Sam Nelson

{{short description|American film director (1896–1963)}}

{{about|the film director|the singer|X Ambassadors}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2024}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Sam Nelson

| image =

| caption =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1896|5|11}}

| birth_place = Whittier, California, US

| death_date = {{death date and age|1963|5|1|1896|5|11}}

| death_place = Hollywood, California, US

| birthname =

| occupation = Film director

| spouse =

| yearsactive = 1925–1963

}}

Sam Nelson (1896–1963) was an American film director who worked from the end of the silent era through the early 1960s. While most of his film work was in the assistant director role, he did direct over twenty films during the 1930s and 1940s, all of which were Westerns. As an assistant director, he worked on such productions as Pennies from Heaven, And Then There Were None, All the King's Men, the original 3:10 to Yuma, Some Like It Hot, A Raisin in the Sun, and Spartacus. In addition, he appeared in over a dozen films in small acting roles.{{cite web | url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/SearchResult.aspx?s=&retailCheck=&Type=PN&CatID=DATABIN_DIRECTOR&ID=137980&AN_ID=&searchedFor=Sam_Nelson_ | title=Sam Nelson | publisher=American Film Institute | accessdate= August 20, 2017| archiveurl=https://archive.today/20240528060541/https://www.webcitation.org/6ss9GmcQn?url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/SearchResult.aspx%3Fs=&retailCheck=&Type=PN&CatID=DATABIN_DIRECTOR&ID=137980&AN_ID=&searchedFor=Sam_Nelson_| url-status=dead | archivedate= May 28, 2024}}