Barry Nelson

The first 007 dressed in an ordinary way

Long before Sean Connery put on a tuxedo in Dr. No, a San Francisco actor had already ordered a martini. It was in 1954. Barry Nelson did not shoot in London or on exotic beaches but on a television soundstage in Los Angeles for the anthology series Climax!.

He played an American James Bond known to everyone as Jimmy. That version of Casino Royale was broadcast live, and the actor was paid exactly one thousand dollars for the job. Peter Lorre played the villain while Nelson tried to bring to life a character who was not yet a mass-market phenomenon.

And television gave him immortality by accident.

But Nelson's path did not begin with espionage. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer discovered him while he was studying at the University of California, Berkeley. He signed one of those contracts that no longer exist and debuted in 1941 with Shadow of the Thin Man. He was a reliable supporting actor who worked well in comedies and war dramas.

A Safe Haven on Broadway

Movies never gave him the leading roles his talent deserved, so he decided to try his luck on stage. In 1951, he starred in The Moon Is Blue, and that changed his standing in the New York industry. He became a trusted actor for theater producers because he guaranteed good reviews and box office.

He earned far more money on stage than in front of the camera.

In 1965, he opened Cactus Flower alongside Lauren Bacall. The play was a massive hit that ran for more than eight hundred performances. Nelson had a polished technique for light comedy and knew how to handle silence like few actors of his generation. But he always returned to the screen when the project had enough weight.

During the seventies he appeared in big commercial productions. In 1970, he played Anson Harris in Airport. It was one of the highest-grossing movies of the decade and kept his face familiar to general audiences who never set foot in a Manhattan theater.

The Interview at the Overlook Hotel

Stanley Kubrick called him in 1977 for a brief but essential role. He wanted him to play Stuart Ullman in the film adaptation of The Shining. Nelson is the man who hires Jack Nicholson at the beginning of the film and coldly explains the fate of the Grady family.

His performance is dry and emotionless. Kubrick wanted that bureaucratic normality so the horror that followed would hit much harder. He shot his scenes at EMI Elstree Studios in England during 1978. That office at the Overlook Hotel was one of his last major moments in top-tier film.

Because the actor preferred the quiet of his private life.

In 1986, he appeared in the series The Love Boat and soon after gradually stepped away from the spotlight. He devoted himself to traveling and collecting antique theater books. He never disowned having been the first James Bond, though he always remembered that at the time nobody believed the character would last more than a week in people's memories.

Nelson died on April 12, 2007 in Bucks County while traveling with his wife. He was 89 years old, and his death was from natural causes at a hotel in Pennsylvania.