- Born
- Died
- Birth nameDeborah Edith Walley
- Height5′ 2″ (1.57 m)
- Actress, author, producer, and Photoplay's "Most Popular Actress of 1961," the daughter of Ice Capades skating stars and choreographers Nathan and Edith Walley. She was skating with her parents at age three, but resisted her father's urging to continue, opting to study acting at the New York Academy of Dramatic Arts. Her stage debut was at 14, in a summer-stock production of "Charley's Aunt". When she moved to Arizona to raise her three sons, she co-founded two children's theater companies (Pied Piper Productions and Sedona Children's Theater), introducing live theater and teaching acting to disadvantaged children. She also founded the Swiftwind Theater Company, writing film scripts and training American Indian actors and production-crew members. Her 1990 short film Legend of 'Seeks-to-Hunt-Great' (1989), starring Michael Horse, was awarded the National Cine Golden Eagle, the Oklahoma Tribal Council Award for best fiction film, the 1991 Algrave (Portugal) International Video Festival best-of-festival award, and the American Indian Film Festival's best short-subject award. She incorporated the story line -- an Indian boy's appreciation of nature while following a mountain lion -- into her 1993 children's book "Grandfather's Good Medicine." Deborah Walley also wrote scripts for her own production companies, for other children's films, and for Disney Animation, for which she supplied cartoon voice-overs.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Louis Rugani
- Deborah Walley was chosen Photoplay Magazine's Most Popular Actress in 1961, the year her Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961) movie was released. Never entirely happy that she had been typecast as a "Gidget," she did nonetheless appreciate that her performances and the persona she rendered had made a lasting and very favorable impression on the movie-going public. Telling of her versatility, she was performing in an off-Broadway production of Anton Chekhov's "Three Sisters" when she learned that she had gotten the part in the Gidget film. Though best known for her Gidget roles, they did not define her, nor did they stymie her creative artistry. After moving to Sedona, Arizona, in the 1970s to raise her children, Walley co-founded two children's theater companies there: Pied Piper Productions and the Sedona Children's Theatre. These were vehicles through which she brought live theater to inner-city schools throughout the West Coast and Arizona. They were also opportunities for her to share with children her skills as an actress by teaching acting classes for children. It was also in Arizona that she developed a fascination for native-American culture and folklore and helped found the Swiftwind Theater Company, writing scripts and coaching local native Americans in acting. She was also instrumental in securing positions for native Americans with film crews. A notable contribution of hers can be seen in the production of the 1990 Legend of 'Seeks-to-Hunt-Great' (1989) starring Michael Horse. The film garnered 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 (Portugal) International Video Festival's Best of Festival Award. In addition, she was artistic director of the Charles W. Raison Theater at the Sedona Arts Center, acting in and producing many plays. Not limiting herself to these endeavors, she also wrote scripts for her own production companies, for other educational children's films and for Disney Animation, often performing voice-overs for cartoons. Her versatility, however, was not restricted to stage and screen; early in life, she also showed promise on the ice. She was born in Bridgeport, Conn., the daughter of Ice Capades star skaters and choreographers Nathan and Edith Walley and, from age 3, toured with her parents. Contrary to her father's wishes that she train as a skater, she applied her talents elsewhere, studying acting at New York's Academy of Dramatic Arts, where she made her stage debut in a summer stock production of "Charley's Aunt" when she was 14. Television beckoned after that and Walley found roles in toothpaste commercials, a spot on The Dave Garroway Show and guest roles in numerous series. Her most notable foray into TV is perhaps the role of Eve Arden's daughter Suzie on the 1967-69 The Mothers-In-Law (1967).- IMDb Mini Biography By: Patrick King <patrick_king@hotmail.com>
- SpousesChet McCracken(December 6, 1968 - September 1975) (divorced)John Ashley(April 28, 1962 - 1966) (divorced, 1 child)John Darrell Reynolds (divorced, 1 child)
- Children
- ParentsNathan Evans WalleyEdith Verus Shipman
- Best known for her movie role as Gidget
- Her interest in Native American heritage occurred early in life. Her stepfather was part Native American. Later she was married to a Cherokee who is the father of her second son.
- Moved to Arizona in the early 1990s where she co-founded the Sedona Children's Theater.
- Maintained a close brother-sister type friendship with Elvis Presley after co-starring together in Spinout (1966). He sparked her interest in Eastern philosophies.
- Left films in the early 1970s, remarried, and had one son from each of her marriages.
- Child: Anthony Brooks Ashley was born on 4th May 1963.
- When I was discovered, I was doing [Anton Chekhov]. I was in "The Three Sisters" off-Broadway, and I went from "Three Sisters" to Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961). I rode on a Sixth Avenue bus from one end of Manhattan to another, crying my eyes out. "Gidget" was so huge, I guess I knew on that bus that day that part of my dream of being a serious actress was kind of destroyed.
- [referring to being cast in Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961)] I wasn't really a movie fan. I lived in New York City; I was an actress on the stage and did some television out of New York. But I was so wrapped up in theater, and this was my dream--I was going to be a Broadway star--that I didn't pay too much attention to film. I was actually quite disappointed when I got the part to begin with.
- I get things from 14-year-olds, and 15-year-olds, 16, 17, you know, saying, "Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961) is my favorite movie" and "I loved you in this and that". And they know everything I've done, or at least everything that's available on video, or has been played on television. And it's so different from what's going on today. Maybe that's the appeal. It is so diametrically different. It's so clean and fresh and fun-filled, as opposed to the movies they make for teenagers today.
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