Linda Melson Harrison (born July 26, 1945) is an American television
and film actress, and director and producer, who is internationally
known for her role as Nova, Charlton Heston's mute mate in the science
fiction film classic Planet of the Apes (1968) and the first sequel,
Beneath the Planet of the Apes; she also had a cameo in Tim Burton's
2001 remake of the original. She was a regular cast member of the
1969â€"70 NBC television series Bracken's World. She was the second
wife of film producer Richard D. Zanuck (Jaws, Cocoon, Driving Miss
Daisy, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory); her youngest son is
producer Dean Zanuck (Road to Perdition, Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory).Linda Melson Harrison was born in Berlin, Maryland. She was
the third of five daughters of Isaac Burbage Harrison, a nurseryman,
and his wife, Ida Virginia Melson, a beautician. She was the middle
child, with two older sisters, Kay and Gloria, and two younger
sisters, Jane and Joan. The Harrisons, like Linda's maternal Melson
ancestors, had a long history in the Delmarva region. According to
Ancestry.com, the Melson family were mid-17th century immigrants to
Maryland from Melsonby St James in North Yorkshire. The Anglo-Welsh
Harrisons had been resident for generations in West Kirby, Cheshire,
when one Richard Harrison, son of another Richard Harrison, emigrated
in the early 17th century from West Kirby to the New Haven Colony in
what is now Connecticut, thence to Maryland. Richard's direct
descendant, Harrison's paternal grandfather, Joseph G. Harrison, and
Joseph's older brother, Orlando Harrison (Mayor of Berlin 1900â€"1910
and 1916â€"1918 and senator from Maryland), established J.G. Harrison
& Sons Nurseries, which were, at one time, the largest fruit tree
nursery business in America, employing some five hundred workers. The
Harrison Lab at the University of Maryland, College Park campus, which
Harrison attended briefly, was named for her paternal great-uncle,
Senator Orlando Harrison."I knew she'd be a star when she was only
five," Ida Harrison told an interviewer in 1969. Mrs Harrison, who
described her middle daughter as "a little ham", enrolled her in
ballet and acrobatics classes at age five. By age six, Harrison was
performing on stage, and liking it. She attended Berlin's Buckingham
Elementary School, which her mother and all her sisters attended. In
1956, when she was eleven, Harrison's acrobatic performance earned her
first prize in the Delmarva Chicken Festival Talent Contest. Six years
later, at the same festival, Harrison won the "Miss Delmarva" beauty
contest. By the time she entered Berlin's Stephen Decatur High School,
Harrison had become a skilled acrobatic dancer. Harrison also dreamed
of becoming an actress and a star.
and film actress, and director and producer, who is internationally
known for her role as Nova, Charlton Heston's mute mate in the science
fiction film classic Planet of the Apes (1968) and the first sequel,
Beneath the Planet of the Apes; she also had a cameo in Tim Burton's
2001 remake of the original. She was a regular cast member of the
1969â€"70 NBC television series Bracken's World. She was the second
wife of film producer Richard D. Zanuck (Jaws, Cocoon, Driving Miss
Daisy, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory); her youngest son is
producer Dean Zanuck (Road to Perdition, Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory).Linda Melson Harrison was born in Berlin, Maryland. She was
the third of five daughters of Isaac Burbage Harrison, a nurseryman,
and his wife, Ida Virginia Melson, a beautician. She was the middle
child, with two older sisters, Kay and Gloria, and two younger
sisters, Jane and Joan. The Harrisons, like Linda's maternal Melson
ancestors, had a long history in the Delmarva region. According to
Ancestry.com, the Melson family were mid-17th century immigrants to
Maryland from Melsonby St James in North Yorkshire. The Anglo-Welsh
Harrisons had been resident for generations in West Kirby, Cheshire,
when one Richard Harrison, son of another Richard Harrison, emigrated
in the early 17th century from West Kirby to the New Haven Colony in
what is now Connecticut, thence to Maryland. Richard's direct
descendant, Harrison's paternal grandfather, Joseph G. Harrison, and
Joseph's older brother, Orlando Harrison (Mayor of Berlin 1900â€"1910
and 1916â€"1918 and senator from Maryland), established J.G. Harrison
& Sons Nurseries, which were, at one time, the largest fruit tree
nursery business in America, employing some five hundred workers. The
Harrison Lab at the University of Maryland, College Park campus, which
Harrison attended briefly, was named for her paternal great-uncle,
Senator Orlando Harrison."I knew she'd be a star when she was only
five," Ida Harrison told an interviewer in 1969. Mrs Harrison, who
described her middle daughter as "a little ham", enrolled her in
ballet and acrobatics classes at age five. By age six, Harrison was
performing on stage, and liking it. She attended Berlin's Buckingham
Elementary School, which her mother and all her sisters attended. In
1956, when she was eleven, Harrison's acrobatic performance earned her
first prize in the Delmarva Chicken Festival Talent Contest. Six years
later, at the same festival, Harrison won the "Miss Delmarva" beauty
contest. By the time she entered Berlin's Stephen Decatur High School,
Harrison had become a skilled acrobatic dancer. Harrison also dreamed
of becoming an actress and a star.
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