Biography

Gene Nelson was barely a teen when he saw the Fred Astaire movie Flying Down to Rio (1933), which would change his life. It was then that he decided he would be a dancer. After graduating from high school, Nelson joined the Sonja Henie Ice Show and toured for 3 years before joining the Army in World War II. After he was discharged, he appeared in a handful of movies before 1950. He worked with Debbie Reynolds in The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady (1950), Doris Day in Tea for Two (1950) and Virginia Mayo in She's Working Her Way Through College (1952). He would be best known for his role of cowboy Will Parker in Oklahoma! (1955), where he would twirl the lasso to the tune of "Kansas City".

After his dancing days ended he turned to directing TV and films, including two Elvis Presley movies, Kissin' Cousins (1964) and Harum Scarum (1965). For television he directed episodes of I Dream of Jeannie (1965), Star Trek (1966), The Rifleman (1958), The Donna Reed Show (1958) and many others.
- IMDb mini biography by: Tony Fontana <tony.fontana@spacebbs.com> (qv's & corrections by A. Nonymous)

It's always the dancer who has to work overtime when nobody else does. I would say that 25% of the Broadway shows that have ever been done have been saved by dancers. Just think about it; if not saved, at least heightened.

Film is a marvelous medium for dancing. The sky's the limit. You can do wonderfully imaginative things with film. It's like being a magician. In my heyday, I could only do about four pirouettes without starting to fall, but with film, I could do a dozen by cutting and editing. The magic of film is that you can create anything you want.

I was happier directing than I've ever been doing anything else. That form of creativity is very rewarding and I liked it a lot. Both careers were incomplete. I feel unfulfilled in either one. I didn't become the star I wanted to be.