American choreographer born September 21, 1919 in Chicago, Illinois, USA and died August 12, 2018 (age 98) in Beverly Hills, California, USA.
When William Holden and Kim Novak slow-danced to “Moonglow” in the 1956 film “Picnic,” that was Ms. Nelson’s choreography. The Los Angeles Times later called the scene “one of the movie’s classic moments of sexual magnetism, the most graceful and sensual of mating dances.”
Much of Ms. Nelson’s movie work was for nonmusicals. She choreographed the madcap party scene at Holly Golightly’s apartment in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” (1961), and also appeared in it as the glamorous party guest in gold brocade and pearls who argues with the man wearing a fake eye patch.
Behind the camera, Ms. Nelson taught Tuesday Weld to watusi in “I’ll Take Sweden” (1965), Ingrid Bergman to do early disco moves in “Cactus Flower” (1969), Jerry Lewis to hoof it like a space alien in “A Visit to a Small Planet” (1960) and the whole cast of “Cat Ballou” (1965) — led by Jane Fonda, who she said was a balletically trained natural — to execute Old West dances for the hoedown scene.
