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Barry Nelson

Barry Nelson built the kind of career that could move comfortably between a Broadway stage, a live television studio and a Hollywood set. Born in San Francisco in 1917 to Norwegian immigrant parents, he took leading roles in school plays in Oakland before studying at UC Berkeley. While performing in student theatre, he helped cover his tuition by acting on San Francisco radio programs. Nelson made his screen debut as Paul Clark in MGM’s Shadow of the Thin Man (1941), alongside William Powell, Myrna Loy and Donna Reed. Johnny Eager followed in 1942, but film was only one part of his working life. During his service in the United States Army Air Forces in World War II, he made his Broadway debut in Moss Hart’s Winged Victory. Later stage roles included Light Up the Sky, The Moon Is Blue, Cactus Flower and The Act, for which he received a 1978 Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical. His most curious place in screen history came in 1954, when he became the first actor to play James Bond on screen. The live Climax! adaptation of Casino Royale presented Bond as an American agent sometimes called “Jimmy,” with Peter Lorre playing Le Chiffre. The production preceded Sean Connery’s Dr. No by eight years and was long believed lost before a kinescope emerged in the 1980s. Television remained a steady part of Nelson’s career. He starred as Johnathon Banner in 39 episodes of Hudson’s Bay and appeared in series including Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Ben Casey, Dr. Kildare and The Twilight Zone. He was also a familiar presence on panel shows such as What’s My Line? and To Tell the Truth. For many movie viewers, Nelson is best known as Stuart Ullman, the composed manager of the Overlook Hotel in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980). It is a controlled, credible performance that reflects the naturalistic quality his agent Francis Delduca later identified in Nelson’s work. His final Broadway appearance came as Julian Marsh in 42nd Street in 1986, closing a career shaped by unusual range rather than a single defining lane.