Nancy Kulp Movies

Fred (Redd Foxx) wins the Watts Businessman-of-the-Year award, but his bad back may prevent him from walking to the podium. Before long, Fred has a pain in other portions of his anatomy, thanks to the plethora of "home remedies" offered by his friends and family. The limit comes when son Lamont (Demond Wilson) suggests that Fred undergo acupuncture. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Marlene Clark makes her first series appearance as Janet Lawson, the new woman in the life of Lamont Sanford (Demond Wilson). Nervous around Janet, Lamont's dad Fred (Redd Foxx) wants to know more about the woman's mysterious past. This leads into a lengthy spoof of Columbo, with Fred making like the rumpled, raincoated TV detective -- and with Aunt Esther (LaWanda Page) as his unlikely "girl Friday." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Ever in pursuit of extra money, Fred and Lamont Sanford (Redd Foxx, Demond Wilson) take over management of a rooming house, which they rename the Sanford Arms. At first, our heroes intend to be discriminating in their clientele; after all, they can't just let anybody rent a room. But when tenants fail to materialize and the debt begins mounting, the Sanfords are forced to rethink their screening process -- and as a result, they open their doors to a fugitive from justice. Nancy Kulp makes her first series appearance as May Hopkins, the mother of semi-regular Officer "Hoppy" Hopkins (Howard Platt). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Aristocats was the first Disney Studios animated feature to be produced after Walt Disney's death. A wealthy woman leaves her vast fortune to her four cats: the well-bred Duchess and her kittens, Berlioz, Toulouse, and Marie. Jealous butler Edgar, eager to get his mitts on the cats' legacy, abandons the felines in the French countryside. The four lost kitties are aided in their efforts to return home by the raffish country pussycats Thomas O'Malley and Scat Cat. In keeping with a tradition launched by The Jungle Book (1967), The Aristocats is top-heavy with celebrity voices, including Phil Harris, Eva Gabor, Scatman Crothers, Hermione Baddeley, and the ineluctable Sterling Holloway. Assembled by the "nine old men" then in charge of animation, The Aristocats was a commercial success, essentially proving that Disney animated features could succeed without the involvement of the company's founder. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Though it hardly seemed possible to those grouchy TV critics who had long ago dismissed The Beverly Hillbillies as a one-joke pony, the series was still coming up with infinite variations on that one joke (millionaire mountaineers transplanted to Beverly Hills) as it entered its seventh season on CBS. The season begins with a virtual replay of the story arc that had opened season six, with the Clampett clan taking up residence in the English castle that Jed Clampett (Buddy Ebsen) has inherited -- all for the purpose of donating their fortune to the Royal Family, whom the Clampetts believe are broke! This is also the season in which the classic "holiday crossover" occurs, wherein the casts of Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction and Green Acres -- all produced by Paul Henning -- converge in Hooterville for Thanksgiving dinner. It is not the first such crossover, and it will certainly not be the last, as indicated by such subsequent Beverly Hillbillies episodes as "Christmas in Hooterville" and "Sam Drucker's Visit." But the most enjoyable of the season's numerous story arcs concerns the misadventures of Jed, Granny (Irene Ryan), Elly May (Donna Douglas), and Jethro (Max Baer Jr.) as they open up "Jed Clampett Enterprises" in the same building housing Mr. Drysdale's (Raymond Bailey) bank. Season seven winds up as The Beverly Hillbillies luxuriates in its best ratings in years, as America's 10th most popular program. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Those acerbic TV critics who'd predicted back in 1962 that the phenomenally successful The Beverly Hillbillies would wear out its welcome after three seasons must have been writhing in agony as the series entered its sixth year on the air in the fall of 1967. Although it had dropped from its ratings peak of number one in 1964 to 12th place in the intervening three years, the series still retained its loyal corps of fans, and had even picked up millions of new devotees in recent months. In a move to freshen up the basic format (nouveau riche hillbillies "invading" Beverly Hills), season six opened with a fascinating story arc, largely shot on location, in which millionaire mountaineer Jed Clampett (Buddy Ebsen) inherits a British castle on the outskirts of London. (Believe