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Barry Nelson (April 16, 1917 – April 7, 2007) was an American actor, noted as the first actor to portray Ian Fleming's secret agent James Bond. Nelson was born Robert Haakon Nielsen in San Francisco, California, of Norwegian ancestry, the son of Betsy (née Christophsen) and Trygve Nielsen. (His year of birth has been reported variously, but his 1943 Army enlistment record and his 1993 voter registration records certify 1917 as the correct year of his birth.) He began acting in school at the age of fifteen. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1941 and, because of... MORE

Barry Nelson (April 16, 1917 – April 7, 2007) was an American actor, noted as the first actor to portray Ian Fleming's secret agent James Bond. Nelson was born Robert Haakon Nielsen in San Francisco, California, of Norwegian ancestry, the son of Betsy (née Christophsen) and Trygve Nielsen. (His year of birth has been reported variously, but his 1943 Army enlistment record and his 1993 voter registration records certify 1917 as the correct year of his birth.) He began acting in school at the age of fifteen. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1941 and, because of his theatrical efforts in school, was almost immediately signed to a motion picture contract by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios. As an MGM contract player, Nelson made his screen debut in the role as Paul Clark in Shadow of the Thin Man (1941) starring William Powell and Myrna Loy, with Donna Reed. He followed that with his role as Lew Rankin in the film noir crime/drama Johnny Eager (1942) starring Robert Taylor and Lana Turner.He played the lead in an MGM second feature war film A Yank on the Burma Road. (1942) During his military service in World War II, Nelson debuted on the Broadway stage in one of LESS