Eddie Albert: War hero at Tarawa Beach
Edward Albert Heimberger (better known as Eddie Albert)
Born: April 22, 1906 at Rock Island, Illinois
Died: May 26,2005 at Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California
Eddie Albert and his family moved from Rock Island, Illinois to Minneapolis Minnesota at the age of one and by six he was selling newspapers.
One of his classmates was Harriet Lake who would become actress Ann Sothern who played the mother in one of the worst television series in history in My Mother the Car.
Appeared in First RCA Victor Telecast
He changed his last name from Heimberger to Albert because it was being pronounced Hamburger so often. He was on the first television broadcast made by RCA Victor in 1936. He made the movie Brother Rat for Warner Brothers Studio before being terminated for reportedly having an affair with the wife of the studio head Jack L. Warner.
Before World War II commenced he was secretly working for U.S. Army intelligence photographing German U-boats in Mexico.
Awarded Bronze Star For Heroism At Tarawa
He was awarded the Bronze Star for rescuing American soldiers during the Battle of Tarawa while under heavy gunfire in 1943. He also lost a portion of his hearing from the noise of the battle.
Albert appeared in The Longest Day a movie about the Normandy invasion in 1962. His best known television role was when he became a country farmer after being a big city lawyer in Green Acres. The show ran from 1965 to 1971 and may have ran longer if not for an edict from CBS to rid the network of country flavored shows.
He then became a private detective on the crime drama Switch which ran from 1975-1978.
Wife Margo Died At In 1985
Albert married his wife María Marguerita Guadalupe Teresa Estela Bolado Castilla y O’Donnell an actress who went by the name Margo. They were married from 1945 to 1985 when she died of brain cancer.
His son Edward Albert was also an actor but died at the age of 55 after a long fight against lung cancer. Eddie Albert was a victim of Alzheimers in his last years and died in 2005 at the age of 99.
Buried Next to Wife And Eva Gabor
He was buried next to wife Margo who preceded him in death and close to his television wife Eva Gabor who co-starred with him in Green Acres.
Eddie Albert was not only an excellent actor but also he served his country during wartime with out receiving any special dispensation because he was an actor but risked his life to save the lives of other American soldiers in the Battle of Tarawa.
Nostalgia and Now 
Lots of interesting facts about Eddie Albert. C B S made a big mistake taking that show off. It was funny, but also clean. Remember Arnold the pig? And especially the County Agent, and Mr. Haney. All of the actors were first class on that show. Eddie Albert will forever be Mr. Douglas.
I am glad you mentioned Hank Kimball the county agent, Mr. Haney and Arnold the pig. I read that CBS got rid of the country flavored shows because CBS was being called the Country Broadcast System. Still think it was dumb of CBS to remove those great shows.
Served aboard the USS feland at Tarawa remember Eddie Albert coming alongside asking if we could take care of some of the dead Marines floating in the water taking on the wounded before we could take care of the dead. It was quite an experience for young 18 year old
Reblogged this on Nostalgia and Now and commented:
I am reblogging this post since someone who actually saw Eddie Albert at Tarawa Beach during World War II added a comment yesterday, which is after the article. This was originally posted in December of 2009.
He was a first class actor and american. Not many left like Eddie Albert (Mr. Douglas). I love that show.
Eddie Albert was one of my favorites already, then found out he was a WWII veteran and had even more respect for him serving our country.
The person attends the funeral of Eddie Albert was Frank Cady! Cady was the cousin of the hero (that has Cady ancestry) was Alan Burton Hall!
V.E.G…Thanks for the info on the funeral.
I loved watching Eddie Albert in movies and green acres, than I found out about his service to his country and could not have greater respect for him. They don’t make them like him anymore.
I too have great respect for Eddie Albert for his service in the Pacific during World War II.
You article about Eddie Albert being a hero at Tarawa is very enlightening, but there is one correction I have to make. He did not rescue soldiers at Tarawa, he rescued Marines. Semper Fi
I have great respect for Marines, so glad you set the record straight.
No disrespect of Army Men, Soldiers, however, Marines are properly addressed as “Marines”. I’m happy you made the correction.