it or not, The Beverly Hillbillies was, at the time, one of the United Kingdom's most popular American imports.) This situation permits a whole new slew of comic complications, beginning with Granny's (Irene Ryan) tussle with the customs officials, and impressionable Jethro's (Max Baer Jr.) efforts to emulate the gallant knights of old, with his feisty cousin Elly May (Donna Douglas) reluctantly recruited to be a "damsel in distress." Upon the Clampett's return to Beverly Hills, Jethro persists in playing out his British-bred fantasies by becoming the Robin Hood of Griffith Park, leading to another story arc involving a band of hippies (or at least, the producers' notion of what hippies looked like). In other continuing storylines, Granny (Irene Ryan) thinks that the Civil War has been reignited when she sees a movie company filming a historical epic near the Clampett mansion; Jethro joins the military reserve, wreaking his usual well-meaning havoc, and later opens up a "topless" restaurant (no, it's not what you think); and the Clampetts become embroiled in the peculiar world of women's wrestling! The season ends with "Cousin Roy," featuring country & western singer Roy Clark in what was reportedly designed as the pilot for a Beverly Hillbillies spinoff series. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A small town is terrorized by a grizzly bear in this uninspired western. Jim Cole $Clint Walker must defend his inherited property from the designs of his greedy, land-grabbing neighbor Jed Curry (Keenan Wynn). ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

This romantic comedy stars Rock Hudson as Carter Harrison, an executive rising through the ranks of a major oil company. When he meets Toni Vincente (Gina Lollobrigida), a beautiful but hot-tempered artist, it's love at first sight and they quickly marry. The bloom is soon off the rose, however, and, five years later, Carter and Toni are about to finalize their divorce. However, just as the final paperwork is about to go through, Carter learns that he's up for a major promotion which would hinge on his being married. Carter is able to engineer a reconciliation with Toni with the help of his friend Richard Bramwell (Gig Young), a PR agent with the firm who hopes that a happy marriage will improve Carter's reputation. Since his separation from Toni, Carter has become known as something of a lothario, a reputation that the family-oriented company would like to avoid. But even though the couple patches things up, Richard has his work cut out for him when Toni announces that she'll be reenacting Lady Godiva's naked ride as part of a protest organized by an artists' group. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Having emerged as America's highest-rated sitcom of all time during its second season on CBS, The Beverly Hillbillies was a "shoe-in" for a third-season renewal, remaining in its familiar Wednesday night slot for another year beginning in the fall of 1964. Season four gets off to a rousing start with a multi-episode story arc in which nouveau riche mountaineer Jed Clampett (Buddy Ebsen) buys a controlling interest in Mammoth Studios, a Hollywood film factory run by executive Lawrence Chapman (Milton Frome). After briefly living on the studio grounds, Jed and his family decide to revitalize the fading studio -- and prevent it from being bulldozed into oblivion by banker Milburn Drysdale (Raymond Bailey), executor of Jed's vast fortune, by producing their own silent-movie epic, with the tacit blessing of gossip queen Hedda Hopper. In a related story arc, Jed's innocently sexy daughter Elly May (Donna Douglas) is ardently courted by Mammoth's leading male star Dash Riprock (Larry Pennell) -- who, in an outrageous case of mistaken identity, briefly assumes that Mr. Drysdale's spinsterish secretary Jane Hathaway (Nancy Kulp) is Elly May! Elsewhere, Arthur Treacher guest-stars as a "veddy proper" butler who attempts to educate the Hillbillies in the ways of culture and refinement; Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, who are heard performing the series' theme song at the beginning and end of each episode, pay one of their sporadic visits to their former neighbors, the Clampetts; Jed's impressionable nephew Jethro (Max Baer Jr.) dons tattered shirt and false beard to become a beatnik, and loads up on expensive and useless gadgetry in his efforts to become a "Double Naught Spy" like James Bond; Drysdale's rival banker Mr. Cushing (Roy Roberts) goes to great and unscrupulous lengths to persuade Jed to transfer his millions to Cushing's bank; and Granny (Irene Ryan) tries to arrange a match between Elly and the son of an old family friend (played by famed dialect coach Robert Easton). Although The Beverly Hillbillies fell from its Number One rating perch during its third season, the series still managed to post an admirable 25.2 Nielsen share, ending up in 12th place. