Novella Nelson

Starting in 1961, Nelson had a decades-long stage career, performing, directing and producing, primarily in New York.{{cite web|url=http://www.filmreference.com/film/9/Novella-Nelson.html|title=Novella Nelson Biography|website=Film Reference|publisher=Advameg, Inc.|accessdate=September 26, 2016}} She was a featured performer on Broadway in 1970 in the musical Purlie. In 1975, Nelson directed the play La Femme Noire at The Public Theater.{{cite magazine|last=Bailey|first=Peter A.|date=April 1975|title=Annual Round-up, Black Theater in America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dbIDAAAAMBAJ&q=Novella+Nelson+La+Femme+Noire&pg=PA21|magazine=Black World/Negro Digest|access-date=September 26, 2016}} Her film career began at age 39 with a small part in 1977's An Unmarried Woman, and continued for the next several decades with roles in movies and television.{{IMDb name|0625645}}{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1978/02/25/novella-nelson-i-cant-pin-me-down/bda7dc46-7805-41f6-b183-d92be83768b8|title=Novella Nelson: 'I Can't Pin Me Down'|last=Trescott|first=Jacqueline|date=February 25, 1978|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=September 2, 2017}}

She may be best known for her role as Mrs. Tate in the 2002 movie Antwone Fisher.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/07/theater/novella-nelson-77-dies-brought-authority-to-myriad-roles.html|title=Novella Nelson, 77, Dies; Brought Authority to Myriad Roles|last=Sandomir|first=Richard|date=September 7, 2017|work=The New York Times|access-date=September 8, 2017|issn=0362-4331}}

Nelson was born on December 17, 1939, in Brooklyn, New York, to James and Evelyn (formerly Hines) Nelson. Her father was a pastor and a taxi driver. Her mother was an executive assistant at magazine publisher Women's Wear Daily.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/07/theater/novella-nelson-78-dies-brought-authority-to-myriad-roles.html|title=Novella Nelson, 78, Dies; Brought Authority to Myriad Roles|last=Sandomir|first=Richard|date=September 7, 2017|work=The New York Times|access-date=September 8, 2017|issn=0362-4331}}

An African American, she attended the predominantly white Brooklyn College in the late 1950s, majoring in biochemistry. She took a speech class, which was an acting course, and was asked to perform in a play. For the play she took on the role of Berenice, the housekeeper, in The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/07/theater/novella-nelson-78-dies-brought-authority-to-myriad-roles.html|title=Novella Nelson, 78, Dies; Brought Authority to Myriad Roles|last=Sandomir|first=Richard|date=September 7, 2017|work=The New York Times|access-date=September 8, 2017|issn=0362-4331}} After being on stage in this and other plays, the future actress changed course becoming a theatre major.{{cite news|url=https://www.courant.com/2011/05/08/novella-nelson-a-storied-life-rooted-in-the-theater/|title=Novella Nelson: A Storied Life Rooted In The Theater|last=Rizzo|first=Frank|date=May 8, 2011|newspaper=Hartford Courant|access-date=September 2, 2017}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/07/theater/novella-nelson-78-dies-brought-authority-to-myriad-roles.html|title=Novella Nelson, 78, Dies; Brought Authority to Myriad Roles|last=Sandomir|first=Richard|date=September 7, 2017|work=The New York Times|access-date=September 8, 2017|issn=0362-4331}}

Nelson died of cancer on September 1, 2017, aged 77, in her native Brooklyn, New York.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/07/theater/novella-nelson-78-dies-brought-authority-to-myriad-roles.html|title=Novella Nelson, 78, Dies; Brought Authority to Myriad Roles|first=Richard|last=Sandomir|date=September 7, 2017|work=The New York Times|accessdate=September 7, 2017|archive-url=https://archive.today/20170907180525/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/07/theater/novella-nelson-78-dies-brought-authority-to-myriad-roles.html|archive-date=September 7, 2017|url-status=dead}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/07/theater/novella-nelson-78-dies-brought-authority-to-myriad-roles.html|title=Novella Nelson, 78, Dies; Brought Authority to Myriad Roles|last=Sandomir|first=Richard|date=September 7, 2017|work=The New York Times|access-date=September 8, 2017|issn=0362-4331}}

{{Discography list

| Type = Studio

| Name = Novella Nelson

| Released = 1970

| Label = Arcana

| Producer =

| Format = LP

| Chart position=

| Certification =

| Sales =

| Singles = "Mean World", "Long Road Home", "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay", "Lilac Wine", "Johnny (Guns and Drums)", "I'm Troubled", "Do What You Gotta Do", "Cold Water Flat", "Porgy", and "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free"

| Other info = album

}}

{{Discography list

| Type = Studio

| Name = Walk Him Up The Stairs-Prologue / Down Home

| Released = 1970

| Label = Ampex

| Producer =

| Format = LP

| Chart position=

| Certification =

| Sales =

| Other info = Purlie promo w. Linda Hopkins & Cleavon Little

}}

{{Discography list

| Type = Studio

| Name = Where Do You Go / The Bar

| Released = 1971

| Label = Stock Bridge

| Producer =

| Format = LP

| Chart position=

| Certification =

| Sales =

| Other info = single w. Gordy Rose

}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{IMDb name|0625645}}
• {{Discogs artist}}
• [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/07/theater/novella-nelson-78-dies-brought-authority-to-myriad-roles.html New York Times] obituary
• [https://archives.nypl.org/the/186304 Novella Nelson papers, 1949-2017], held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts

{{Authority control}}

{{Portal|United States}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Novella}}

Category:1938 births

Category:2017 deaths

Category:20th-century African-American women singers

Category:20th-century American women singers

Category:20th-century American singers

Category:American film actresses

Category:American stage actresses

Category:American television actresses

Category:Actresses from Brooklyn

Category:Brooklyn College alumni

Category:Deaths from cancer in New York (state)

Category:21st-century African-American actresses

Category:21st-century American actresses