Gene Nelson

Born: 1920-03-24

Gene Nelson was an American dancer, actor, screenwriter, and director. Born Leander Eugene Berg in Astoria, Oregon, he moved to Seattle when he was a year old. He was inspired to become a dancer by watching Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers when he was a child. After serving in the Army during World War II during which he also performed in the musical This Is the Army, Nelson landed his first Broadway role in Lend an Ear, for which he received the Theatre World Award. He also appeared onstage in Follies, which garnered him a Tony Award nomination, and Good News. Nelson's longtime professional dance partner during the 1950s was actress JoAnn Dean Killingsworth. Gene Nelson co-starred with Doris Day in "Lullaby of Broadway" in 1951. He played Will Parker in the film Oklahoma! In 1959, he appeared in Northwest Passage as a young man trying to prove his innocence in a murder case. Nelson appeared on the March 17, 1960 episode of "You Bet Your Life", hosted by Groucho Marx. He and Groucho's daughter, Melinda, performed a dance number together. Nelson directed eight episodes of The Rifleman in the 1961-62 season, the original Star Trek, the first season of I Dream of Jeannie, Gunsmoke, The Silent Force, and The San Pedro Beach Bums. He directed the Elvis Presley films Kissin' Cousins, which screenplay he wrote, and Harum Scarum. For the Kissin' Cousins screenplay he received a WGA award nomination for best written musical. He later taught in the Theater Arts Department at San Francisco State University in the late 1980s. He starred as Buddy in the 1971 Broadway musical Follies, for which he received a 1972 Tony Award nomination for Featured Actor In A Musical. The production featured a score by Stephen Sondheim and was co-directed by Michael Bennett and Harold Prince. For contribution to the motion picture industry, in 1990, Nelson was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Nelson's star is located at 7005 Hollywood Boulevard. Description above from the Wikipedia article Gene Nelson, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.​


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Oklahoma!

as Will Parker
Released: 1955-10-10

In the Oklahoma territory at the turn of the twentieth century, two young cowboys vie with a...

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Tea for Two

as Tommy Trainor
Released: 1950-09-01

In this reworking of "No, No, Nanette," wealthy heiress Nanette Carter bets her uncle $25,000...

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S.O.B.

as Clive Lytell
Released: 1981-07-01

A movie producer who made a huge flop tries to salvage his career by revamping his film as an...

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This Is the Army

as Soldier (uncredited)
Released: 1943-08-14

In WW I dancer Jerry Jones stages an all-soldier show on Broadway, called Yip Yip Yaphank....

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Crime Wave

as Steve Lacey
Released: 1953-10-22

Reformed parolee Steve Lacey is caught in the middle when a wounded former cellmate seeks him...

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Starlift

as Gene Nelson
Released: 1951-12-14

To impress a movie star, a U.S. Air Force crewman pretends he is soon to see combat. When his...

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The Walls of Jericho

as Legal Assistant
Released: 1948-11-22

In a small town in Kansas, a county attorney in an unhappy marriage falls in love with another...

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Lullaby of Broadway

as Tom Farnham
Released: 1951-03-26

Pretty Melinda Howard has been abroad singing with a musical troupe. She decides to return home...

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Three Sailors and a Girl

as Twitch
Released: 1953-11-23

A group of sailors invest in a musical revue.

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She's Working Her Way Through College

as Don Weston
Released: 1952-07-09

Shapely burlesque dancer Hot Garters Gertie aka Angela Gardner meets her future drama professor....

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Apartment for Peggy

as Jerry (uncredited)
Released: 1948-09-30

Professor Henry Barnes decides he's lived long enough and contemplates suicide. His attitude is...

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The West Point Story

as Hal Courtland
Released: 1950-11-25

A Broadway director helps the West Point cadets put on a show, aided by two lovely ladies and...

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Painting The Clouds With Sunshine

as Ted
Released: 1951-10-10

The story of three gold-digging ladies searching for millionaires. A loose remake of Gold...

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Second Fiddle

as Minor Role
Released: 1939-06-30

Studio publicist discovers Minnesota skating teacher and takes her to Hollywood. She goes back...

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Family Flight

as Aircraft Carrier Captain
Released: 1972-10-25

A bitterly divided family is forced to cooperate when their holiday plane crash-lands in the...

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Thunder Island

as Billy Poole
Released: 1963-08-24

A hit man hijacks a boat — and the married couple aboard — in order to carry out a contract on a...

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So This Is Paris

as Al Howard
Released: 1954-12-15

Three sailors on leave head for Paris with one thing on their minds.

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The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady

as Doug Martin
Released: 1950-04-29

An Irish horsecar driver's daughter meets New York showman Tony Pastor and goes into vaudeville.

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20,000 Eyes

as Dan Warren
Released: 1961-06-14

An investment counselor turns jewel thief when the gangster he embezzled funds from demands to...

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Timeslip

as Mike Delaney
Released: 1955-11-01

An atomic scientist is found floating in a river with a bullet in his back and a radioactive...

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Everything Happens at Night

as Skater
Released: 1939-12-22

Two reporters compete to discover a scientist living in hiding and win his daughter.

