A genial and all-around durable player, handsome, stocky-framed Barry Nelson was born Robert Haakon Nielsen on April 16, 1920, in Oakland, California, of Scandinavian heritage. He graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1941 and was almost immediately signed by MGM for films. Cast in earnest secondary roles including Shadow of the Thin Man and Dr. Kildare's Victory, he was assigned the lead in the war film A Yank on the Burma Road. The Moss Hart play "Winged Victory" would be his Broadway debut in 1943 and a year later he appeared as "Corporal Barry Nelson" in the 1944 film version of the play. He lost a bit of ground in the postwar years but made up for it on the live stage, appearing in a string of New York successes including "The Rat Race" and "The Moon Is Blue." On TV, in addition to appearing in such drama series as Alfred Hitchcock Presents and a memorable episode of Twilight Zone, he starred in the series The Hunter, a Cold War adventure, and My Favorite Husband, in which he played the level-headed mate and "straight man" to daffy blonde Joan Caulfield. In the 1960s he continued to demonstrate his acting muscle but not so much in films, although he did appear in the film version of his stage hit "Mary, Mary" ('Debbie Reynolds' replaced his co-star on stage Barbara Bel Geddes), but it was not favorably received. The lightweight play "Cactus Flower" with Lauren Bacall was another bright spot for Nelson, but Walter Matthau's star power won him the film role. Through it all he remained a solid professional in standard TV movie viewing, such as his neighbor/undercover agent to criminals-on-the-run Don Murray and Inger Stevens in The Borgia Stick and blind plane crash survivor in Seven in Darkness. The 1970s was a very good decade for him theater-wise with "Seascape," "The Norman Conquests" and Liza Minnelli's "The Act" among the pleasures. Despite co-starring roles in the blockbuster hit Airport and comedy Pete 'n' Tillie, film would not become his strong suit in later years. A popular, clean-cut, down-to-earth charmer, you just couldn't help but like Barry Nelson. An all-around "average Joe," he played the kind of guy you would love to have as your neighbor. Divorced from actress Teresa Celli and retired now, he and wife Nancy travel extensively these days antique shopping.
He was the first person to play James Bond in a visual sense (others have played him on radio); he appeared as "Card Sharp Jimmy Bond" in an American TV adaptation of "Casino Royale". Was nominated for Broadway's 1978 Tony Award as Best Actor (Musical) for "The Act." He and wife Nancy have homes both in New York and France.