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Obituaries

Don Nelson, 86, cowriter for 'Ozzie and Harriet' TV series

LOS ANGELES - Don Nelson, 86, a screenwriter, film producer and musician who cowrote scripts for The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - the classic American television series centered on his brother Ozzie's family - as well as for more than two dozen other films and TV series, has died.

    by By Devin Kelly, LOS ANGELES TIMES, McClatchy-Tribune
    Published 

LOS ANGELES - Don Nelson, 86, a screenwriter, film producer and musician who cowrote scripts for

The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet

- the classic American television series centered on his brother Ozzie's family - as well as for more than two dozen other films and TV series, has died.

Mr. Nelson, who had Parkinson's disease, died of an aortic aneurysm Tuesday at his home in Studio City, said his wife, Marilyn.

As a staff writer for Ozzie and Harriet, one of the longest-running family comedies in TV history, Mr. Nelson came up with Ricky Nelson's trademark catchphrase "I don't mess around, boy," and contributed to more than 200 episodes of the series with story lines anchored famously on the harmless. The show, which ran from 1952 to 1966, enjoyed enormous popularity and cast the mold for shows such as Father Knows Best and Leave It to Beaver.

In a 1998 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Mr. Nelson observed that Ozzie and Harriet epitomized the era while drawing its share of critics and parodies.

"We have been blamed for all the ills of the '50s and '60s and have been praised for all the good things about those decades because it presented a way of life that was a little idyllic," Mr. Nelson said.