Lori Nelson Passes On

Lori Nelson, who played Rosie Kettle in the "Ma and Pa Kettle" movies, starred in the TV series How to Marry a Millionaire, and starred in Revenge of the Creature (1955), died yesterday, August 23 2020, at the age of 87. She had suffered from Alzheimer's disease for the past several years.

Lori Nelson was born Dixie Kay Nelson in Santa Fe, New Mexico on August 15 1933. She made her debut on stage when she was only two years old. She was four years old when her family moved to Encino, California. She was five years old when she was named "Little Miss America." As a teenager she participated in beauty pageants. She won the title of "Miss Encino" when she was 17. After graduating high school, she started a modelling career.

In 1950 she signed a seven year contract with Universal-International. She made her film debut in Bend of the River (1952). Lori Nelson appeared as Rosie Kettle in Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair (1952) and then Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki (1953). In the Fifties she appeared in the movies Francis Goes to West Point (1952), All I Desire (1953), Walking My Baby Back Home (1953), Tumbleweed (1953), Destry (1954), Underwater! (1955), Revenge of the Creature (1955), Sincerely Yours (1955), I Died a Thousand Times (1955), Day the World Ended (1955), Mohawk (1956), Pardners (1956), Hot Rod Girl (1956), Untamed Youth (1957), and Outlaw's Son (1957). She made her television debut in 1955 in an episode of It's a Great Life. She starred as Greta Hanson in the syndicated sitcom How to Marry a Millionaire. She guest starred on Climax!, The 20th Century Fox Hour, Wanted: Dead or Alive, The Texan, The Millionaire, General Electric Theatre, Sugarfoot, Tales of Wells Fargo, and Lock Up.

In the Sixties Lori Nelson guest starred on Dante, The Tab Hunter Show, Laramie, Bachelor Father, Whispering Smith, and Armstrong Circle Theatre. In 1961 she retired from acting, not long after marrying composer Johnny Mann. Afterwards she acted only sporadically. She guest starred on the TV show Family Affair in 1971 and in the TV movie Secret Sins of the Father in 1994. She reprised her role of Helen Dobson in Revenge of the Creature in the 2005 movie The Naked Monster.

For the most part Lori Nelson played the love interest in various television shows and movies, roles for which she was ideally suited. That having been said, she was capable of other roles. She played a club-footed farmer's daughter in I Died a Thousand Times. In Untamed Youth she played a juvenile delinquent alongside Mamie Van Doren. On the TV series How to Marry a Millionaire, she was the brainy psychology student Greta Hanson. Lori Nelson was always a pleasure to see anytime she appeared in a movie or on a TV show.