1. Deborah Walley was an American actress noted for playing the title role in Gidget Goes Hawaiian and appearing in several beach party films.
23 Facts About Deborah Walley
1. 2.
Deborah Walley was born Deborah Edith Walley in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to Ice Capades skating stars and choreographers Nathan and Edith Walley.
3.
Deborah Walley studied acting at New York City's American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
4.
Deborah Walley appeared on television in episodes of Naked City and Route 66.
5.
Deborah Walley was discovered by agent Joyce Selznick while performing in a production of Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters, and she soon made her Hollywood film debut as Gidget in 1961's Gidget Goes Hawaiian.
6.
Deborah Walley was named Photoplay magazine's most popular actress of 1961.
7.
Deborah Walley appeared in The Young Lovers for MGM.
8.
Deborah Walley signed a contract with American International Pictures, which cast her as a female lead in several comedies, all starring Frankie Avalon and featuring her husband John Ashley: Beach Blanket Bingo, Ski Party, and Sergeant Dead Head.
9.
Deborah Walley had a cameo role in Dr Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine and was the female lead in the last AIP beach-party film, Ghost in the Invisible Bikini, opposite Tommy Kirk.
10.
Deborah Walley reunited with Kirk for a beach-party film directed by Stephanie Rothman titled It's a Bikini World.
11.
Deborah Walley next appeared in the Elvis Presley film Spinout, followed by the lead role in the science-fiction film The Bubble.
12.
Deborah Walley guest-starred on Burke's Law, The Greatest Show on Earth, Wagon Train and Gomer Pyle: USMC, The Men from Shiloh, Off to See the Wizard and Love, American Style.
13.
In 1967, with her film career in decline, Deborah Walley portrayed Suzie Hubbard Buell in the comedy series The Mothers-in-Law.
14.
Actress Kay Cole had played Suzie in the original pilot, but Deborah Walley replaced her for the series' two seasons on the air.
15.
Deborah Walley wrote and produced the short film The Legend of Seeks-To-Hunt-Great, which won several awards including the National Cine Golden Eagle, the American Indian Film Festival's best short-subject award, the Oklahoma Tribal Council Award for best fiction film and the 1991 Algrave International Video Festival's best-of-festival award.
16.
Deborah Walley moved to Sedona, Arizona in 1991 to focus on raising her family while writing and producing.
17.
Deborah Walley cofounded Pied Piper Productions, a nonprofit theater company for children, and was a cofounder of the Sedona Children's Theater.
18.
Deborah Walley published her first book, Grandfather's Good Medicine, in 1993, which was based on the plot of The Legend of Seeks-To-Hunt-Great.
19.
Deborah Walley wrote scripts and taught acting and production techniques to American Indians through her Swiftwind Productions company, and she continued to produce and appear in plays.
20.
Deborah Walley continued to work with children through her Imagination Playshops, acting workshops for children in the US and Australia.
21.
Deborah Walley worked with the Educational Theater Company, a multiethnic organization based in Los Angeles.
22.
From 1962 to 1966, Deborah Walley was married to actor John Ashley and had another son, Anthony.
23.
In May 2001, Deborah Walley died of esophageal cancer at her home in Sedona, Arizona, at age 59.