Nancy Olson

As of 2020, she is the third earliest surviving recipient of a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination, behind only Angela Lansbury and Ann Blyth. She was nominated in 1950 for Sunset Boulevard (1950).

Since the 2015 death of co-writer D.M. Marshman Jr., Olson has been the last surviving credited cast member of Sunset Boulevard (1950).

She also made an uncredited cameo appearance in the Flubber (1997) remake starring Robin Williams. Olson went on to find sunny work on Broadway, notably in the plays "The Tunnel of Love," "Send Me No Flowers" and "Mary, Mary".

Honored for fundraising efforts on behalf of The Center Theatre Group (LA). [November 1996]

She retired for all intents and purposes in the mid-1980s.

In the 1970s and 1980s, she came back with a couple of secondary parts on regular series TV, but the shows were both short-lived.

Disney Studios came to the rescue, however, in the early 1960s and gave her mid-career an added luster by playing Fred MacMurray love interest in both The Absent Minded Professor (1961) and Son of Flubber (1963). Her poise, charm and ever-animated appeal was absolutely in sync with the studio's squeaky-clean image, and adding just the right amount of feisty, feminine starch for the light slapstick happenings around her.

Other Disney films in which she participated included Pollyanna (1960) and Snowball Express (1972).

The couple divorced in 1957 and she decided to return full-time to acting but by the late 1950s she was perceived as too mature to now play the fresh-faced, girl-next-door type for which she was so identified.

Her then-husband Alan Jay Lerner's 1956 iconic smash hit musical, "My Fair Lady", was dedicated "For Nancy, With Love".

in The Boy from Oklahoma (1954).

Other male co-stars during this active period included John Wayne as Big Jim McLain (1952), Steve Forrest in So Big (1953) (one of her finer post "Sunset" roles), and Will Rogers Jr.

Gave birth to her 1st child at age 23, a daughter Liza Lerner on October 12, 1951 and to her 2nd child at age 25, a daughter Jennifer Lerner on August 26, 1953 (both by Olson's first husband, Alan Jay Lerner). She gave birth to her 3rd child at age 36, a son Christopher Livingston on November 13, 1964; his father was Olson's second husband, Alan Livingston.

Her pairing with Holden, in fact, went over so well, they were teamed in a succession of standard features: Union Station (1950), Force of Arms (1951), and Submarine Command (1951), none holding a candle to their "Sunset" pairing.

Her increasing status in Hollywood came to a virtual halt in the mid-1950s, after marrying renowned lyricist Alan Jay Lerner (who later wrote "On a Clear Day. . . " and "Camelot"). She abruptly put her acting on hold in favor of raising their two daughters and her career never fully recovered.

After playing in the film Canadian Pacific (1949), Olson went on to win the role of script girl Betty Schaefer, who attracts never-do-well screenwriter Joe Gillis (William Holden) and irks the reclusive and increasingly deranged former film star Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) in the towering classic Sunset Boulevard (1950). Olson received an Oscar nomination for "Best Supporting Actress" for her role.

Milwaukee-born Nancy Ann Olson was the daughter of Henry, a physician, and Evelyn Olson, and educated at the University of Wisconsin. Discovered on stage after transferring to California's UCLA, the pretty, peaches-and-cream blonde was quickly signed by Paramount Studios in 1948 and almost immediately handed co-starring parts after an uncredited bit part in Portrait of Jennie (1948).