Deborah Walley

 Deborah Walley (August 12, 1943 – May 10, 2001)

Walley was an actress noted for playing the title role in Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961) and in several Beach Party films. She was discovered by agent Joyce Selznick in a performance in a production of Anton Chekov's Three Sisters. This led her to make her Hollywood film debut as Gidget. in 1961's Gidget Goes Hawaiian. From then until 1974 she appeared in fifteen feature-length films, including several of the "Beach Party" films produced by American International Pictures. She also co-starred in the Elvis Presley film Spinout where she and Elvis bonded over a shared interest in spiritual matters. In 1967, with her movie career starting to decline, Walley portrayed Suzie Hubbard Buell in the comedy series The Mothers-in-Law, comedian Eve Arden playing her mother and singer-comedian Kaye Ballard playing her mother-in-law. Walley died of esophageal cancer on May 10, 2001, in Sedona, Arizona at age 57.