Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, October 4, 1994 TAG: 9410040081
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Medium
Nelson, who had suffered from emphysema, died Sunday of congestive heart failure at her home in Laguna Beach, family friend Joe Sutton said Monday. She had been hospitalized for several weeks but was released Friday at her request.
For 14 years, 1952 to 1966, the firm yet understanding Mrs. Nelson was one of TV's most beloved moms. Starring with her real-life husband, Ozzie, and their sons David and Ricky, she set the stage for a generation of sitcom housewives.
``I'm lucky,'' she said in a 1961 Associated Press interview. ``How many actresses get the chance to work with their family every day?''
With Ozzie as the chief producer, director and writer, the show featured gentle humor often loosely based on the Nelsons' real experiences.
Their Hollywood home appeared in the opening credits, and the show's set was patterned after the interior. Viewers got to watch the boys grow up. In later seasons, the boys' real-life wives played their wives on the show.
``Being on television for years has been an advantage,'' she once said. ``Usually you don't see performers for months. But I've been growing older before people's eyes for years.
``People are always saying to me, `You've never changed!' but I hope I have!''
Ozzie, who died in 1975, was a bandleader when he married his singer, Harriet Hilliard, in 1935. She had an occasional career as an actress, notably in ``Follow the Fleet'' with Fred Astaire in 1936.
She gave birth to David in 1936, and Eric (Ricky) in 1940. The couple began ``The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet'' as a radio show in 1944.
At first, they used child actors to play their sons, but in 1949 David and Ricky began playing themselves.
Son Ricky - later Rick - became a teen idol in 1957 with hits such as ``Hello, Mary Lou,'' ``I'm Walking'' and ``Travelin' Man.'' He died in a plane crash in 1985.
David, who on the show went to college and became a lawyer, in real life became a television director and occasional actor.
Ozzie and Harriet also starred in the short-lived syndicated series ``Ozzie's Girls'' in 1973, again playing themselves.
In recent years, Harriet Nelson had made occasional appearances in television series, including an episode of ``The Father Dowling Mysteries'' starring granddaughter Tracy Nelson.
Harriet Nelson was born Peggy Lou Snyder in Des Moines, Iowa, a daughter of show people. Several reference books gave her year of birth as 1914, but Sutton said Monday that she was 85 when she died.
Besides her son, David, she is survived by nine grandchildren.
by CNB