Wissenswertes

Was Arsenio Hall's very first guest on his talk show. She sat in with the house band.

In 1984, she ran as a Democrat for Pennsylvania's Ninth Congressional District, but lost to Republican incumbent "Bud Shuster". She blamed her The Beverly Hillbillies (1962) co-star Buddy Ebsen for her defeat, because Ebsen taped a radio ad in support of Shuster, and deemed her "too liberal". She did not speak to Ebsen for several years afterward, but eventually made peace with him.

Early in her acting career, one Hollywood gossip sheet named her "the homeliest girl on television", referring to her role as "Pamela Livingstone" on Robert Cummings's series. In actual fact, she was quite popular on the show-biz dating scene and never lacked for amorous companionship. Although admitting later in life to "swinging both ways", this did not seem to dampen the ardor of her admirers.

Had a Masters Degree in English & French from the University of Miami (Fla.)

Writers played a twist on naming Nancy's best-known character, Miss Jane Hathaway. They reversed Nancy's first and middle names, so Nancy Jane Kulp became Jane Nancy Hathaway. We learned Miss Jane's middle name in The Return of the Beverly Hillbillies (1981).

Was fluent in French.

Nancy Kulp was known by the nickname "The Bird Lady" in the 1950s and the 1960s. This was due to the fact that while acting in "The Bob Cummings Show" in 1955, she portrayed a neighborhood bird watcher. Then, in the 1962 "The Beverly Hillbillies", her character was also a bird lover.

Was offered a movie role (The Model and the Marriage Broker (1951)) after being in Hollywood less than three weeks.

Long divorced, she came out of the closet at the age of 67 and acknowledged she was a lesbian.

Graduated from Florida State University (BA).

In 1944, during World War II, Kulp left the University of Miami to join the U.S. Naval Reserve. She attained the rank of lieutenant, junior grade, and received several decorations while in the service, including the American Campaign Medal. She was honorably discharged in 1946.

Shortly after her performances on My Three Sons in 1962, Kulp landed her breakout role as Jane Hathaway, the love-starved, bird-watching, perennial spinster, on the CBS television series The Beverly Hillbillies. In 1967, she received an Emmy Award nomination for her role, and she remained with the show until its cancellation in 1971.

Kulp also performed in the Broadway production of Morning's at Seven in 1980 to 1981 as Aaronetta Gibbs as a replacement for Elizabeth Wilson in the Lyceum Theatre.

In 1943, Kulp graduated with a bachelor's degree in journalism from Florida State College for Women (now Florida State University). She continued her studies for a master's degree in English and French at the University of Miami, where she was a member of the sorority Pi Beta Phi.

Early in the 1940s, she also worked as a feature writer for the Miami Beach Tropics newspaper, writing profiles of celebrities such as Clark Gable and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.