ABOUT RALPH NELSON
Cutting-edge director of several racially provocative films of the 1960s and 1970s.
He was a flight instructor in the Army Air Corps (the predecessor of the Air Force) during World War II.
He also directed safer comedies with Cary Grant and Rita Hayworth .
He was married to Celeste Holm .
His 1963 film Lilies of the Field earned Sidney Poitier an Oscar for Best Actor, which was the first time a black man won that award.
