Edward Albert Heimberger (April 22, 1906 – May 26, 2005), better known as Eddie Albert, was a popular Oscar-nominated American stage, film, character actor, gardener, humanitarian activist, and World War II hero. In an acting career that spanned nearly seven decades, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1954 for his performance in Roman Holiday and again in 1973 for The Heartbreak Kid. Among his other well-known roles are Bing Edwards in the Brother Rat films, Oliver Wendell Douglas in the popular 1960s television situation comedy Green Acres, and Frank MacBride on the 1970s crime drama Switch. He also had a recurring role as Carlton Travis on Falcon Crest, opposite Jane Wyman.

Early life

Edward Albert Heimberger was born on April 22 1906 in Rock Island, Illinois. His year of birth was frequently shown as 1908, but this is incorrect. While many Hollywood figures have often given years of birth later than their true ones (in order to present themselves as being younger than they are), the motivation in this case was that Albert's parents were unmarried when Albert was born, but had married by 1908.USATODAY.com - 'Green Acres' star Eddie Albert dies at 99 His mother altered his birth certificate to 1908 at some point. Albert was the oldest of five children born to Julia M. (née Jones), a homemaker, and Frank Daniel Heimberger, a realtor.Eddie Albert Biography (1908?-)

Just one year after he was born, Albert and his family moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota. They had a difficult time adjusting to life in the city, and tempers flared between Eddie and his family. When he was six, he was forced to get his first job as a newspaper boy. During World War I, he was taunted as "the enemy" by his classmates in the third grade. At age 14, he enrolled at Central High School in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he joined the school's drama department. He also went to the same school with a then-unknown actress named Harriette Lake (better known as Ann Sothern), who was a few years Albert's junior. His interests were restricted to the stage, but he had a strong appetite for reading – everything from philosophy to science. After graduating from high school in 1924, he entered the University of Minnesota, where he majored in business, and subsequently looked for a business job. However, all that changed when the stock market crashed in 1929. He took several odd jobs, working as an amateur singer, a trapeze performer, an insurance salesman, and a nightclub singer.