist and television star also led to a motion picture role co-starring alongside John Wayne, Dean Martin and Angie Dickinson in Howard Hawks's western feature film Rio Bravo (1959). He placed 53 songs on the Billboard Hot 100, and its predecessors, between 1957 and 1973, including "Poor Little Fool" in 1958, which was the first number one song on Billboard magazine's then-newly created Hot 100 chart. He recorded 19 additional top ten hits and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on January 21, 1987. In 1996 Nelson was ranked No. 49 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time.
Oswald George Nelson was an American actor, director, producer, screenwriter, musician, composer, conductor 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.
Harriet Nelson was an American singer and actress. Nelson is best known for her role on the sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from October 3, 1952 to April 23, 1966, and starred the real-life Nelson family. After a long run on radio, the show was brought to television, where it continued its success, initially running simultaneously on radio and TV. It was the longest running live-action sitcom in US television history until It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia surpassed it on December 1, 2021. Ozzie & Harriet still holds the record for most episodes produced: 435. The series starred the entertainment duo of Ozzie Nelson and his wife, singer Harriet Nelson, and their sons, David and Ricky. Don DeFore had a recurring role as the Nelsons' neighbor "Thorny".
Tracy Kristine Nelson is an American actress. From a long line of entertainers, she is the daughter of musician Ricky Nelson and actress and painter Kristin Nelson.
Frank Randolph Cady was an American actor best known for his role as storekeeper Sam Drucker in three American television series during the 1960s – Petticoat Junction, Green Acres, and The Beverly Hillbillies – and his earlier role as Doc Williams on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.
Mary Jane Croft was an American actress best known for her roles as Betty Ramsey on I Love Lucy, Miss Daisy Enright on the radio and television versions of Our Miss Brooks, Mary Jane Lewis on The Lucy Show and Here's Lucy, and Clara Randolph on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.
Donald John DeFore was an American actor. He is best known for his roles in the sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet from 1952 to 1957 and the sitcom Hazel from 1961 to 1965, the former of which earned him a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.
David Oswald Nelson was an American actor, director, and producer.
Selma Diamond was a Canadian-born American comedian, actress and radio and television writer, known for her high-range, raspy voice and her portrayal of Selma Hacker on the first two seasons of the NBC television comedy series Night Court.
Sharon Kristin Nelson was an American primitive painter, actress, and author, once married to the actor and musician Ricky Nelson.
Ozzie's Girls is an American sitcom starring Ozzie and Harriet Nelson that was broadcast in first-run syndication from September 1973 to September 1974. It served as a continuation and revival of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, which aired on radio and television from 1944 to 1966. The pilot episode, written by Ozzie Nelson and directed by David Nelson, aired as a "special presentation" on NBC on September 10, 1972. After NBC passed on the series, it was sold into first-run syndication where it aired as a weekly series during the 1973–74 season.
Sticks and Bones is a 1971 play by David Rabe. The black comedy focuses on David, a blind Vietnam War veteran who finds himself unable to come to terms with his actions on the battlefield and alienated from his family because they neither can accept his disability nor understand his wartime experience. Rabe explores the conflicted feelings of many civilians during the era by parodying the ideal American family as it was portrayed on the television sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. Beneath the perfect facade of the playwright's fictional Nelson family are layers of prejudice, bigotry, and self-hatred that are peeled away slowly as they interact with their physically and emotionally damaged son and brother.
Sticks and Bones is a television film adapted from the Tony Award-winning play of the same title by David Rabe. The black comedy focuses on David, a blind Vietnam War veteran who finds himself unable to come to terms with his actions on the battlefield and alienated from his family because they neither can accept his disability nor understand his wartime experience. Rabe explores the conflicted feelings of many civilians during the era by parodying the ideal American family as it was portrayed on the television sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. Beneath the perfect facade of the playwright's fictional Nelson family are layers of prejudice, bigotry, and self-hatred that are peeled away slowly as they interact with their physically and emotionally damaged son and brother.
"Waitin' in School" is a rock and roll song written by Johnny Burnette and Dorsey Burnette. The song was recorded by Ricky Nelson, and peaked at number 18 in the U.S Billboard Hot 100 of 1958. It is considered one of the best examples of Nelson's contributions to rockabilly. Joe Maphis provided the lead guitar and solo on this record.
Here Come the Nelsons is a 1952 American comedy film starring real-life husband and wife Ozzie and Harriet Nelson and their sons David and Ricky Nelson. The supporting cast includes Rock Hudson, Sheldon Leonard, Jim Backus, Gale Gordon, and Chubby Johnson. The film was directed by Frederick de Cordova.
Don Nelson was an American screenwriter, film producer and jazz musician. He is best known for his work on the American situation comedy The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, for which he wrote from 1952 to 1966. The series starred his elder brother Ozzie Nelson, his sister-in-law Harriet Nelson and his nephews David Nelson and Ricky Nelson.
The Raleigh Cigarette Program was an American old-time radio comedy program that starred comedian Red Skelton.
The Baker's Broadcast is the name applied to three old-time radio variety programs in the United States. The first one went on the air October 8, 1933; the third one's last broadcast was June 26, 1938. The name applied to all three apparently was derived from Fleischmann's Yeast, which sponsored all three programs.
Ronald Bix Plumstead was an American film and television character actor. He was best known for playing "Wally Plumstead" in the American sitcom television series The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet from 1957 to 1966.
