Portia Nelson
| Portia Nelson | |
|---|---|
Publicity photo, c.1975
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|
| Born |
Betty Mae Nelson May 27, 1920 Brigham City, Utah, U.S. |
| Died | March 6, 2001 (aged 80) New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | Singer-songwriter, actress, author |
| Years active | 1945–2001 |
Portia Nelson (May 27, 1920 – March 6, 2001) was an American popular singer, songwriter, actress, and author. She was best known for her appearances in the most prestigious 1950s cabarets, where she sang an elegant repertoire in a soprano noted for its silvery tone, perfect diction, intimacy, and meticulous attention to words.
In 1965 she portrayed the cantankerous Sister Berthe in the film version of The Sound of Music; she also had a minor role as Sarah in the musical Doctor Dolittle; on TV’s All My Children Nelson played the long-running role of nanny Mrs. Gurney. Her book of poetic musings, There’s a Hole in My Sidewalk: The Romance of Self-Discovery, became a mainstay of twelve-step programs.
The youngest of nine children, Nelson was born Betty Mae Nelson in Brigham City, Utah. (The Danish family name of Nielsen had been anglicized before her birth.) Her Mormon family owned a farm; her father was also a railroad worker. At a young age, Nelson taught herself to play piano; after two years at Weber College in Ogden, Utah she quit school and moved to Los Angeles.
While attending an LDS Church service in L.A. in 1945, Nelson met the King Sisters, the popular swing-era vocal quartet, also from Utah. The sisters were employed by bandleader Alvino Rey; and since Nelson needed a job, they hired her to come on the road as their secretary. In the months that followed, she took one of her first steps as a musician by writing a few vocal arrangements for the group.
Back home in Los Angeles in early 1946, Nelson worked briefly as secretary to film director André de Toth; she held another secretarial job in the publicity department of United Artists Pictures. Around that time she adopted the name Portia, a nickname that friends gave her based on her love of the popular radio soap opera Portia Faces Life. She was known for occasionally sitting at pianos on the lot and demonstrating songs, and word of her vocal talents spread. Jane Russell was then on the lot making a film, Young Widow; one day they talked about songs they both liked, and Nelson performed one at the piano. "What the hell are you doing pounding a typewriter? ... You should be singing, said Russell. Nelson would later work for Russell as a vocal coach. After Nelson's death, Russell said that she "had a high, clear voice, with such intonation and shading! Her lyrics were sung with such understanding that you felt you’d heard a poem sung."
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