Ozzie Nelson
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Oswald George "Ozzie" Nelson (March 20, 1906 – June 3, 1975) was an American band leader, actor, director, and producer. He originated and starred in The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, a radio and long-running television series with his wife Harriet and two sons David and Ricky Nelson.
Nelson started his entertainment career as a band leader. He formed and led "The Ozzie Nelson Band," and had some initial limited success. Nelson's records were consistently popular, and in 1934, Nelson enjoyed success with his hit song, "Over Somebody Else's Shoulder," which he introduced. Nelson was their primary vocalist and, from August of 1932, he featured in duets with his other star vocalist, Harriet Hilliard. Nelson's calm, easy vocal style was popular on records and radio and quite similar to son Rick's voice, and Harriet's perky vocals added to the band's popularity.
Ozzie Nelson appeared with his band in feature films and short subjects of the 1940s, and often played speaking parts, displaying a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor, as in the 1942 musical Strictly in the Groove. He shrewdly promoted the band by agreeing to appear in "soundies," three-minute musical movies shown in "film jukeboxes" of the 1940s. In 1952, when he and his family were established as radio and TV favorites, they starred in a feature film, Here Come the Nelsons, which actually doubled as a "pilot" for the TV series.
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Full filmography
- The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962) as Self
- Adam-12 (1968) as Ted Clover
- The Merv Griffin Show (1962) as Self
- Love, American Style (1969) as Fred Garber
- Love, American Style (1969) as Reverend Harry Pickard
- Love, American Style (1969)
- What's My Line? (1950) as Self
- Night Gallery (1970) as Henry Millikan (segment "You Can Come Up Now, Mrs. Millikan")
- The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952) as Ozzie
- This Is Your Life (1952) as Self
- The Mothers-in-Law (1967) as Owen Sinclair / Ozzie Snick
- The Barbara McNair Show (1969) as Self
- The Movie Orgy (1968) as Self (archive footage)
- Disneyland '59 (1959) as Self
- The Big Street (1942) as Orchestra Leader
- Ozzie's Girls (1973)
- People Are Funny (1946) as Leroy Brinker
- Here Come the Nelsons (1952) as Ozzie Nelson
- The Impossible Years (1968) as Dr. Herbert J. Fleischer
- Honeymoon Lodge (1943) as Ozzie Nelson - Band Leader
- Hi, Good Lookin'! (1944) as Ozzie Nelson - Orchestra Leader
- Sweetheart of the Campus (1941) as Ozzie Norton
- Take It Big (1944) as Ozzie Nelson
- Ozzie Nelson & His Orchestra (1940) as Ozzie Nelson