Full or original name at birth: Edward Albert Heimberger

Date, time and place of birth: April 22, 1906*, at 11:30 a.m., Rock Island, Illinois, U.S.A.

Date, place and cause of death: May 26, 2005, at 719 Amalfi Drive, Pacific Palisades, California, U.S.A. (Pneumonia/Alzheimer's)

Marriage
Wife: Margo (m. December 5, 1945 - July 17, 1985) (her death)
Wedding took place at St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York City, New York, U.S.A.

Children
Son: Edward Laurence Albert
Adopted daughter: Maria

Parents
Father: Frank Daniel Heimberger (Restaurateur/Insurance businessman)
Mother: Julia (Jones) Heimberger

Burial: He was cremated and his ashes interred in Westwood Memorial Park, Westwood, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

* Because he was born out of wedlock, his mother altered his birth certificate to read "1908," but his son, Edward Albert (also an actor), confirmed Eddie Albert was actually born in 1906 in Rock Island, Illinois.


All of the following publications, in some past editions, incorrectly report Eddie Albert was born in "1908."

Born This Day: A Daily Celebration of Famous Beginnings by Ed Morrow

Chase's Calendar of Events

Daily Celebrity Almanac by Bob Barry

Earl Blackwell's Entertainment Celebrity Register

International Motion Picture Almanac

John Willis Screen World

Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia

New York Times Encyclopedic Almanac

People Entertainment Almanac

Reader's Digest Almanac and Yearbook

Time/Information Please Almanac

Who's Who in America

World Almanac and Book of Facts

The World Almanac Who's Who of Film


It is not our intent to denigrate these fine publications, but merely to point out the above inaccuracy to prevent further dissemination of the erroneous data.

Eddie was a prolific actor whose career spanned radio, Broadway, films and television. The versatile two-time Academy Award nominee began his career as a circus trapeze artist, and singer. As an actor, he made his motion picture debut in 1938's Brother Rat, and worked steadily into the 1990s. Some of his more memorable screen roles include the lovesick peddler in the classic musical Oklahoma!, and Gregory Peck's photographer sidekick in William Wyler's 1953 Roman Holiday. It was his work in Roman Holiday and The Heartbreak Kid, that garnered Eddie his two Oscar nominations.

He was best known to TV audiences as the gentleman farmer in the 1960s sitcom Green Acres. The actor actually "farmed" in real life as well, though with far greater success than his Green Acres character, Oliver Wendell Douglas, ever managed. Instead of palm trees, fancy topiary and traditional manicured lawns found throughout his exclusive neighborhood, his entire front yard was a garden complete with stalks of corn. In actuality, both the front and back yard of his home in Pacific Palisades, an upscale community west of Los Angeles, were brimming with productive organic vegetable and flower gardens.

Albert was also a pioneering crusader for environmental causes. International Earth Day was held on April 22nd, in honor of his birthday, as a result of his tireless work on behalf of environmental, conservation and humanitarian issues.

Hobbies/sidelines:
Boating, fitness, swimming, jogging, gardening, world travel, and the aforementioned environmental and humanitarian activism. He was also a promoter of agronomy to combat world hunger, and was the most prominent figure to raise awareness about the importance of soil conservation.