Alberta Nelson

Who was Alberta Nelson?

Alberta Nelson was an American television and film actress. She graduated from Andrews High School for Girls in Willoughby, Ohio. After several dramatic parts in television in the early 1960s, she made five guest appearances on The Andy Griffith Show, four of them as Goober Pyle's girlfriend, Flora Malherbe.

Nelson appeared in seven movies in the 1960s as one of Eric Von Zipper's "mice" in the successful American International Beach Party series. She is the only person who appeared in all seven Beach Party movies, including Beach Party, Muscle Beach Party and How to Stuff a Wild Bikini. Nelson played the leather clad "rat pack" biker chick Puss, one of the comic villains who dogged the steps of America's sweethearts, Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon.

After her successful girl-next-door stint as Flora on The Andy Griffith Show and her comedic career as biker girl Puss, Nelson starred in 1970s The Wild Scene as Dr. Virginia Grant, a female psychiatrist who talks graphically about her tawdriest cases. This and a 1970 appearance on Love, American Style would be Nelson's last credited roles.