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Nelson Olmsted, originally named Leroy Nelson Olmsted Jr., was an accomplished character actor with extensive experience in radio, television, and film. His filmography includes more than a dozen movies, such as "Lover Come Back," "That Touch of Mink," "Fitzwilly," and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid."
Born on January 28, 1914, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, he was the son of Leroy Nelson Olmsted and Jane Hurford Long Olmsted. Raised in Texas, he began his career as a radio announcer at WBAP in Fort Worth, where on November 5, 1937, he launched a late-night 30-minute horror series called "Black Night," starring in the show and portraying various characters.
The success of "Black Night" led Olmsted to New York in 1939, where he became NBC's resident storyteller for over a decade. His talent for performing multiple character voices earned him his own radio programs, including "The World's Greatest Short Stories" (1939, 1944, 1947) and "Dramas by Olmsted" (1940-41).
During World War II, Olmsted contributed to Armed Forces Radio.
After the war, he resumed his storytelling work on the network, becoming a specialist in Edgar Allan Poe’s works. He recorded numerous Poe pieces, including "Tales of Terror" and "The Raven."
In television’s early years, Olmsted appeared in productions such as Chevrolet "Tele-Theatre" and "Lights Out" (1950), followed by "The Schlitz Playhouse of Stars" (1951), "The Philco Television Playhouse" (1951-52), "Kraft Television Theatre" (1951-52), "Tales of Tomorrow" (1952), "Hallmark Hall of Fame" (1952), "Goodyear Television Playhouse" (1953), "Robert Montgomery Presents" (1953-54), "Studio One" (1954-55), and "NBC Sunday Showcase" (1959).
He portrayed the recurring role of the base psychiatrist on "The Phil Silvers Show" and appeared on numerous popular TV series, including "Dr. Kildare," "Maverick," "McHale's Navy," "The Twilight Zone," and "Death Valley Days."
From 1952 to 1957, Olmsted narrated and performed multiple characters in "Sleep No More," a widely appreciated radio series. Initially a fifteen-minute program, it expanded to 30 minutes in November 1956.
Between 1952 and 1961, Olmsted was the narrator and star of Ohio Bell Telephone's "Ohio Story" radio and television series. Over 1,300 radio scripts from "Ohio Story" are preserved in various library collections. The Hagley Museum and Library is digitizing Olmsted’s 175 "Ohio Story" TV episodes and scripts to preserve the works of Cinecraft Productions, known as the nation's longest-running corporate film and video production company.
From 1961 to 1977, Olmsted served as the distinctive voice of the radio series "Stories of Pacific Powerland," which aired up to three times weekly across the Northwestern U.S., parts of Northern California, and the Mountain West. Over its 16-year run, the show produced more than 1,000 five-minute episodes.
An LP record of "Sleep No More" by the Vanguard Recording Society includes a brief biography of Olmsted: "Reflecting on it, Austin, Texas experienced a sort of Golden Age of Drama during the challenging mid-1930s. The University of Texas's Curtain Club and Austin’s Little Theatre nurtured talents like Zachary Scott, Elaine Anderson Scott, Eli Wallach, Walter Cronkite, Brooks West, and Alma Holloway, whom I was fortunate enough to marry. Most moved on to New York, battled the acting world, and succeeded in various ways. I remained behind, secure in a radio announcer’s role. But by the time I joined WBAP in Fort Worth, that security felt confining, and the announcer’s life seemed endlessly sterile. What could be done? Drama on radio was costly, and budgets were tight. The most economical drama I could think of was good literature read aloud, especially works by Edgar Allan Poe, a brilliant dramatist who never penned plays. WBAP gave me time to experiment starting in 1939—and it worked. By 1940, the storytelling show was on NBC for a decade. I took a couple of years off for the Army but still managed to tell stories over the Army radio network in Italy. Television brought tough competition to radio, so instead of resisting, I embraced it by adapting great stories into plays, selling them to Fred Coe, and acting in them—sometimes in lead roles. Ultimately, I made it to New York and succeeded as an actor—literally by telling stories!"
Olmsted passed away from complications of a stroke on April 8, 1992, in Torrance, California. He was married to Alma Rae Holloway from 1938 until their divorce in 1974. According to his Los Angeles Times obituary (April 11, 1992), they had two sons, Ross and Marc, and a daughter, Lynne Bell.
