Miriam Nelson
Born: 1922-09-21
Died: 2018-08-12
Known For: Crew
Biography
Miriam Lois Frankel was born in Chicago on Sept. 21, 1919, the only child of Daniel Frankel, a salesman who later produced nightclub shows, and Miriam Elizabeth (Bly) Frankel, a seamstress who went on to a show-business wardrobe department career. At 19 she made her Broadway debut, in Sing Out the News (1938), a musical revue, with June Allyson, whose songs included Sing Ho for Private Enterprise. In 1941, two weeks after Pearl Harbor, she married Gene Nelson, a fellow dancer and actor. They moved to Los Angeles, and good luck followed. Having lunch at Paramount one day with a friend, she ran into a New York pal and came home with a seven-year acting-dancing contract. Ms. Nelson’s onscreen appearances included Lady in the Dark (1944), a straight acting role as Edward G. Robinson’s secretary in Double Indemnity (1944) and versatile dance work in Duffy’s Tavern (1945). After the Nelsons divorced in 1956, she took up choreography full time. Her television projects included The Red Skelton Hour, Father Knows Best, The Lucy Show, The Love Boat and Murder, She Wrote. Ms. Nelson’s first credited big-screen choreography was on Blake Edwards’s He Laughed Last (1956), a crime comedy about a chorus girl. Her final screen credit was Out of the Cold, a romantic drama starring Keith Carradine, released on DVD in 2001.
Filmography
2014
2009
- A Golightly Gathering as Self
2006
1999
- Out of the Cold ... (Choreographer)
1988
- Sunset ... (Choreographer)
1985
- Alice in Wonderland ... (Choreographer)
1982
- The Stan Freberg Federal Budget Review ... (Choreographer)
1981
- The Two Lives of Carol Letner as Woman
1979
- Buck Rogers in the 25th Century ... (Choreographer)
- Ike ... (Choreographer)
1978
- Ziegfeld: The Man and His Women ... (Choreographer)
1973
- Trouble Comes to Town ... (Choreographer)
- The Third Girl from the Left ... (Choreographer)
1969
- Cactus Flower ... (Choreographer)
- Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice ... (Choreographer)
- The Great Bank Robbery ... (Choreographer)
1966
- Murderers' Row ... (Choreographer)
- Hawaii ... (Choreographer)
1965
- Cat Ballou ... (Choreographer)
- I'll Take Sweden ... (Choreographer)
1964
- Honeymoon Hotel ... (Choreographer)
- The Young Lovers ... (Choreographer)
- I'd Rather Be Rich ... (Choreographer)
1963
- A New Kind of Love ... (Choreographer)
1962
- The Lucy Show as Miriam
1961
- Breakfast at Tiffany's as Harriet - Party Guest in Gold Dress (uncredited)
1960
- The Apartment ... (Choreographer)
- High Time ... (Choreographer)
- Visit to a Small Planet ... (Choreographer)
1957
- The Restless Breed ... (Choreographer)
- Public Pigeon No. 1 ... (Choreographer)
1956
- He Laughed Last ... (Choreographer)
1955
- Bring Your Smile Along ... (Choreographer)
1951
- Lullaby of Broadway ... (Choreographer)
1950
- Tea for Two ... (Choreographer)
1945
- Kitty as Girl with St. Leger (uncredited)
- Duffy's Tavern as Dancer
- Masquerade in Mexico as Party Guest (uncredited)
1944
- Double Indemnity as Keyes' Secretary (uncredited)
- Cover Girl as Specialty Dancer (uncredited)
- Hail the Conquering Hero as Tap Dancer (uncredited)
1943
- Let's Face It as Dancer