Biography
Born Leander Eugene Berg on 24 March 1920 in Seattle, Washington, Gene Nelson died of cancer on 16 September 1996 in Woodland Hills, California. An actor, director, and athletic dancer whose style recalled Gene Kelly, he appeared in numerous hit musicals throughout the 1950s. Raised in Los Angeles, he trained at the celebrated Fanchon and Marco dancing school. Upon finishing high school at eighteen he took up ice-skating, performed with Sonja Henie’s touring company, and was featured in two of her pictures, Second Fiddle and Everything Happens At Night.
Early in World War II he enlisted in the US Signals Corps and joined the cast of Irving Berlin’s wartime revue This Is The Army, which reached Broadway in 1942, was filmed, and subsequently toured military installations worldwide. After his discharge Nelson arrived in Hollywood in 1947 and co-starred with June Haver in the musical I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now. While headlining the successful 1949 Broadway revue Lend An Ear he was spotted by a Warner Brothers scout. Following a supporting part in The Daughter Of Rosie O’Grady he received a long-term contract and the third lead opposite Doris Day and Gordon MacRae in Tea For Two (1950). He remained at the studio for a succession of musicals that included The West Point Story, Lullaby Of Broadway—his first starring vehicle, again opposite Doris Day—Painting The Clouds With Sunshine, She’s Working Her Way Through College, She’s Back On Broadway, Three Sailors And A Girl, So This Is Paris, and Oklahoma! (1955), in which he delivered his strongest performance and two standout numbers, “Kansas City” and “All Er Nothin’,” the latter shared with Gloria Grahame as Ado Annie.
Television work occupied Nelson in the late 1950s until a horse-riding accident curtailed his dancing career for a time. He moved into directing and, during the 1960s, helmed several melodramas plus two Elvis Presley vehicles, Kissin’ Cousins—which he also co-wrote—and Harum Scarum. He likewise directed Your Cheatin’ Heart, the screen biography of country singer Hank Williams. In 1971 he returned to Broadway, appearing alongside Yvonne De Carlo and Alexis Smith in Stephen Sondheim’s Follies; as Buddy Plummer he performed the rapid-fire “Buddy’s Blues.” Directing assignments continued through the 1970s and 1980s, chiefly for television, among them the acclaimed series Washington Behind Closed Doors. In 1993 Nelson staged a regional American production of Richard Harris’s comedy Stepping Out.
Early in World War II he enlisted in the US Signals Corps and joined the cast of Irving Berlin’s wartime revue This Is The Army, which reached Broadway in 1942, was filmed, and subsequently toured military installations worldwide. After his discharge Nelson arrived in Hollywood in 1947 and co-starred with June Haver in the musical I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now. While headlining the successful 1949 Broadway revue Lend An Ear he was spotted by a Warner Brothers scout. Following a supporting part in The Daughter Of Rosie O’Grady he received a long-term contract and the third lead opposite Doris Day and Gordon MacRae in Tea For Two (1950). He remained at the studio for a succession of musicals that included The West Point Story, Lullaby Of Broadway—his first starring vehicle, again opposite Doris Day—Painting The Clouds With Sunshine, She’s Working Her Way Through College, She’s Back On Broadway, Three Sailors And A Girl, So This Is Paris, and Oklahoma! (1955), in which he delivered his strongest performance and two standout numbers, “Kansas City” and “All Er Nothin’,” the latter shared with Gloria Grahame as Ado Annie.
Television work occupied Nelson in the late 1950s until a horse-riding accident curtailed his dancing career for a time. He moved into directing and, during the 1960s, helmed several melodramas plus two Elvis Presley vehicles, Kissin’ Cousins—which he also co-wrote—and Harum Scarum. He likewise directed Your Cheatin’ Heart, the screen biography of country singer Hank Williams. In 1971 he returned to Broadway, appearing alongside Yvonne De Carlo and Alexis Smith in Stephen Sondheim’s Follies; as Buddy Plummer he performed the rapid-fire “Buddy’s Blues.” Directing assignments continued through the 1970s and 1980s, chiefly for television, among them the acclaimed series Washington Behind Closed Doors. In 1993 Nelson staged a regional American production of Richard Harris’s comedy Stepping Out.
Albums
