- Nancy Kovack
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Nancy Kovack Born Nancy Kovach
March 11, 1936
Flint, Michigan, United StatesYears active 1959–1976 Spouse Zubin Mehta (1969-present) 2 children Nancy Kovack (born March 11, 1936 in Flint, Michigan) is a former American actress.
Contents
Biography
She attended the University of Michigan at age 15 and graduated by 19. At the age of 20 she had won eight beauty titles.
Kovack became interested in acting when she went to New York City to attend a wedding and became one of the Glea Girls for Jackie Gleason. She has appeared on a number of TV episodes, including Star Trek, Bewitched (playing Darrin Stephens' catty ex-fiancee and Samantha's nemesis, Sheila Sommers), Batman, I Dream of Jeannie, Perry Mason, 12 O'Clock High, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Invaders episode Task Force in season 2/16, and Burke's Law. In 1969 she was nominated for an Emmy for an appearance on Mannix.
On Broadway she appeared in The Disenchanted.
As she gained fame, Kovack began to win roles in Hollywood movies, most notably as the high priestess Medea in Jason and the Argonauts (1963). She also had parts in Strangers When We Meet (1960), The Wild Westerners (with red hair), Diary of a Madman (1963) with Vincent Price, The Outlaws Is Coming (1965) with The Three Stooges, Sylvia (1965), The Silencers (1966), Tarzan and the Valley of Gold (1966), and the Elvis Presley film Frankie and Johnny (1966).
Her last film role was in Marooned (1969), a science fiction drama. She played the murder victim in the made-for-TV movie/series pilot Ellery Queen (also known as Too Many Suspects) (1975), "Monica Gray," and was credited as Nancy Mehta.
Personal life
In 1969 Kovack married conductor Zubin Mehta, then music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and later music director of the New York Philharmonic. Thereafter she dedicated herself to her marriage, giving up her stage and screen career. Kovack and Mehta maintain residences in Brentwood, California and Tuscany. Until 2006, the Mehtas spent some months of the year in residence in Munich, Germany, where Zubin Mehta was the Music Director of the Bavarian State Opera. Mehta is currently Music Director of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and the Main Conductor for Valencia's opera house. He additionally participates in Florence's annual Maggio Musicale festival.
Kovack is an ardent and strict Christian Scientist who is known amongst Hollywood's elder generation for her strong beliefs. Zubin Mehta is not a Christian Scientist.
Susan McDougal (of Whitewater controversy notoriety) worked as Kovack's personal assistant in the early 1990s. After her employment ended, Kovack took legal action against McDougal for alleged embezzlement. McDougal was acquitted in 1998 on all twelve charges. A suit by McDougal in 1999 for malicious prosecution ended in a settlement.[1]
Kovack maintains a luxury home rental business operation catering to the rental needs of the wealthy. Tony Bennett reportedly regularly rents her lavish Tuscan home some months out of the year.
Notes
- ^ The Woman Who Wouldn't Talk, ISBN 078671302X, Susan McDougal et al. 2003, p.338
External links
Categories:- 1936 births
- Living people
- People from Flint, Michigan
- American television actors
- American film actors
- American musical theatre actors
- University of Michigan alumni
- Actors from Michigan
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