Portrait of Nancy Olson

Birthday profile

Nancy Olson

Nancy Olson, American actress

Born
July 14, 1928
Age in 2026
98
Zodiac sign
Cancer
Birth year
1928

About Nancy Olson

Nancy Ann Olson (born July 14, 1928) is an American retired actress. She made her film debut Canadian Pacific (1949), before gaining prominence as Betty Schaefer in Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard (1950), for which she earned a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She later co-starred with William Holden in three more films Union Station (1950), Force of Arms (1951), and Submarine Command (1951). Olson requested to be released from her contract with Paramount after marrying lyricist and playwright Alan Jay Lerner, whose musical My Fair Lady was dedicated to her. She later reached a new generation of audiences through several Walt Disney productions, including Pollyanna (1960) The Absent-Minded Professor (1961) and its sequel, Son of Flubber (1963), and appeared in disaster film Airport 1975 (1974) which reunited her with her Sunset Boulevard co-star Gloria Swanson. She later retired from acting in the mid-1980s, with only rare screen appearances afterward. Olson is the earliest surviving Academy Award-nominee and one of the last surviving stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood. In 1950, Olson became the third wife of lyricist Alan Jay Lerner. 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. Olson retired from acting in the mid-1980s, although she has made a few rare returns, most recently in 2014.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Nancy Olson timeline

  1. In 1950, Olson became the third wife of lyricist Alan Jay Lerner.
  2. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Sunset Boulevard (1950).
  3. Olson retired from acting in the mid-1980s, although she has made a few rare returns, most recently in 2014.

The world when Nancy Olson was born

Nancy Olson was born in 1928. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1928

  • #1 song"Makin' Whoopee" – Eddie Cantor
  • Top movieSteamboat Willie (first Mickey Mouse)
  • Best-selling bookLady Chatterley's Lover – D.H. Lawrence

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentKnute Rockne's "Win one for the Gipper" speech
  • Top headlineHerbert Hoover elected president
  • Technology milestonePenicillin discovered by Alexander Fleming
  • Defining fadMickey Mouse mania
  • Notable inventionSliced bread
  • World population2.07 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderCalvin Coolidge
  • Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
  • U.S. population120.5M

1928 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Nancy Olson's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19282026
Gas$0.21$3.45/gal
Average home$6,200$435,000
Average income$3,800$67,500
Movie ticket$0.25$11.95
Postage stamp$0.02$0.73
Population120.5M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, IMDb. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.