Nancy Kovack: The Star Trek Actor's 10 Best Movies & TV Shows (& Where She Is Now)

Summary Nancy Kovack's TV and film career may have been short, but she made a significant impact with notable roles in popular shows and movies.

Working alongside big names in Hollywood, Kovack showcased her range in both comedic and dramatic roles, leaving a lasting impression on audiences.

Kovack's Emmy-nominated performance in Mannix displayed her talent for portraying complex characters with depth and nuance, solidifying her place in Hollywood history.

Nancy Kovack only acted for a short time, but she appeared in some notable TV shows and movies in the years she was performing. Born in Flint, Michigan on March 11, 1935, Kovack got her start acting in 1958, when she appeared in an episode of the TV series, The Verdict is Yours as "Prizefighter's Girl". One-episode appearances on TV shows came to be a staple of Kovack's career, and she appeared in numerous notable and lesser-known series over her career. But even when she was only a guest, her parts were often significant, and in one case, Emmy-nominated.

While she was doing the TV circuit, Kovack also appeared in many significant movies, working with some huge names in pop culture. Vincent Price, Barbara Eden, Elvis Presley, Elizabeth Montgomery, William Shatner, and The Three Stooges, are just a few of the famous actors and celebrities she worked with over the years. Never a massive star herself, Kovack still had a very successful career, and yet in 1976, she stopped acting, with her final performance coming in an episode of the TV show Cannon as Charlotte Frawley. Thankfully, she left a legacy of impressive roles.

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10 I Dream Of Jeannie (1965-1970)

Rita Mitchell (1 Episode, 1965)

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I Dream of Jeannie is a fantasy sitcom that ran from 1965 to 1970 on NBC. The series starred Barbara Eden as a 2000-year-old genie named Jeannie whom an astronaut, Major Tony Nelson (Larry Hagman), finds and falls in love with. The show mostly revolves around Jeannie getting into trouble with her magic and Major Nelson getting angry with Jeannie for causing chaos. Nancy Kovack guest stars in season 1, episode 9, "The Moving Finger" as Rita Mitchell, a starlet who Nelson has a crush on.

This role came right when Kovack was performing in some of her most notable productions, so it makes sense she would be cast as a popular movie star in I Dream of Jeannie. She's playing herself to a degree but has fun teasing her own persona, playing Rita as a snobby celebrity who won't give Jeannie the time of day. It shows a sense of humor and self-awareness to play a role like that.

9 Marooned (1969)

Teresa Stone

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Marooned came out only a few months after the Apollo 11 Moon landing, attracting a lot of interest and attention for the science fiction film. The movie depicts three astronauts, Jim Pruett (Richard Crenna), "Buzz" Lloyd (Gene Hackman), and Clayton "Stoney" Stone (James Franciscus), who become trapped in their spaceship and have to find a way home before their oxygen expires. Nancy Kovack plays Teresa Stone, Clayton's wife back on Earth who is desperately waiting for news of her husband.

It's an impressively shot '60s science fiction movie, and Marooned won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. Kovack's role, and that of the other two wives, Celia Pruett (Lee Grant) and Betty Lloyd (Mariette Hartley), are secondary to the astronauts, and they spend most of their scenes together. However, when Teresa speaks one-on-one with her husband, Kovack showcases her powerful ability to express emotion through her eyes and subtle movements of her head.

8 Diary Of A Madman (1963)

Odette Mallotte DuClasse

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Based on French author Guy de Maupassant's short story "Le Horla", Diary of a Madman is a horror film starring Vincent Price as Simon Cordier, a French magistrate and amateur sculptor who is being haunted by a malevolent energy called a "horla". Nancy Kovack plays Odette Mallotte DuClasse, a married woman who falls in love with Simon and moves in with him, only for the horla to convince Simon she is only after his money.

Odette is alluring and clever and Kovack's performance makes it hard to tell if Odette truly is only out for Simon's wealth or if the horla is warping Simon's mind. Odette's shocking death towards the end of the film is makes for a brutal scene, particularly for the 1960s, and her shrieks of pain are horrifying and real as Simon attacks her.

7 The Outlaws Is Coming (1959)

Annie Oakley

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Nancy Kovack co-stars in The Outlaws Is Coming as the real-life historical sharpshooter Annie Oakley in the final Three Stooges feature film. In this purposefully grammatically incorrect film, Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Joe DeRita (Curly Joe) find themselves in the frontier town of Casper, Wyoming in the late 19th century. There, they run into famous Western outlaws and have to enlist the help of Annie Oakley to protect them.

This is one of the few comedic performances by Kovack, who, even when appearing in sitcoms, often plays the straight woman to everyone else. Here she's funny, charming, and wields a pistol with some real skill, showing a different side of her range than she usually does. She also falls in love with an editor, played by Adam West, whom she would later reunite with in the 1966 TV series, Batman.

