Profile of Nancy Kulp on Famous Like Me

Nancy Jane Kulp (August 28, 1921 – February 3, 1991) was an American actress best known as "Miss Jane Hathaway" on the popular television series, The Beverly Hillbillies.

Kulp was born into an upper middle class family in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. After obtaining undergraduate and graduate degrees at, respectively, Florida State University and the University of Miami, she volunteered for service in World War II in the Navy's WAVES (Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service) earning several decorations.

Acting career

She moved to Hollywood to work in a studio publicity department, but director George Cukor convinced her that she should work in front of the camera.

Thus began a career as a character actor. Her movie debut was in 1951 in The Company She Keeps. She appeared in subsequent films, including Shane, Sabrina and A Star Is Born. In 1955, she joined the cast of The Bob Cummings Show. She returned to movies in Forever, Darling, The Three Faces of Eve and The Parent Trap, before The Beverly Hillbillies made her so widely popular.

Political career

In 1984, Kulp ran for the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat from Pennsylvania, but was ultimately unsuccessful, due in part to Hillbillies co-star Buddy Ebsen's support of her Republican opponent, incumbent Bud Shuster. Ebsen went so far as to tape an ad for Kulp's opponent, labeling her as "too liberal." Kulp was bitter because Ebsen claimed she was exploiting her celebrity status and didn't know the issues, when he was a Californian and a much bigger celebrity than she.

At the age of 67, in 1987, Kulp admitted to "swinging both ways" (meaning she was bisexual), during an interview. She died of cancer in California at the age of 69.

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