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I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now

as Tommy Yale
Released: 1947-07-31

A biopic of the career of Joe Howard (12 Feb.,1878 - 19 May, 1961), famous songwriter of the...

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A Brand New Life

as Harry
Released: 1973-02-20

After 18 years of marriage, a middle-aged couple has to face the prospect of having their first...

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She's Back on Broadway

as Gordon Evans
Released: 1953-03-14

When Catherine Terris's career in Hollywood hits the skids, she heads back to the site of her...

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Dial 999

as Greg Carradine
Released: 1955-12-01

A man tells his wife that the police are after him for having killed a bookie during an...

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The Purple Hills

as Gil Shepard
Released: 1961-10-31

When a bounty hunter kills an outlaw for the reward, he has to deal with both a man falsely...

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The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

as Self
First aired: 1962-10-01

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under The Tonight...

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Murder, She Wrote

as Louis Metcalf
First aired: 1984-09-30

An unassuming mystery writer turned sleuth uses her professional insight to help solve real-life...

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Burke's Law

as Rick Mason
First aired: 1963-09-20

Burke's Law is an American detective series that ran on ABC from 1963 to 1965 and was revived on...

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Burke's Law

as Danny Swift
First aired: 1963-09-20

Burke's Law is an American detective series that ran on ABC from 1963 to 1965 and was revived on...

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Have Gun, Will Travel

as uncredited
First aired: 1957-09-14

Have Gun – Will Travel is an American Western television series that aired on CBS from 1957...

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Ironside

as uncredited
First aired: 1967-03-28

When an assassin's bullet confines him to a wheelchair for life ending his career as Chief of...

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The Colgate Comedy Hour

as Self
First aired: 1950-09-10

The Colgate Comedy Hour is an American comedy-musical variety series that aired live on the NBC...

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The Steve Allen Show

as Self - Dancer
First aired: 1956-06-24

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The Ed Sullivan Show

as Self
First aired: 1948-06-20

The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June...

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The Ed Sullivan Show

as Self - Actor
First aired: 1948-06-20

The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June...

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The Streets of San Francisco

as uncredited
First aired: 1972-09-23

Two police officers, the older Lt. Stone and the young upstart Inspector Keller, investigate...

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Ghost Story

as Steve
First aired: 1972-09-15

Ghost Story is an American television anthology series that aired for one season on NBC from...

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The Mod Squad

as uncredited
First aired: 1968-09-24

The Mod Squad was the enormously successful groundbreaking "hippie" undercover cop show that ran...

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Your Show of Shows

as uncredited
First aired: 1950-02-25

Your Show of Shows was a live 90-minute variety show that was broadcast weekly in the United...

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Law of the Plainsman

as Hardy O'Hara
First aired: 1959-10-01

Law of the Plainsman is a Western television series starring Michael Ansara that aired on the...

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Men into Space

as uncredited
First aired: 1959-09-30

Men Into Space is an American science-fiction television series broadcast from September 30,...

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Matinee Theater

as uncredited
First aired: 1955-10-31

Matinee Theater is an American anthology series that aired on NBC during the Golden Age of...

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Climax!

as Jess Shepard
First aired: 1954-10-07

Climax! is an American anthology series that aired on CBS from 1954 to 1958. The series was...

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Maverick

as Jim Hazlit
First aired: 1957-09-22

Maverick is an American Western television series with comedic overtones created by Roy Huggins....

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Studio One

as Trout
First aired: 1948-11-07

An American radio–television anthology series, created in 1947 by Canadian director Fletcher...

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Hallmark Hall of Fame

as Robert
First aired: 1951-12-24

Hallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark...

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Bat Masterson

as Whit Morrison
First aired: 1958-10-08

Bat Masterson is an American Western television series which showed a fictionalized account of...

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The Detectives

as uncredited
First aired: 1959-10-16

The Detectives is an American crime drama series which ran on ABC during its first two seasons,...

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Rawhide

as uncredited
First aired: 1959-01-09

The tale of trail boss Gil Favor and his trusty foreman Rowdy Yates as they drives cattle across...

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Black Saddle

as Wickes
First aired: 1959-01-10

Black Saddle is an American Western television series starring Peter Breck that aired 44...

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Gunsmoke

as Hob Cannon
First aired: 1955-09-10

Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman...

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Gunsmoke

as Foss
First aired: 1955-09-10

Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman...

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Gunsmoke

as Hutch
First aired: 1955-09-10

Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman...

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Schlitz Playhouse of Stars

as uncredited
First aired: 1951-10-05

Schlitz Playhouse of Stars is an anthology series that was telecast from 1951 until 1959 on CBS....

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The Millionaire

as Lt. Steven Q. Forrest
First aired: 1955-01-19

An anthology series that explored the ways sudden and unexpected wealth changed life for better...

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General Electric Theater

as uncredited
First aired: 1953-02-01

General Electric Theater is an American anthology series hosted by Ronald Reagan that was...

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Philip Marlowe

as uncredited
First aired: 1959-10-06

Philip Marlowe is a 1959-1960 half-hour ABC crime series, featuring Philip Carey as Marlowe, the...

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