June Blair, an American model, and actress best remembered for her role in The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet with her husband David Nelson died at the age of 90. Blair’s daughter-in-law Susan Nelson confirmed the death to The Hollywood Reporter, saying the actress died on December 5 of natural causes at her Sherman Oaks home.
Margaret June Blair was born in San Francisco, California on October 30, 1932. Her parents abandoned her at a young age, her father when she was eight months old and her mother when she was three. Blair was raised as a ward by the state of California, and she was reared by eight different households. Blair was married to David Nelson and had two children with him, Daniel Blair Nelson and Jamie Eric Nelson.
June Blair Nelson, ‘Ozzie & Harriet’ Star, Dies at 89 https://t.co/exDR2ujN4d via @extratv pic.twitter.com/k7bK3BSEpa
— Laura G (@LaurasMiscMovie) December 8, 2022
June Blair was a model before she became an actress.
June Blair was a model before making her acting debut on CBS’ Our Miss Brooks in 1956 as Miss Lonelyhearts columnist, which opened the door for a chance to work with the entertainment behemoth, 20th Century Fox. In January 1957, she appeared in Playboy’s Playmate of the Month. Soon after, she co-starred in Hell Bound with John Russell as a lady who becomes involved in drug trafficking.
June Blair starred in two films in 1959: The Rabbit Trap and Island of Lost Women. She plays a sensitive assistant in the former, and one of nuclear physicist Alan Napier’s three children in the latter, with Diane Jergens and Venetia Stevenson. June Blair married David Nelson in April 1961 after meeting on the set of Two Faces West. They married a month later at the Church of the Hills in Los Angeles, California. Her most notable part was in the 1960s comedy The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, in which she had previously appeared as several characters. On the third episode of season 10, she was presented unexpectedly as Mrs. June Nelson, David Nelson’s wife, confusing viewers. Blair appeared in 28 episodes of the program, which ran until its last season in 1966.
Her other 1957 credits include Top Secret Affair, Conflict, This Could Be the Night, Man of a Thousand Faces, Bachelor Father, and My Man Godfrey, in addition to Hell Bound.
June Blair noted in a 1963 interview,
“I’ve always been a self-sufficient young lady.”
Other films and television shows in which she has appeared include The Best of Everything, Lone Texan, Hawaiian Eye, Tombstone Territory, M Squad, The Chevy Mystery Show, The Aquanauts, A Fever in the Blood, Bat Masterson, and more. Blair dated Lindsay Crosby, Bobby Darin, and Dick Sargent, among others. She was formerly married to musician Nino Temple. Blair and Nelson separated in June 1975, and the model-turned-actress never married again.