One of the last surviving links to Hollywood's Golden Age was spotted out and about in Los Angeles this week, enjoying a rare public outing at the remarkable age of 97. The actress, best known for her Oscar-nominated turn in Billy Wilder's 1950 classic Sunset Boulevard, still carried a hint of that old-school movie star poise as she ran errands around the city.
Dressed down in a relaxed grey sweater, matching trousers and a coordinating scarf, she looked effortlessly polished - even decades after her red-carpet heyday. Back in the 1950s and 1960s, she shared the screen with some of Hollywood's biggest names, including William Holden, John Wayne and Fred MacMurray, firmly placing her at the center of the studio system's golden era.
Though she eventually stepped away from acting in the 1980s, her career had already spanned a string of memorable roles across film and television. Fans will also remember her appearances in the disaster hit Airport 1975, as well as family favorites like Pollyanna alongside Hayley Mills, Smith! with Glenn Ford, and Snowball Express with Dean Jones.
If you guessed Nancy Olson, you clearly know your Old Hollywood history. Last August, Olson reflected on her breakthrough role in Sunset Boulevard, offering a rare glimpse behind the curtain of one of Hollywood's most enduring classics.
Billy Wilder's Unconventional Approach
At 21, she was still a college student with only a few screen credits when director and co-writer Wilder cast her as Betty Schaefer in the film. Betty is a Paramount Pictures story editor and aspiring writer who meets William Holden's Joe Gillis and offers him a potential way back into studio work after his career stalls. In the film, Betty becomes involved in helping Joe develop a screenplay, unaware of his growing entanglement with faded silent film star Norma Desmond, played by Gloria Swanson.
Olson said Wilder took an unusual approach to the role, leaning less on traditional character-building and instead drawing on her real-life personality to help shape Betty's on-screen presence. 'I remember being very impressed that Billy chose me to play Betty Schaefer, and after a certain point, I realized that he wanted me not to be a character; he wanted me to be myself,' Olson recalled to People.
Indeed, Wilder immersed himself in her real-life background, peppering her with questions about her upbringing and early ambitions as he shaped Betty around her own experiences. 'He interviewed me on the lot, walking around on the way to the commissary, and he'd asked me a million questions,' she remembered. 'What was it like growing up in Milwaukee? What was it like to be in college and work?... He wanted the public to believe that I could possibly be that person.'
'And you know something?' she added. 'I was a little too naive not to be scared to death! I kind of came in and they said he wanted me to wear my own clothes, and I thought, "Okay, I'm going to be Nancy." And there I was.'
Early Life and Career
Born in Milwaukee in 1928, she grew up far from the Hollywood spotlight. After completing her schooling in Wisconsin, she spent a year at the University of Wisconsin before transferring to UCLA, a move that quietly set her on a new path when a campus theatre performance caught the eye of a visiting talent scout. That chance encounter led to a Paramount Pictures contract in 1948, and within a year she was navigating supporting roles and early screen tests.
Her breakout came quickly, first with Canadian Pacific and then with Sunset Boulevard in 1950. Alongside her film career, she balanced a steady presence on radio and later television, while also stepping into multiple collaborations with Holden and appearances across Warner Bros. and Disney productions throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Later, she moved to New York and broadened her career onto the Broadway stage.
Personal Life
Her personal life unfolded alongside her professional one. In 1950, she married lyricist Alan Jay Lerner, and the couple had two daughters, Liza and Jennifer, before divorcing in 1957. She later married Capitol Records executive Alan W. Livingston in 1962, with whom she had a son, Christopher. That marriage lasted until Livingston's death in 2009.
