Deborah Walley (August 12, 1941May 10, 2001) was an American actress noted for playing the title role in Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961) and appearing in several beach party films. Early years Walley was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to Ice Capades skating stars and choreographers Nathan and Edith Walley. When she was three years old, she made her first public appearance at Madison Square Garden. Walley attended Central High School in Bridgeport. In her teens, she decided to pursue a career in acting. At 14, she debuted on stage in a summer stock production of Charley's Aunt. During her sophomore year, Walley attended Rosarian Academy in West Palm Beach, Florida, where she was cast as Cinderella in a musical production at the Royal Poinciana Playhouse. She studied acting at New York City's American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Career Walley appeared on television in episodes of Naked City ("To Walk in Silence ") and Route 66 ("Ten Drops of Water"). Early film career Walley was discovered by agent Joyce Selznick while performing in a production of Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters, and she soon made her Hollywood film debut as Gidget in 1961's Gidget Goes Hawaiian. The film was popular and established Walley as a name among teenage fans and she won the Photoplay award for Favorite Female Newcomer. She was named Photoplay magazine's most popular actress of 1961. Disney hired Walley to play an ingenue in two comedies, Bon Voyage! (1962) and Summer Magic (1963), and she sang in the latter. She appeared in The Young Lovers (1964) for MGM. Walley signed a contract with American International Pictures, which cast her as a female lead in several comedies, all with Frankie Avalon and her husband John Ashley: Beach Blanket Bingo (1965), Ski Party (1965) and Sergeant Dead Head (1965). She sang in some of these films. Walley had a cameo role in Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine (1966) and was the female lead in the last AIP beach-party film, Ghost in the Invisible Bikini (1966), opposite Tommy Kirk. She reunited with Kirk for a beach-party film directed by Stephanie Rothman titled It's a Bikini World (filmed in 1965, released in 1967). She next appeared in the Elvis Presley film Spinout, followed by the lead role in the science-fiction film The Bubble (1966). Television Walley guest-starred on Burke's Law ("Who Killed Andy Zygmunt?"), The Greatest Show on Earth ("This Train Don't Stop