Nelson Olmsted, born Leroy Nelson Olmsted Jr., was a veteran character actor with an extensive career in radio, television, and motion pictures. His screen credits include over a dozen movies, including "Lover Come Back," "That Touch of Mink," "Fitzwilly," and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid."
Born on January 28, 1914, in Minneapolis, MN, he grew up in Texas. He began his career as a radio announcer for WBAP in Fort Worth, where he launched a late-night 30-minute horror series, "Black Night," on November 5, 1937. Olmsted starred in the series and played a variety of different roles.
The impact of "Black Night" catapulted Olmsted to New York in 1939, where he became NBC's resident storyteller, a position he held for over a decade. An ability to do multiple character voices won him his own radio shows, beginning with "The World's Greatest Short Stories" (1939, 1944, 1947) and "Dramas by Olmsted" (1940-41).
During World War II, he worked for Armed Forces Radio. After the war, Olmsted returned to his network storytelling, becoming an expert on Edgar Allan Poe. He recorded many of Poe's works, including "Tales of Terror" and "The Raven."
Olmsted played roles on various television shows, including "The Schlitz Playhouse of Stars," "The Philco Television Playhouse," "Kraft Television Theatre," "Tales of Tomorrow," "Hallmark Hall of Fame," "Goodyear Television Playhouse," "Robert Montgomery Presents," "Studio One," and "NBC Sunday Showcase." He also appeared in many popular TV series, including "Dr. Kildare," "Maverick," "McHale's Navy," "The Twilight Zone," and "Death Valley Days."
From 1952 to 1957, he read classic short stories and performed different characters' voices in "Sleep No More," a popular radio series. From 1952 to 1961, Olmsted was the narrator and star of Ohio Bell Telephone's "Ohio Story" radio and TV series. Many of the 1,309 "Ohio Story" radio scripts are held in various library collections.
From 1961 to 1977, Olmsted was the distinctive voice of the radio series "Stories of Pacific Powerland." The program aired as many as three times a week on stations all over the Northwest U.S. and parts of Northern California and the Mountain West. During the 16-year run of the show, more than 1,000 episodes were produced, each about five minutes long.
Olmsted died of complications from a stroke on April 8, 1992, in Torrance, California. He was married to Alma Rae Holloway from 1938 until they divorced in 1974.
