Even “Millennials” probably know of the cult television classic, “The Beverly Hillbillies,” and may recognize one of the characters who made it such a success: Miss Jane Hathaway, the love-starved, bird-watching, perennial spinster secretary to banker, Mr Drysdale. Fewer Millennials, however, may know that the part was played by Nancy Kulp, a character actress who made every tv show or movie in which she appeared – better.
Even less known was that Ms. Kulp was not only a dog lover (she owned three Greyhounds named Mimi, Stella and Snoopy), but that she was a Greyhound fancier whose handler was Frank Sabella.
She once brought her champion Greyhound, “Spanish Moon,” to Betty White’s program, “Pet Set” in which she stated that the dog was the outstanding Greyhound bitch in the United States, adding, “If I may use that word on television,” to which Betty White said, “Of course! Greyhound is a perfectly good word.”