Deborah Walley(1941-2001)

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.

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.