Lori Nelson

Interviewed in Tom Weaver's book "They Fought in the Creature Features" (McFarland & Co., 1995).

In 1956, named "National Poppy Girl" by the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

When the Ford Motor Co. introduced the 1955 Thunderbird, Lori was one of the first Hollywood actresses to get one. It came in white, but she had it custom-painted canary yellow.

In the early 1950s, 19-year-old Debbie Reynolds was 20-year-old Tab Hunter's first date; both she and 19-year-old Lori were constantly linked with Hunter as his romantic--and dating--companion by the movie colony's fan magazine reporters, with photographs of either actress with him during their studio film appearances as a couple. When Reynolds became engaged to crooner Eddie Fisher, Lori became his primary studio dating partner. Upon the success of Rebel Without a Cause (1955), Natalie Wood was matched with Hunter by Warner Bros. casting and publicity department as the new generation Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. Wood engaged Hunter's agent Henry Willson as her agent just so she could meet another of Willson's clients--Robert Wagner.

Lori Nelson began her show biz career at the age of two-and-a-half, dancing in a show in her native Santa Fe, New Mexico. She was voted Santa Fe's most talented and beautiful child, and toured the state billed as "Santa Fe's Shirley Temple. " At age four, Nelson moved to Hollywood with her parents and there was named Little Miss America. She worked as a fashion photographer's model, then (in the early 1940s) made her first bid for a movie career, testing (unsuccessfully) for a role in Warner Brothers' Kings Row (1942). There was a second false start a few years later, when Arthur M.

Landau, a Hollywood producer and self-proclaimed "discoverer" of 1930s star Jean Harlow, expressed interest in casting teenage Nelson as Harlow in a movie bio. (The project never materialized. ) Agent Milo O. Frank Jr. helped Nelson get into the movies, taking her to Universal to meet with casting people.