Why This ‘The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet’ Star Left at the Height of the Show’s Fame
One of the most beloved television shows of the 1950s was The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, starring the real-life Nelson family. One of the first radio shows to successfully move to TV, it was for many years the longest-running live-action sitcom on television. While the Nelson family, including Ozzie and his wife Harriet and their sons David and Ricky, were the stars, the show also had an incredible supporting cast, including Don DeFore as Erskin “Thorny” Thornberry, the Nelson’s neighbor.
DeFore found fame on the show, so why would he leave at the height of its popularity? His son, Ron DeFore, has written a new memoir about his father, Growing Up in Disneyland: Second Edition, and he recently explained why his dad left The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet after five years.
Everett Collection
Ron shared, “What he went through is what a lot of actors went through and probably still go through now. If you’ve been a costar, but not star billing in a TV show like that one, a very popular TV show … he and his agent felt, ‘Hey, you’ve done your dues. You’ve paid your dues. You’re good enough now. Let’s shop around for your own show where you can be the main star.’”
Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned. Ron added, “[After Ozzie and Harriet] he made two pilots. Unfortunately, they didn’t go anywhere. … He was trying. But then what came along was some pretty successful stuff in another part of his career. He was president of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in 1954.”
Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
Ron said that his memoir was decades in the making. He shared that his father had written a book but never got it published so he wanted fans to get a chance to read some of it. Ron also added some anecdotes about growing up in a celebrity family with the book title referring to his dad’s short-lived restaurant in Disneyland called Don DeFore’s Silver Banjo Barbecue Restaurant.
Don died in 1993 at the age of 80 from a heart attack.
Classic TV Shows of the ’50s & ’60s
September 2020
Test your knowledge, from Bonanza and Gunsmoke to I Love Lucy, I Dream of Jeannie, Star Trek and more fun TV of the 1950s and 1960s.
Buy This Issue