Robert Haakon Nielsen (April 16, 1917 – April 7, 2007), known as Barry Nelson, was an American stage, film, and television actor. He is noted as the first actor to portray Ian Fleming's secret agent James Bond, in the 1954 American television adaptation of Casino Royale. He is also known for playing Stuart Ullman in Stanley Kubrick's 1980 psychological horror film The Shining. He was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for the Broadway musical The Act (1977).
Early life
Nelson was born in San Francisco, the son of Norwegian immigrants, Betsy (née Christophersen) and Trygve Nielsen. His year of birth has been subject to some debate, but is listed as 1917 on both his 1943 Army Air Forces enlistment record and his 1993 voter registration records. He attended high school in Oakland, California, having lead roles in school plays, and graduated from UC Berkeley in 1941, where he performed as an actor in student theatre productions. While there he earned part of his tuition expenses by acting on radio programs in San Francisco. He followed that with his role as Lew Rankin in the film noir Johnny Eager (1942) starring Robert Taylor and Lana Turner.
During his service in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II, Nelson debuted on the Broadway stage in Moss Hart's play Winged Victory (1943) in the role of Bobby Grills. His next Broadway appearance was as Peter Sloan, playwright, in Hart's Light Up the Sky (1948). He appeared on Broadway with Barbara Bel Geddes in the original Broadway production of The Moon Is Blue. During the play's run, he also starred in a CBS half-hour drama called The Hunter, premiering in July 1952. He played Bart Adams, a wealthy young American whose business activities involved him in a series of adventures. He also appeared with Lauren Bacall in the Abe Burrows comedy Cactus Flower in 1965
The program also featured Peter Lorre as Le Chiffre, the primary villain. Nelson later noted the opportunity to work with Lorre was the reason he took the role.
During the 1959 television series, Nelson starred in 39 episodes of Hudson's Bay, playing Johnathon Banner.
Nelson appeared as Grant Decker in "Threat of Evil", a 1960 episode of The DuPont Show with June Allyson. His additional television credits include guest appearances on Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Ben Casey, The Twilight Zone (episode "Stopover in a Quiet Town"), Dr. Kildare, and in later years playing a hobo on an episode of The Ropers. He appeared regularly on television in the 1960s, having been one of the What's My Line? mystery guests and later serving as a guest panelist on that popular CBS quiz show. Nelson was also a semi-regular panelist on the daytime and nighttime versions of To Tell the Truth for three years of its run from 1962 to 1965, as well as a guest panelist a few times in 1967. Nelson appeared second-most-frequently on the daytime show in the three years he was a semi-regular. He was one of the various hosts of the NBC Radio program Monitor during the mid-1960s. Nelson appeared in both the stage and screen versions of Mary, Mary.
Nelson and his second wife divided their time between homes in New York and France.
Death
Nelson died on April 7, 2007, while traveling in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, nine days before his 90th birthday.|| uncredited
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| rowspan=2| 1941 || Shadow of the Thin Man || Paul Clark ||
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| Johnny Eager || Lew Rankin ||
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| rowspan=5| 1942 || A Yank on the Burma Road|| Joe Tracey ||
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| Dr. Kildare's Victory || Samuel Z. Cutter ||
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| Rio Rita || Harry Gantley ||
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| The Affairs of Martha || Danny O'Brien ||
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| Eyes in the Night || Mr. Busch ||
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| rowspan=3| 1943 || The Human Comedy || Norman Dana (aka "Fat") ||
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| Bataan || F.X. Matowski ||
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| A Guy Named Joe || Dick Rumney ||
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| 1944 || Winged Victory || Robert Edward "Bobby" Crills ||
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| rowspan=2| 1947 || The Beginning or the End || Colonel Paul Tibbetts Jr. ||
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| Undercover Maisie || Lieutenant Paul Scott ||
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| rowspan=2| 1948 || Tenth Avenue Angel || Al Parker ||
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| Command Decision || Cumquat B-Baker crewman || voice, uncredited
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| 1951 || The Man with My Face || Charles "Chick" Graham / Albert "Bert" Rand ||
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| 1956 || The First Traveling Saleslady || Charles Masters ||
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| 1963 || Mary, Mary || Bob McKellaway ||
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| 1967 || The Borgia Stick || Hal Carter || TV movie
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| 1969 || Seven in Darkness || Alex Swain || TV movie
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| 1970 || Airport || Captain Anson Harris ||
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| 1971 || My Wives Jane || Nat Franklin || TV movie
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| rowspan=2| 1972 || Pete 'n' Tillie || Burt ||
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| Climb an Angry Mountain || Lieutenant Frank Bryant || TV movie
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| 1974 || Fools, Females and Fun || Dr. David Markham || TV movie
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| rowspan=2| 1980 || The Shining || Stuart Ullman ||
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| Island Claws || Dr. McNeal ||
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| 1982 || Poltergeist || Actor on television || uncredited final film role
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Television
- Suspense – Episodes: "The Guy from Nowhere", "A Pocketful of Murder", "The Gentleman from America", "My Old Man's Badge" (1950); "Dead Fall", "Tough Cop" (1951)
- The Hunter – Bart Adams (1952)
- My Favorite Husband – George Cooper (1953–1955)
- Climax! – James Bond – Episode: "Casino Royale" (1954); Dick Milton – Episode: "The Push-Button Giant" (1958)
- Hudson's Bay – Jonathan Banner (1959)
- Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1959) (Season 4 Episode 27: "The Waxwork") – Raymond Houston
- The Twilight Zone (1964) (Episode: "Stopover in a Quiet Town") Bob Frazier
- The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1964) (Season 2 Episode 20: "Anyone for Murder?") – Dr. James Parkerson
- The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1964) (Season 3 Episode 8: "Misadventure") – Colin
- Thriller (1974) (Episode: "Ring Once for Death") - Hugo Fane
- Washington: Behind Closed Doors (1977) - Bob Bailey
- The Ropers (1979) (Episode: "The Skeleton") - Uncle Bill
- Taxi (1981) (Episode: "Mr. Personalities") - Dr. Jeffries
- Magnum, PI (1982) (Episode: "Double Jeopardy") - Knox
- Murder, She Wrote (1989) (Episode: "Mourning Among the Wisterias") – Eugene McClenden
References
External links
- (as Pvt. Barry Nelson)
- (as Barry Nelson)