"[5] It was at the Café Gala that Nelson was heard by Herbert Jacoby, the owner (with Max Gordon) of Manhattan's preeminent cabaret, the Blue Angel.
She would sing there on and off until 1959, sharing rosters with Carol Channing, Pearl Bailey, Imogene Coca, Orson Bean, Wally Cox, Harry Belafonte, Johnny Mathis, and other budding stars.
The singer had made an auspicious recorded debut with the album Love Songs for a Late Evening, released in 1953 by Columbia's Masterworks division, normally reserved for classical artists.
The New Yorker reviewer Rogers Whitaker wrote in his liner notes: "One has only to hear the delicate phrasing and effortless command of melody to understand why she could immediately create such a stir."
[6] In 1954, Nelson originated the role of Miss Minerva Oliver in The Golden Apple, John Latouche's musical adaptation of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey.
She continued to sing at the Blue Angel and other cabarets, including New York's Bon Soir and Downstairs at the Upstairs, the Colony in London, and Bricktop's in Rome.
There she maintained a dual career as a writer of special musical material (for Carol Burnett, Debbie Reynolds, Marlene Dietrich, Julie Andrews, and others) and as vocal coach to such actors as Rod Steiger.
In The Sound of Music (1965), Nelson played Sister Berthe, who saved the von Trapp family in pre-World War II Austria by sabotaging a Nazi car.
Reviewing her appearance at The Ballroom, Rex Reed wrote: "With silver hair rising to a peak atop sleek chiffon and mile-long pearls, Miss Nelson is as graceful and refined to observe as she is to listen to.
"[9] From May through November 1976, Nelson played the small role of Therese, a spinster, in the touring company of The Baker's Wife, a musical by Stephen Schwartz and Joseph Stein.
Its cover appears on a poster displayed in the office of Sean McGuire, the fictional psychologist portrayed by Robin Williams in the film Good Will Hunting (1997).
In the early 1990s, a bout with throat and tongue cancer – which Nelson, who never smoked, blamed on her years of singing in smoky nightclubs[7] – robbed her of her soprano voice.
On January 20, 1993, at the inauguration of President Bill Clinton, the mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne, a close friend of hers, sang the song that would become Nelson's trademark, "Make a Rainbow".
At her request, Nelson's ashes were spread by friends and family at the Kolob Canyons in Utah's Zion National Park, one of her favorite childhood recreational spots.