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This frantic comedy finds Raymond (Jerry Lewis) working in a department store. Mr. Tuttle (John McGiver) is the watchful owner, whose outspoken wife Phoebe (Agnes Moorehead) makes no secret about her feelings that Raymond is an incompetent boob. Barbara (Jill St. John) is the pretty elevator operator, and unknown to Raymond, the boss' daughter. Quimby (Ray Walston) is the floor manager who has more of an eye for the ladies than his job at the store. Raymond proceeds to wreck every department in the store, earning new positions with each mishap. Two of the many sight gags are when Raymond is sent to paint the top of a flagpole and a hilarious vacuum cleaner demonstration that naturally goes awry. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

One of Charles Beaumont's most charming Twilight Zone scripts, this episode stars the ubiqitious J. Pat O'Malley as Old Ben, the only ray of sunshine in the life of crippled eight-year-old Jenny (Susan Gordon). Out of earshot of Jenny's harridan guardian Mrs. Gann (Nancy Kulp), Old Ben confesses that he is a fugitive from a distant planet, an assertion that seems to be verified when he miraculously heals Jenny's leg. The arrival of two mysterious strangers leads to an even more startling revelation -- albeit one with happy results. Keep an eye on that photograph in the final scene. "The Fugitive" first aired March 9, 1962. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The first season of The Beverly Hillbillies can be regarded as a "shakedown" cruise, with the newly-rich Clampett family making first contact with the wealthy upper crust of Beverly Hills, CA, adapting to their strange but luxurious surroundings with a combination of farcical ignorance and warm-hearted common sense and decency. After striking oil on his property in the opening episode, poor-but-proud mountaineer Jed Clampett (Buddy Ebsen) is informed that his land is now valued in a "new kind of dollars" -- namely, "million" dollars (about 20 million, to be exact). On the advice of his social-climbing cousin Pearl Bodine (Bea Benaderet), Jed decides to move out of the hills and into a posh Beverly Hills mansion, taking his innocently voluptuous daughter Elly May (Donna Douglas), his elderly but feisty mother-in-law Granny (Irene Ryan) and Pearl's oafish son Jethro Bodine (Max Baer Jr.) along for the ride. Endeavoring to help the Clampett clan make the transition from abject poverty to untold wealth are Milburn Drysdale (Raymond Bailey), president of the Commerce Bank of Beverly Hills and the caretaker of Jed's fortune, and Drysdale's ultra-efficient secretary Miss Jane Hathaway (Nancy Kulp). Many of the earliest episodes are built around the Clampetts' hilarious misinterpretations of their new creature comforts: the mansion's swimming pool is referred to as "the cee-ment pond"; the billiard table is labeled "the fancy eatin' table"; the billiard cues are dubbed "pot passers"; and it takes several episodes for Jed and company to figure out where "thet music is a-comin' from" whenever somebody rings their doorbell. Meanwhile, animal-loving Elly May merrily goes about adopting as many local "critters" as she can find, the impressionable Jethro shows off the "cipherin' skills" he has accumulated as the world's oldest sixth grader (his future plans are to become either a brain surgeon or a fry-cook), and Granny crankily tries to transform her corner of Beverly Hills into a replica of her old mountain trappings, replete with a still for her "rheumatizz medicine."
Among the many subplots developed this season are Cousin Pearl's ongoing rivalry with Granny; Pearl's tireless efforts to marry off Jethro's twin sister Jethrine (also played by Max Baer Jr.), and her own furtive romance with oil-company executive John Brewster (Frank Wilcox); the Herculean efforts by Mr. Drysdale's snobbish wife Margaret (Harriet MacGibbon) to remove "those dreadful Hillbillies" from her neighborhood; and the ill-fated attempt by the Drysdale's overaged-preppy offspring Sonny Drysdale (Louis Nye) to woo and win Elly May, which nearly results in an old-fashioned shootin' feud between the Drysdales and the Clampetts! Though roundly panned by many of America's top TV critics (with such rare exceptions as the erudite Gilbert Seldes, who lauded the series for brilliantly upholding the tradition of the classic "rube outwits city slicker" stage comedies of the previous century), The Beverly Hillbillies closed out its first season as the nation's top-rated program. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi