Ralph Nelson

Director

About

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Also Known As

R. W. Nelson

Birth Place

Long Island City, New York, USA

Born

August 12, 1916

Died

December 21, 1987

Cause of Death

Cancer

Biography

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Theater actor and director who began working in TV in the 1950s and made his feature debut with "Requiem for a Heavyweight" (1962), the film version of a Rod Serling teleplay he had previously directed. Divorced from actress Celeste Holm....

Filmography

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You Can't Go Home Again (1979)

Christmas Lilies of the Field (1979)

Lady of the House (1978)

A Hero Ain't Nothin' But A Sandwich (1977)

The Wilby Conspiracy (1975)

Photos & Videos

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Once A Thief (1965) -- (Movie Clip) He's Going Back

Once A Thief (1965) -- (Movie Clip) Can I Sit In The Rumble Seat?

Family & Companions

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Celeste Holm

Wife

Actor. Divorced.

Notes

He was a fighter pilot in Air Force during WWII.

He received a Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Columbia University.

Biography

Theater actor and director who began working in TV in the 1950s and made his feature debut with "Requiem for a Heavyweight" (1962), the film version of a Rod Serling teleplay he had previously directed. Divorced from actress Celeste Holm.

Filmography

Director (Feature Film)

You Can't Go Home Again (1979)

Christmas Lilies of the Field (1979)

Lady of the House (1978)

A Hero Ain't Nothin' But A Sandwich (1977)

The Wilby Conspiracy (1975)

The Wrath of God (1972)

Flight of the Doves (1971)

Soldier Blue (1970)

...tick...tick...tick... (1970)

Counterpoint (1968)

Duel at Diablo (1966)

Once a Thief (1965)

Fate Is the Hunter (1964)

Father Goose (1964)

Soldier in the Rain (1963)

Lilies of the Field (1963)

Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962)

Cast (Feature Film)

Soldier Blue (1970)

Convention speaker

Counterpoint (1968)

Belgian officer

Lilies of the Field (1963)

Cinematography (Feature Film)

Friday Night Lights (2004)

Stills Photographer

Writer (Feature Film)

Christmas Lilies of the Field (1979)

The Wrath of God (1972)

Written for Screen by

Flight of the Doves (1971)

Producer (Feature Film)

Christmas Lilies of the Field (1979)

Executive Producer

Flight of the Doves (1971)

...tick...tick...tick... (1970)

Duel at Diablo (1966)

Lilies of the Field (1963)

The Loves of Carmen (1948)

Associate Producer

Art Department (Feature Film)

Aliens Are Coming (1980)

Film Production - Main (Feature Film)

Bahama Passage (1941)

Assistant prod Manager

Christmas in July (1940)

The Great McGinty (1940)

You and Me (1938)

Production Companies (Feature Film)

Duel at Diablo (1966)

Director (Special)

The Jazz Singer (1959)

Cinderella (1957)

Cinematography (Special)

Camera Operator

Cast (Short)

The Background Beat (1965)

Life Events

Videos

Once A Thief (1965) -- (Movie Clip) He's Going Back First scene for Van Heflin as San Francisco police inspector Vido and his partner (Steve Mitchell), at the scene of a murder and holdup (conducted by, we’ll soon learn, Alain Delon), revealing some history and tangling with his boss (Jeff Corey), in director Ralph Nelson’s Once A Thief, 1965.

Once A Thief (1965) -- (Movie Clip) Can I Sit In The Rumble Seat? First scene in which we can identify Alain Delon as Eddie, pretty-well confirming he committed a holdup and murder, followed by the cops, collecting his daughter (Tammy Locke) and wife Ann-Margret, who relates a memory that sure seems to refer to her own Swedish father, early in Once A Thief, 1965.

Once A Thief (1965) -- (Movie Clip) I Don't Need You San Francisco ex-con Eddie (Alain Delon), who we know is committing armed robberies on his own, nonetheless pushes back when his gangster brother Walter (Jack Palance), with his hoodlum sidekick (John Davis Chandler), offers him a job, pleasing Eddie’s wife (Ann-Margret), in Once A Thief, 1965.