6 Batman (1966-1968)

Queenie (2 Episodes, 1966)

Batman 1960s Starring Adam West as Bruce Wayne and Burt Ward as Dick Grayson a.k.a. Robin, ABC's 1960s Batman series sees DC's Dynamic Duo confront many of their famous villains across three seasons and 120 episodes, released from 1966 to 1968. With now iconic portrayals of comic book villains like Cesar Romero's Joker, Burgess Meredith's Penguin, Julie Newmar's Catwoman, and Frank Gorshin's Riddler, the series helped cement the Dark Knight in pop culture two decades before Tim Burton reimagined the character for the big screen. Cast Adam West Release Date March 18, 1968 Seasons 3 See at Amazon See at Walmart See at Best Buy

The 1966 Batman series created plenty of villains for the show, but it also hinted at what would be one of the most famous characters in the whole of the Batman franchise. Queenie (Nancy Kovack) appears in season 1, episodes 5 and 6, "The Joker Is Wild" and "The Batman Is Riled", as the Joker's (Cesar Romero) main assistant, an unofficial early version of Harley Quinn. They speak with the same voice, have similar doting romantic relationships with the Joker, and share the same twisted sense of humor.

After Batman (Adam West) defeats the Joker and his gang, Queenie does her best to seduce the Dark Knight, but he turns her down. It's a very Harley-esque move to pull. Like her performance in The Outlaws Is Coming, this is a much different role than Kovack usually plays, and she amps up the zaniness of her character, making her more than an equal for Romero.

5 Bewitched (1964-1972)

Sheila Sommers And Clio Vanita (1964-1969)

Bewitched Bewitched is a comedic-fantasy franchise that began as a television series in 1964 with the release of the self-titled ABC series. The core concept follows a witch who falls in love with a normal man and attempts to live the life of an everyday suburban housewife - but always slips back into her old habits, occasionally using magic to deal with her issues. A film reboot/adaptation starring Will Ferrell and Nicole Kidman was released in 2005 and follows a similar plotline with a Hollywood backdrop. Created by Sol Saks Cast Nicole Kidman , Shirley MacLaine , Elizabeth Montgomery , Dick York , Agnes Moorehead , Dick Sargent , David White , Will Ferrell Michael Caine , Jason Schwartzman TV Show(s) Bewitched Character(s) Samantha Stephens , Darrin Stephens , Endora , Larry Tate , Nigel Bigelow

The Bewitched franchise all began with the 1964 TV show, starring Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha Stephens, a witch who marries a non-magical, ordinary man, Darrin Stephens (Dick York), and promises to live as a normal human herself, a promise she breaks nearly every episode. Nany Kovack appeared in five episodes of the show, two as Clio Vanita, an Italian vampire, and three as Sheila Sommers, Darrin's ex-fiancée and Samantha's arch-enemy.

In the 2005 Bewitched movie, a similar character to Sheila Sommers, Sheila Wyatt (Katie Finneran) tries to woo back her ex-fiancé, Jack (Will Ferrell), the Darrin Stephens stand-in.

Sheila is the more fleshed-out of the two characters. She's a rich, spoiled, and snobbish diva who immediately tries to reignite sparks with Darrin and mocks Samantha to her face. Kovack makes her into the worst kind of frustrating interloper, and it's all the more satisfying when, each time she appears, Samantha gets back at her by embarrassing Sheila in front of Darrin, allowing Kovack to showcase some impressive physical comedy.

4 Star Trek: The Original Series (1966-1969)

Nona (1 Episode, 1968)

Star Trek: The Original Series Where to Watch stream

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buy Not available Not available Not available *Availability in US Star Trek: The Original Series follows the exploits of the crew of the USS Enterprise. On a five-year mission to explore uncharted space, Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) must trust his crew - Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy (Forest DeKelley), Montgomery "Scotty" Scott (James Doohan), Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), Chekov (Walter Koenig) and Sulu (George Takei) - with his life. Facing previously undiscovered life forms and civilizations and representing humanity among the stars on behalf of Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets, the Enterprise regularly comes up against impossible odds and diplomatic dilemmas. Cast William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , Deforest Kelley , Nichelle Nichols , James Doohan , George Takei , Walter Koenig Release Date September 8, 1966 Seasons 3 Showrunner Gene Roddenberry

Nancy Kovack appears in only one episode of Star Trek: The Original Series, but it's an important part. In season 2, episode 19, "A Private Little War", the Enterprise discovers that Klingons have interfered in the development of a once peaceful planet, and join the inhabitants in an inevitable arms race. Nancy plays one of the Indigenous "Hill People", Nona, the wife of the tribe's leader, who insists the Hill People acquire firearms to fight the other tribes.

Nona saves Captain Kirk's (William Shatner) life, but in exchange asks him to get her better weapons to fight the wars on her planet. Kovack plays Nona as a fierce leader and warrior, blinded by her wish to protect her people, willing to sacrifice others for her goals. Like many Star Trek episodes, it's deeply philosophical and aired around the time of the U.S.'s involvement in Vietnam, with much of its plot an allegory for the conflict. The unusually dark ending to the Star Trek episode hammers home the allusions.

What's even more impressive is that Kovack knew next to nothing about Star Trek when she was cast on the show. She told the SpyHards podcast that she figured someone would explain her role to her when she got on set, but that was apparently not the case. Kovack said,

I didn't have time. I was so busy working in Los Angeles, I never got to see Star Trek. I may have seen half a show one day in my life, and then I worked on a show. But when I did that character, I got that script, and I thought, 'Well, when I get on stage they'll explain. When I get to the set they'll explain.' Nobody explained anything to me! