Nancy Ann Olson is an American retired actress. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Sunset Boulevard (1950). She co-starred with William Holden in four films, and later appeared in The Absent-Minded Professor (1961) and its sequel, Son of Flubber (1963), as well as the disaster film Airport 1975 (1974). Olson retired from acting in the mid-1980s, although she has made a few rare returns, most recently in 2014.
Olson was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 14, 1928, and raised there, along with her brother, David.
Her parents were Evelyn Bertha (née Bergstrom), who was of Swedish descent, and Henry John Olson, a physician.Olson was signed to a film contract by Paramount Pictures in 1948, and, after a few supporting roles, producers began to consider her for more prominent parts. She was up for the role of Delilah in Cecil B. DeMille's film Samson and Delilah (1949), for which Olson later said she was not suited. She was passed over in favor of Hedy Lamarr.
Her first big role came in Canadian Pacific (also 1949) with Randolph Scott, then Billy Wilder cast her for his upcoming project. In Sunset Boulevard (1950), she played Betty Schaefer, for which she gained an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Her pairing with William Holden was considered a success, and she appeared with him in three other films (Union Station, Force of Arms, and Submarine Command, the second and third released the following year), but none repeated their success in Sunset Boulevard.
Olson's success in "Sunset Boulevard" also led to her being cast in the 09/15/1950 episode of the radio program Dimension X, titled "Hello Tomorrow".
Other film credits include several films for Warner Bros. such as Big Jim McLain (1952), So Big (1953) and Battle Cry (1955).
Olson made several appearances in films for the Walt Disney studio. The Absent-Minded Professor (1961) and Son of Flubber (1963) paired her with Fred MacMurray and were popular with movie-goers. She also appeared alongside Hayley Mills in Pollyanna (1960),Glenn Ford in Smith! (1969) and Dean Jones in Snowball Express (1972). Olson then moved to New York City where she appeared on Broadway.
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, she did guest roles on television. Olson guest-starred on the Television series The Big Valley playing the mother of Ron Howard in the December 1, 1965, episode titled Night of the Wolf. Olson is the only female guest starring on The Big Valley to ever marry the character Nick Barkley.
Olson has been retired since the mid-1980s, although she made a brief, uncredited appearance in Flubber, the 1997 remake of The Absent-Minded Professor , and Dumbbells (2014).
| Date of Birth | 14th July 1928 |
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| Age | 96 Years |
| Zodiac Sign | Cancer |
| Country | United States of America |
| Current City | Milwaukee |
| Birth Place | Milwaukee |
| Nationality | United States of America |
| Citizenship | United States of America |
| Language | English |
| Reference | IMDB |
| Spouses | Alan W. Livingston Alan Jay Lerner |
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| Occupation | actor, stage actor, film actor, television actor |
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