Lilies Of The Field (1963) -- (Movie Clip) God Sets A Mighty Poor Table We still don’t know much about Homer Smith (Sidney Poitier), maybe an itinerant handyman in Arizona, except that he wanted to be paid, rather than be asked to stay to dinner with the band of European nuns, led by Lilia Skala as Mother Maria, early in Lilies Of The Field, 1963.

Flight Of The Doves (1971) -- (Movie Clip) Always Going On About Ireland Opening introduces Jack Wild as Finn and Helen Raye as younger sister Derval, their idyll interrupted by their comical mean stepfather whom they call “Uncle” Toby (William Rushton), in director Ralph Nelson’s Flight Of The Doves, 1971, from the story by Walter Macken, co-starring Ron Moody.

Flight Of The Doves (1971) -- (Movie Clip) If The Children Are Not Found Introduced in legal papers in the previous scene as the sole rival to the orphan kid heroes for their grandfather’s legacy, Ron Moody (known for playing Fagin in Oliver!, 1968), appears as night club actor “Hawk” Dove, doing a Jekyll & Hyde routine, early in Flight Of The Doves, 1971.

Flight Of The Doves (1971) -- (Movie Clip) You Don't Have To Be Irish To Be Irish Just fanfare, Ralph Nelson directing, also credited with the lyric as Alph Elson, the music by composer Roy Budd, young stars Jack Wild and Helen Raye romping with local extras and bands, shooting at Phoenix Park in Dublin, in Flight Of The Doves, 1971.

Flight Of The Doves (1971) -- (Movie Clip) We Might Have Made It Disguised now in opposite genders, English runaways Finn and Derval (Jack Wild, Helen Raye) have evaded capture again but think they’re done for and will never reach their Irish grandmother, when good fortune strikes, Dorothy McGuire greeting them, near the climax in Flight Of The Doves, 1971.

Flight Of The Doves (1971) -- (Movie Clip) The Far Off Place English runaways Finn and Derval (Jack Wild, Helen Raye) captured by friendly Irish tinkers, Barry Keegan and as his daughter, Dana, the English-born Irish pop singer who had just won the Eurovision Song Contest, her song here by prodigy Roy Budd and Brendan O’Dbuil, in Flight Of The Doves, 1971.

Father Goose (1964) -- (Movie Clip) Open, Pass Me By Opening with an an original song by Cy Coleman and Caroline Leigh (which became a hit for Peggy Lee), a rough Cary Grant is introduced as the title character, then Jack Good and Trevor Howard as British officers evacuating Papua, New Guinea, ca. 1942, Ralph Nelson directing Father Goose, 1964, co-starring Leslie Caron.

Father Goose (1964) -- (Movie Clip) Thanks For Volunteering British officer Houghton (Trevor Howard), with aide Stebbins (Jack Good) tricking Papua, New Guinea American layabout Walter (Cary Grant, title character) into using his pilfered yacht to become a coast-watcher, observing the 1942 Japanese invasion, in Father Goose, 1964, co-starring Leslie Caron.

Father Goose (1964) -- (Movie Clip) If You're Waiting For The Big Finalè... Sent to a neighboring island seeking a fellow WWII shore-watcher, Cary Grant as booze-seeking Walter (title character) unexpectedly found a French teacher (Leslie Caron) and her charges, as he now explains to Cmdr. Houghton (Trevor Howard) his British overseer, in Father Goose, 1964.

Requiem for a Heavyweight - (Original Trailer) Anthony Quinn is an aging boxer trying to escape a crooked manager (Jackie Gleason) in Rod Serling's drama Requiem For A Heavyweight (1962).

Loves of Carmen, The - (Original Trailer) It's The Loves of Carmen (1948) without the opera but with Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford and beautiful Technicolor.

tick...tick...tick - (Original Trailer) Racial fireworks are set off in a small southern town when a black sheriff (Jim Brown) arrives in ...tick...tick...tick (1970).

Lilies Of The Field - (Original Trailer) Sidney Poitier won the Academy Award for Best Actor playing an ex-GI who helps a group of German nuns build a chapel in Lilies Of The Field (1963).

Father Goose - (Original Trailer) A WWII drifter (Cary Grant) finds himself protecting schoolgirls and their beautiful teacher (Leslie Caron) in Father Goose (1964).

Companions

Celeste Holm

Wife

Actor. Divorced.

Bibliography

Notes

He was a fighter pilot in Air Force during WWII.

He received a Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Columbia University.

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