{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2022}} {{Short description|American actress (1937–2006)}} {{sources|date=February 2016}} {{Infobox person | name = Alberta Nelson | image = Alberta Nelson in The Andy Griffith Show 1966.jpg | alt = | caption = Nelson in ''The Andy Griffith Show'' (1966) | birth_name = | birth_date = August 14, 1937 | birth_place = Erie, Pennsylvania, U.S. | death_date = April 29, 2006 (aged 68) | death_place = | other_names = | occupation = | alma_mater = Andrews School for Girls | spouse = {{plainlist| * Ryan MacDonald * Herbert Lester Gilman }} | children = | known_for = }} '''Alberta Nelson''' (August 14, 1937 – April 29, 2006) was an American television and film actress. After several dramatic parts in television in the early 1960s, she made four appearances on ''The Andy Griffith Show''.
== Early years == Nelson was born in Erie, Pennsylvania, to Frank Alton Nelson (1909–1959) and Katherine Storkel Stephens Nelson (1900–1982). Her only sibling was a half-sister, Irene Stephens McAleer (1919–1994). After graduating from the Andrews School for Girls in Willoughby, Ohio, in 1955, she briefly attended St. John's Hospital School of Nursing in Cleveland, Ohio. In the late 1950s, she moved to New York City, where she modeled and did theatre acting.
== Career == With the urging and assistance of her cousin, the theatrical producer John Kenley (February 20, 1906 – October 23, 2009), Nelson ventured into acting with the Erie Playhouse in Erie, Pennsylvania, and eventually played the lead in a production of ''The Seven Year Itch''.<ref name=gg>{{cite book|last1=Lisanti|first1=Tom|title=Glamour Girls of Sixties Hollywood: Seventy-Five Profiles|date=2007|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-1-4766-1241-6|page=156|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ITClSVUV7voC&dq=%22Dave+Garroway+Show%22&pg=PA156|accessdate=June 14, 2017|language=en}}</ref> She went on to appear in Broadway plays including ''Once There Was a Russian'',<ref>{{cite web|title=("Alberta Nelson" search results) |url=http://www.playbill.com/searchpage/search?shows=on&people=on&theatres=on&q=Alberta+Nelson&qasset=00000150-ac7e-d16d-a550-ec7e46f20003 |website=Playbill Vault |publisher=Playbill |accessdate=June 14, 2017 |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20170614155111/http://www.playbill.com/searchpage/search?shows=on&people=on&theatres=on&q=Alberta+Nelson&qasset=00000150-ac7e-d16d-a550-ec7e46f20003 |archivedate=June 14, 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref> ''The Wall'', and ''The Gang's All Here''.<ref name=gg />
Nelson appeared in seven movies in the 1960s as one of Eric Von Zipper's "mice" in the American International ''Beach Party'' series.{{citation needed|date=February 2016}} She made four appearances on ''The Andy Griffith Show'' (and one on ''Mayberry RFD''), all but one as waitress Flora Malherbe.
In 1965 she appeared in a memorable episode of ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'' ("Go Tell The Birds And The Bees") as Ritchie's teacher, Miss Reshovsky.
Nelson starred in 1970s ''The Wild Scene'' as Dr. Virginia Grant, a female psychiatrist who talks graphically about her tawdriest cases. This and a 1970 appearance on ''Love, American Style'' would be Nelson's last credited roles.<ref>information from Susan McAleer, Alberta's niece</ref>
== Personal life == Nelson married Ryan MacDonald (Machunas) around 1956 in Erie, Pa. Their son Adam Ryan was born in New York City around 1957, but died of SIDS at two months of age. Adam is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Philadelphia, Pa., where Ryan's family lived. Alberta had no other children with MacDonald. Ryan and Alberta divorced around 1962 and after acting success in New York City, she moved to California, where she pursued an acting career. She remarried, to Herbert Lester Gilman (b. November 19, 1922 – June 29, 2007), on February 14, 1971, in Erie. She and Gilman had no children together but Herbert had three adult children from his first marriage.<ref name=gg />
== Death == Nelson fought cancer of the jaw/throat for several years, dying on April 29, 2006, at age 68, in Erie, Pennsylvania.<ref group="note">The book ''Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2006: Film, Television, Radio, Theatre, Dance, Music, Cartoons and Pop Culture'' says that she died in Pennsylvania. But according to her death certificate she died at Herbert Gilman's daughter's house in Willoughby, Lake County Ohio.</ref><ref name=opa>{{cite book|last1=Lentz|first1=Harris M. III|title=Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2006: Film, Television, Radio, Theatre, Dance, Music, Cartoons and Pop Culture|date=2007|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-2933-2|page=261|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I3zGCwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Alberta+Nelson%22+actress&pg=PA261|accessdate=June 14, 2017|language=en}}</ref> She was buried next to her mother and father at Laurel Hill Cemetery, Erie, Pennsylvania, on May 2, 2006. Herbert Gilman died on June 29, 2007. He was buried at Laurel Hill Cemetery on July 1, 2007.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.christianactivities.com/alberta-nelson-obituary|title=Alberta Nelson Obituary|date=May 2, 2006|location=Erie, PA|newspaper=Erie Times-News|access-date=May 19, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140519040519/http://www.christianactivities.com/alberta-nelson-obituary|archive-date=May 19, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>
== Filmography == * ''Beach Party'' (1963) – rat pack member * ''Muscle Beach Party'' (1964) – muscle girl (Lisa) * ''Bikini Beach'' (1964) – Puss/Alberta (Rat Pack member) * ''Pajama Party'' (1964) – Alberta (Rat Pack member) * ''Beach Blanket Bingo'' (1965) – Puss (Rat Pack member) * ''How to Stuff a Wild Bikini'' (1965) – Puss * ''Sergeant Deadhead'' (1965) – NASA secretary * ''Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine'' (1965) – "bad robot" reject #12 * ''The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini'' (1966) – Alberta / Puss * ''The Wild Scene'' (1970) – Dr. Virginia Grant (final film role)
== Notes == {{reflist|group=note}}
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == *{{IMDb name|0625134}} *{{Findagrave|14148616}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Alberta}} Category:1937 births Category:2006 deaths Category:20th-century American actresses Category:American film actresses Category:American television actresses Category:Actresses from Erie, Pennsylvania Category:Actresses from Cleveland Category:Deaths from cancer in Ohio Category:21st-century American women