Garden Party
Early May 1973 - Ken Mansfield (center), manager of Apple Record’s USA division, hosted a party in Malibu Canyon celebrating the launch of his new business venture: Hometown Productions. Ken Mansfield shown here posing with his guests Rick & Kris Nelson and Pattie & George Harrison. George left his recording session in Los Angeles early and drove an hour out to Malibu to attend Ken’s party where some of the celebrity guests found it hard to keep their cool in the presence of a Beatle! Celebrity guests included Waylon Jennings, Claudine Longet, Rob Reiner, Penny Marshall, Mal Evans and actor Leonard Nimoy - who served as photographer for the event. George left early to return to the recording studio and Pattie stayed to enjoy the party. Ken Mansfield wrote in his book that he “thought [Pattie] was the single-most beautiful woman on planet Earth."
Photo published in Ken Mansfield’s 2007 book, The White Book (in which the photo is full page size and tinted blue). Source of scan is the Something About Pattie Boyd group at Yahoo!
RIP Kris Nelson
The lovely Kris Nelson died recently at age 72 of a heart attack. Sharon Kristin Harmon, born June 25, 1945 - died April 27, 2018, was the daughter of football great Tom Harmon and model Elyse Knox. Her famous siblings are actor Mark Harmon and model Kelly Harmon. Kris married popular actor-musician Rick Nelson (1940-1985) at age 17 on April 20, 1963 and joined the Nelson family business appearing on their long running TV show The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet. Rick and Kris made a movie together, Love and Kisses, in 1965 (photos above). The couple had four children; actress Tracy Nelson; twin boys, the musicians Gunnar and Matthew Nelson; and youngest son Sam Nelson. After several rocky years Rick and Kris divorced in December 1982 and then tragically Rick perished in a plane crash while on tour December 31, 1985. Sadly Kris suffered from alcoholism and her brother Mark Harmon and his wife, actress Pam Dawber, sought custody of her youngest child Sam, who ultimately went to live with Kris’s parents for a while. Kris remarried in 1988 to director-producer Mark Tinker who encouraged her career as an artist. Former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy bought one of Kris’s paintings and she published an autobiography-art book, Out of My Mind, in 1997. Kris was divorced again in 2000. Tracy Nelson announced her mother’s death on Facebook in May 2018.
