Nancy Jane Kulp was an American character actress and comedian, best known for portraying Miss Jane Hathaway in the CBS television series The Beverly Hillbillies.
For Disney, she portrayed Miss Grunecker in the 1961 live-action film The Parent Trap and provided the speaking voice of Frou-Frou in the 1970 Disney animated feature film The Aristocats. She also appeared uncredited as the Space Flight Nutritionist in Moon Pilot.
Originally from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Kulp attended college in Florida and then headed for Hollywood to work in publicity for the movies. Shortly after arriving there, she was convinced by director George Cukor and casting director Billy Gordon that she should be in front of the camera, not behind the scenes.
While appearing in films, like Sabrina, A Star is Born, Forever, Darling, The Three Faces of Eve, The Two Little Bears, The Patsy, Strange Bedfellows, and The Night of the Grizzly, Kulp had a solid career as a character actress in television, including two memorable roles on The Bob Cummings Show (1955) as bird-loving "Pamela Livingstone" and on The Beverly Hillbillies (1962) as the long-suffering, lovesick, and bird-loving "Miss Jane Hathaway". After the Hillbillies ended its nine year run, she found work in theater, Broadway and television, and dabbled in politics, making an unsuccessful 1984 run for Congress in Pennsylvania.
She made appearances in other shows, like I Love Lucy, Cheyenne, The Red Skelton Show, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Perry Mason, The Real McCoys, 77 Sunset Strip, Maverick, Shirley Temple's Storybook, Mister Ed, The Jack Benny Program, Pete and Gladys, The Twilight Zone, My Three Sons, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, The Brian Keith Show, Sanford and Son, Simon & Simon, and Quantum Leap.
Later, Kulp taught acting and retired to a farm in Connecticut and later, Palm Springs, where she died in 1991 of cancer.
Roles[]
(The Parent Trap)
