Born Edward Albert Heimberger in Rock Island, Illinois on April 22, 1908, Eddie grew up in Minneapolis. After joining the Navy in July of 1942, he became a Naval Lieutenant and saw action at Tarawa in the South Pacific.
In addition to his work in films, Albert was also involved in some radio series, including a weekly variety program on NBC called "The Eddie Albert Show" (1947). His TV career began on the Chevrolet TeleTheater, in a comedy called "Who's Your Judge?" In late 1952, he did his first TV series, "Leave it to Larry."
The best role of his career, in his own opinion, was as the cowardly infantry officer in Robert Aldrich's "Attack!" After this came one of Classic TV's most enduring sitcoms, "Green Acres."
Playing Oliver Douglas, he fulfills a life-long dream of becoming a farmer and drags his reluctant wife (a glamorous sophisticate played by Eva Gabor) to a broken-down nightmare of a farm he's just purchased. The show ran for six seasons, and "Green Acres" is presently being shown somewhere in the world every day.
Throughout the years, Albert has nurtured a passion for agronomy (plant sciences). Firsthand accounts describe his home as "the only Pacific Palisades house whose front and back yard is a cornfield." You'll also find beets, cucumbers, radishes, and dozens of other organically-grown food plants.
In addition to being an agronomist, Albert is also an ecologist--or as he puts it, a "human survivalist." In the 70s, Albert was somewhat of an "ecological Paul Revere." He now lectures extensively at universities and colleges, to business and industrial groups, and to concerned citizens' organizations.
Eddie Albert also has a set of velvet pipes. He has had a long, illustrious career in music, even courting the classical chorus of opera. You can even hear him (along with Eva Gabor) singing the show's theme song.
Eddie Albert's body of work encompasses more than 50 years in stage, radio, film, and television performance.
