Nancy Kulp

Nancy Jane Kulp (August 28, 1921 – February 3, 1991) was an American character actress, writer, and comedian born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to Robert Tilden Kulp, a traveling salesman, and Marjorie C. Kulp, a schoolteacher who later became a principal. The family relocated from Mifflintown, Pennsylvania, to Miami before 1935. Kulp was their only child.

She earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from Florida State College for Women, now Florida State University, in 1943, then pursued graduate studies in English and French at the University of Miami, where she joined the sorority Pi Beta Phi. During her time in Miami, she worked as a feature writer for the Miami Beach Tropics, profiling celebrities including Clark Gable and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. In 1944, she left her graduate studies to enlist in the U.S. Naval Reserve during World War II, attaining the rank of lieutenant, junior grade, and earning several decorations including the American Campaign Medal before receiving an honorable discharge in 1946.

On April 1, 1951, Kulp married Charles Malcolm Dacus, an account executive with WTVJ, at Miami Beach Community Church. That same year, following the marriage, she moved to Van Nuys to take a position in MGM's publicity department. Director George Cukor encouraged her to pursue acting, and she made her film debut that year in The Model and the Marriage Broker. Subsequent film appearances included Shane, Sabrina, A Star is Born, Forever Darling, The Three Faces of Eve, The Parent Trap, Who's Minding the Store?, and The Aristocats. In 1966, she appeared as Wilhelmina Peterson in The Night of the Grizzly, alongside Clint Walker and Martha Hyer. Kulp and Dacus divorced in 1953.

Her television career began in 1955 when she joined the cast of The Bob Cummings Show, portraying bird-watching neighbor Pamela Livingstone. She played Anastasia in three episodes of the NBC sitcom It's a Great Life in 1955 and 1956, and appeared as an English maid in the 1956 I Love Lucy episode "Lucy Meets the Queen." In 1956, she also appeared in the Cheyenne episode "Johnny Bravo." In 1958, she appeared in Orson Welles' television pilot "The Fountain of Youth" for Colgate Theatre, and had roles in Perry Mason, The Real McCoys, The Jack Benny Program, 87th Precinct, Pete and Gladys, The Twilight Zone, Outlaws, and Maverick. She played a housekeeper in a pilot for The William Bendix Show that aired as a 1960–1961 season finale of Mister Ed, and portrayed a high school math and science teacher in two episodes of My Three Sons in 1962.

Shortly after her My Three Sons appearances, Kulp was cast as Jane Hathaway on the CBS series The Beverly Hillbillies, the role for which she became most widely recognized. She portrayed the character as a love-starved, bird-watching spinster and remained with the series through its cancellation in 1971. In 1967, she received an Emmy Award nomination for the role. Later television credits included two episodes of The Love Boat in 1978 and a 1989 appearance in the Quantum Leap episode "The Right Hand of God," in which she played a nun.

Kulp's Broadway career brought her to the Lyceum Theatre in 1980, when she joined the production of Morning's at Seven as a replacement for Elizabeth Wilson in the role of Aaronetta Gibbs, performing in the production through 1981.

In 1984, Kulp ran as the Democratic nominee for the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 9th congressional district, facing six-term Republican incumbent Bud Shuster. Her Beverly Hillbillies co-star Buddy Ebsen, a Republican, recorded a radio advertisement for the Shuster campaign describing Kulp as too liberal. Kulp received 59,449 votes, representing 33.6 percent of ballots cast, compared to Shuster's 117,203 votes and 66.4 percent. Following her defeat, she served as artist-in-residence at Juniata College, a private liberal arts institution in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, and later taught acting there.

After retiring from acting and teaching, Kulp moved first to a farm in Connecticut and subsequently to Palm Springs, California, where she became involved with organizations including the Humane Society of the Desert, the Desert Theatre League, and United Cerebral Palsy. She was diagnosed with cancer in 1990 and underwent chemotherapy. By 1991, the cancer had spread, and she died on February 3, 1991, in Palm Desert, California, at the age of 69.