Nancy Walters

Walters was born in Mount Plymouth, Florida, and brought up near Mount Plymouth and Zellwood, Florida.[2] A bone infection that was incurred when she was four years old prevented her from standing until her teenage years.[3] When she was seven years old, she spent eight months in a hospital for treatment of the infection.[4] After she finished high school, she went to secretarial school and took a business law class, both of which were in line with her plans to be a lawyer's secretary.[5]

Her career in modeling included appearances in magazines, including Glamour, Vogue, Harper's Bazaar,[5] and Mademoiselle.[6]

In 1955, Walters left modeling and began working on the NBC game show The Big Payoff.[7] In 1958 she was also on the CBS show Strike It Rich.[8]

Walters polished her acting skills in productions at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre.[9] On Broadway, she performed as a singer in Ankles Aweigh (1955).[10] A 1957 newspaper article described her as a protege of Bernie Wayne.[11]

In 1960, Walters signed a film contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, with her first film for that studio being Bells Are Ringing (1960).[12] She was in several movies including Blue Hawaii, The Singing Nun and Monster on the Campus. Over the years she was a guest star on several television shows, including 77 Sunset Strip, Gunsmoke, The Monkees, and Get Smart.[13] Her film and television career ended after 1967.

After her husband was killed in Vietnam, Walters joined an evangelical group.[14] She became an ordained minister and was living in Las Vegas, Nevada when she died at the age of 76.[15]

On March 10, 1962, Walters married Lt. Paul Warren Payne, a jet pilot in the U.S. Navy, in Las Vegas, Nevada.[16]

Walters was one of 13 actresses selected as Deb Stars of 1958.[17]