Personal life

Olson was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the daughter of Evelyn Bertha (née Bergstrom 1901-1979), whose parents were from Sweden, and Henry John Olson, who was a physician. She has a brother, David Olson.

She became the third wife of lyricist Alan Jay Lerner in 1950 and had two daughters, Liza and Jennifer. They divorced in 1957.

In 1962 she married longtime Capitol Records executive Alan W. Livingston, best known for creating "Bozo the Clown" and for signing Frank Sinatra and The Beatles, among other legends, with Capitol. He died in 2009; they had one son, Christopher. Olson is a registered Democrat and over the years has made several money donations coinciding with her party under her married name.

Career

Olson was signed to a film contract by Paramount Pictures in 1948 and, after a few supporting roles, producers began to consider her for more prominent parts. She was up for the role of Delilah in Cecil B. DeMille's film Samson and Delilah (1949), for which Olson later said she was not suited. She was passed over in favor of Hedy Lamarr. Her first big role came in Canadian Pacific (also 1949) with Randolph Scott, then Billy Wilder cast her for his upcoming project. In Sunset Boulevard (1950) she played Betty Schaefer, for which she gained an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Her pairing with William Holden was considered a success and she appeared with him in three other films (Union Station, Force of Arms, and Submarine Command, all released the following year except for the first), but none repeated their success in Sunset Boulevard. Other film credits include Big Jim McLain (1952), So Big (1953), Battle Cry (1955), and Dumbbells (2014).

Olson made several appearances in films for the Walt Disney studio. The Absent-Minded Professor (1961) and Son of Flubber (1963) paired her with Fred MacMurray and were popular with movie-goers. She also appeared alongside Hayley Mills in Pollyanna and Dean Jones in Snowball Express (1972). Olson then moved to New York City where she appeared on Broadway.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, she did guest roles on television. Olson guest starred on the Television series The Big Valley playing the mother of Ron Howard in the December 1, 1965 episode entitled Night of the Wolf. Olson has been retired since the mid-1980s, although she made a brief, uncredited appearance in Flubber, the 1997 remake of The Absent-Minded Professor.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1949	Canadian Pacific	Cecille Gautier
1950	Sunset Boulevard	Betty Schaefer
1950	Union Station	Joyce Willecombe
1950	Mr. Music	Katherine Holbrook
1951	Force of Arms	Lt. Eleanor MacKay
1951	Submarine Command	Carol
1952	Big Jim McLain	Nancy Vallon
1953	So Big	Dallas O'Mara
1954	Boy from Oklahoma, TheThe Boy from Oklahoma	Katie Brannigan
1955	Battle Cry	Mrs. Pat Rogers
1960	Pollyanna	Nancy Furman
1961	Absent-Minded Professor, TheThe Absent-Minded Professor	Betsy Carlisle
1963	Son of Flubber	Elizabeth "Betsy" Brainard
1969	Smith!	Norah Smith
1972	Snowball Express	Sue Baxter
1974	Airport 1975	Mrs. Abbott
1982	Making Love	Christine
1987	Sparky's Magic Piano	(voice)	Video
1997	Flubber	Ford Secretary
2014	Dumbbells	Bianca Cummings

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1954	Ford Theatre	Kitty O'Dare	Episode: "For the Love of Kitty"
1954	Lux Video Theatre	Lisa	Episode: "Spent in Silence"
1954	Best of Broadway, TheThe Best of Broadway	Gwen Cavendish	Episode: "The Royal Family"
1955	Producers' Showcase	Peggy Day	Episode: "The Women"
1956	Ford Star Jubilee	Judith	Episode: "High Tor"
1958	United States Steel Hour, TheThe United States Steel Hour	Joyce Richmond	Episode: "Second Chance"
1958	General Electric Theater	Judith Gay	Episode: "The Last Rodeo"
1959	Alfred Hitchcock Presents	Jan Manning	Episode: "Total Loss"
1960	Startime	Peggy Thomas	Episode: "The Greatest Man Alive"
1961	Alcoa Premiere	Amber Baring	Episode: "Family Outing"
1963	Channing	Mrs. Landon	Episode: "Collision Course"
1965	Big Valley, TheThe Big Valley	Julia Jenkins	Episode: "Night of the Wolf"
1971	Name of the Game, TheThe Name of the Game	Ann Latham	Episode: "Beware of the Watchdog"
1972	Gunsmoke	Henrietta Donavan	Episode: "Yankton"
1972	Police Surgeon	Judge	Episode: "Death Holds the Scale"
1973	Love Story	Mrs. Ross	Episode: "Mirabelle's Summer"
1974	Banacek	Louise Merrick	Episode: "Now You See Me, Now You Don't"
1975	Streets of San Francisco, TheThe Streets of San Francisco	Jeannie Morris	Episode: "Web of Lies"
1976	Kingston: Confidential	Jessica Frazier	TV series
1977	Barnaby Jones	Thelma Thompson	Episode: "Testament of Power"
1984	Paper Dolls	Marjorie Harper	Main role (13 episodes)
2010	Big Love	Katherine	Episode: "Strange Bedfellows"

[ Source: Wikipedia ]