Editing Ricky Nelson (section)

==Film and Television actor==
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[[File:Howard Hawks'Rio Bravo trailer (33-2).jpg|thumb|upright|Nelson in ''Rio Bravo'', 1959]]
[[File:John Wayne and Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson in 'Rio Bravo', 1959.jpg|thumb|right|upright]]
In addition to his recording career, Nelson appeared in movies. He made his film debut in ''[[Here Come the Nelsons]]'' (1952) and had a small role in ''[[The Story of Three Loves]]'' (1953) at MGM directed by [[Vincente Minnelli]] playing [[Farley Granger]] as a boy.

Following his success on TV and with singing, [[Howard Hawks]] cast him as a gunslinger in ''[[Rio Bravo (movie)|Rio Bravo]]'' (1959) with [[John Wayne]] and [[Dean Martin]]; Hawks attributed much of the film's box office success to Nelson.

Nelson co-starred with [[Jack Lemmon]] in ''[[The Wackiest Ship in the Army (film)|The Wackiest Ship in the Army]]'' (1960), which was popular enough to give rise to a TV series (in which Nelson did not appear). He guest starred on ''[[General Electric Theatre]]'' ("The Wish Book") and starred in a romantic comedy feature written and directed by his father, ''[[Love and Kisses (1965 movie)|Love and Kisses]]'' (1965) with [[Jack Kelly (actor)|Jack Kelly]].

Nelson guest starred on ''[[Hondo (TV series)|Hondo]]'' (playing [[Jesse James]]), and had a support role in ''[[The Over-the-Hill Gang]]'' (1969) with [[Walter Brennan]] and [[Pat O'Brien (actor)|Pat O'Brien]].

Nelson was in ''[[Fol-de-Rol]]'' (1972), guest starred on ''[[McCloud (TV series)|McCloud]]'', ''[[The Streets of San Francisco]]'', ''[[Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law]]'', ''[[Petrocelli]]'', ''[[Quinn Martin's Tales of the Unexpected|A Twist in the Tale]]'', ''[[The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries]]'', and ''[[The Love Boat]]''. On ''[[The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries]]'' he played the part of "Tony Eagle" and performed various well-known Nelson songs throughout the episode.

He had support roles in the TV films ''[[Three on a Date]]'' and ''[[High School USA]]'' (1983).