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...
Central High School, American Academy of Dramatic Arts
Nationality
American
Spouse
John Reynolds child
Children
Anthony Brooks Ashley, Justin Ashley Reynolds
Parents
Edith Walley, Nathan Walley
Movies
Gidget Goes Hawaiian, Beach Blanket Bingo, The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini, Spinout, Summer Magic, Ski Party, It's a Bikini World, Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine, Benji, Bon Voyage!, Sergeant Deadhead, The Bubble, The Severed Arm, The Young Lovers
TV Shows
The Mothers-in-Law
Star Sign
Leo
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Trademark
1
Best known for her movie role as Gidget
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Quote
1
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.
2
[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.
3
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.
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Fact
1
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.
2
Maintained a close brother-sister type friendship with Elvis Presley after co-starring together in Spinout (1966). He sparked her interest in Eastern philosophies.
3
Left films in the early 1970s, remarried, and had one son from each of her marriages.
$8 Million
