Barry Nelson

At 89 years old, Barry Nelson has this physical status:

Barry Nelson (born Robert Haakon Nielsen, 1917-2007), the first American actor to play Ian Fleming's spies James Bond.

Early life

Nelson was born in San Francisco, the son of Norwegian immigrants Besy (née Christophersen) and Trygve Nielsen. His year of birth has been controversial, but on both his 1943 Army enlistment and his 1993 voter registration numbers, he was listed as 1917.

Personal life

Nelson was married twice: first to actress Teresa Celli, from whom he was divorced in 1951 (according to his New York Times obituary), and then to Nansilee ("Nansi") Hoy, to whom he was married until his death.

Nelson and his second wife divided their time between New York and France.

Nelson died on April 7, 2007, while travelling in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, nine days before his 90th birthday.

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Career

Nelson made his film debut in the role as Paul Clark in Shadow of the Thin Man (1941), starring William Powell and Myrna Loy with Donna Reed. He continued his career as Lew Rankin in the film noir Johnny Eager (1942), starring Robert Taylor and Lana Turner.

Nelson appeared in Moss Hart's play Winged Victory (1943) in the role of Bobby Grills during his time in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. In Hart's Light Up the Sky (1948), Peter Sloan, playwright, appeared in his next Broadway appearance. In the original Broadway revival of The Moon Is Blue, he appeared on Broadway with Barbara Bel Geddes. He appeared in The Hunter, a CBS half-hour drama that premiered in July 1952. Bart Adams, a wealthy young American whose company interests brought him together in a string of adventures, was his role. He appeared with Lauren Bacall in The Abe Burrows Comedy Cactus Flower in 1965 and with Dorothy Loudon in The Fig Leaves Are Falling in 1969. In The Rat Race (1949), Nelson appeared in another Broadway role, Gus Hammer's.

In a 1954 version of Ian Fleming's book Casino Royale on the television anthology series Climax, he was the first actor to play James Bond on film. (preceding Sean Connery's interpretation in Dr. No by eight years.) This was, according to reports, a pilot for a new James Bond television series, but it's unclear if Nelson intended to keep playing the role. In the program "Jimmy," Nelson portrayed James Bond as an American agent. "No one had ever heard of James Bond at the time," Nelson said, "I was scratching my head wondering how to play it." Because it wasn't well-known, I hadn't read the book or something similar. Bond did not become well-known in the United States until President John F. Kennedy included From Russia, With Love, as one of his ten favorite books in a Life article published on March 17, 1961.

Peter Lorre was also named Le Chiffre, the main villain on the program. Nelson later stated that it was because of the opportunity to work with Lorre that he accepted the position. The production was believed to be lost before a kinescope was invented in the 1980s, although it was originally broadcast live. It was a hit on home video and is now available on DVD as a bonus feature with the book's 1967 film version.

Nelson appeared in 39 episodes of Hudson's Bay in 1959, starring Johnathon Banner.

In "Threat of Evil," a 1960 episode of The DuPont Show with June Allyson, Nelson appeared as Grant Decker. His additional television appearances include guest appearances on Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Ben Casey, The Twilight Zone (episode "Stopover in a Quiet Town"), Dr. Kildare, and, in later years, he appeared on an episode of The Ropers. Having been one of the What's My Line? On this famous CBS quiz show, mystery guests will appear as a guest panelist and then as a host panelist. Nelson served as a semi-regular panelist on the daytime and nighttime versions of To Tell the Truth for three years, as well as a guest panelist a few times in 1967. Nelson was second most often on the daytime show in the three years he was a semi-regular. He hosted portions of the NBC Radio show Monitor. In both the stage and film versions of Mary, Mary, Nelson appeared.

In addition to acting as Joe, he supervised The Only Game in Town, a 1968 film. In 1978, he was nominated for the Best Actor in a Musical for his role as Dan Connors in the Broadway musical The Act (1977) with Liza Minnelli. Julian Marsh appeared on Broadway for the final time (1986).

"He was a very realistic, believable actor," his handler, Francis Delduca, said. "He was good at both comedy and serious stuff."

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