David Nelson

One of the great American Television Families has just lost its final member. David Nelson, son of Ozzie Nelson and Harriet Hilliard, who played a fictional version of himself over fourteen seasons of the classic 50s and 60s television series, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, passed away today from colon cancer at the age of 74. Nelson’s younger brother, Ricky, passed away in the mid 1980s, making today the ultimate conclusion of the popular Nelson family, at least in the realm of Pop Culture.

The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet went on the air when David was sixteen years old, but he had already been playing the part of himself on the show’s radio predecessor for years, and even earlier he had been portrayed on the radio by other child actors. With so many years in the public spotlight, it shouldn’t be surprising that later in life he chose to stay out of the public eye for the most part. His last major role would be as a part of John Water’s 1990 Johnny Depp vehicle, Cry-Baby, in which he played Depp’s love interest’s father.

David never quite achieved the level of fame the rest of his family did outside the television series, his brother Ricky Nelson having moved on to become an incredibly popular singer and actor, and his parents having been successful even before the television series. And yet he still spent almost two decades of his life on the public stage, fictional though that stage might have been. And with him ends the legacy of the most beloved eras of American Television, and one of its most famous shows.