Gene Nelson was an American dancer, actor, screenwriter, and director. Born Leander Eugene Berg in Astoria, Oregon, his family 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.​

Filmography

• Murder, She Wrote — Louis Metcalf
• 1981S.O.B. — Clive Lytell
• Eischied — Director
• Salvage 1 — Director
• Shirley — Director
• Fantasy Island — Director
• The American Girls — Director
• The San Pedro Beach Bums — Director
• Quincy, M.E. — Director
• Starsky & Hutch — Director
• The Invisible Man — Director
• Get Christie Love! — Director
• 1973A Brand New Life — Harry
• Barnaby Jones — Director
• 1973The Letters — Director
• 1972Family Flight — Aircraft Carrier Captain
• Ghost Story — Steve
• The Rookies — Director
• The Streets of San Francisco
• Cannon — Director
• The Silent Force — Director
• Hawaii Five-O — Director
• 1969Wake Me When the War Is Over — Director, Producer
• Blondie — Director
• Lancer — Director
• The Mod Squad — Director
• Ironside — Director
• 1967The Cool Ones — Director
• Felony Squad — Director
• Star Trek — Director
• 1966Where's Everett? — Director
• F Troop — Director
• 1965Harum Scarum — Director
• I Dream of Jeannie — Director
• Laredo — Director
• The F.B.I. — Director
• 12 O'Clock High — Director
• 1964Archie — Director
• Destry — Director
• Gilligan's Island — Director
• 1964Kissin' Cousins — Director, Screenplay
• 1964Your Cheatin' Heart — Director
• Burke's Law — Rick Mason, Danny Swift, Director
• 1963Hootenanny Hoot! — Director
• The Farmer's Daughter — Director
• 1963Thunder Island — Billy Poole
• Vacation Playhouse — Director
• 1962Hand of Death — Director
• 196120,000 Eyes — Dan Warren
• 1961The Purple Hills — Gil Shepard
• The Andy Griffith Show — Director
• Black Saddle — Wickes
• Law of the Plainsman — Hardy O'Hara
• Men Into Space
• Philip Marlowe
• Rawhide
• The Detectives
• Bat Masterson — Whit Morrison
• The Donna Reed Show — Director
• The Rifleman — Director
• Have Gun, Will Travel
• Maverick — Jim Hazlit
• 1955Dial 999 — Greg Carradine
• Gunsmoke — Hob Cannon, Foss, Hutch
• Matinee Theater
• 1955Oklahoma! — Will Parker
• The Millionaire — Lt. Steven Q. Forrest
• 1955Timeslip — Mike Delaney
• Climax! — Jess Shepard
• 1954So This Is Paris — Al Howard
• 1953Crime Wave — Steve Lacey
• General Electric Theater
• 1953She's Back on Broadway — Gordon Evans
• 1953Three Sailors and a Girl — Twitch
• 1952She's Working Her Way Through College — Don Weston
• Hallmark Hall of Fame — Robert
• 1951Lullaby of Broadway — Tom Farnham
• 1951Painting the Clouds with Sunshine — Ted
• Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
• 1951Starlift — Gene Nelson
• 1950Tea for Two — Tommy Trainor
• 1950The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady — Doug Martin
• 1950The West Point Story — Hal Courtland
• Your Show of Shows
• 1948Apartment for Peggy — Jerry (uncredited)
• Studio One — Trout
• 1948The Walls of Jericho — Legal Assistant
• 1947I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now — Tommy Yale
• 1943This Is the Army — Soldier (uncredited)
• 1939Everything Happens at Night — Skater
• 1939Second Fiddle — Minor Role

Appearances as themselves (7)

• The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson — Self
• The Mike Douglas Show — Self
• The Bell Telephone Hour — Self
• The Rosemary Clooney Show — Self
• The Steve Allen Show — Self - Dancer
• The Colgate Comedy Hour — Self
• The Ed Sullivan Show — Self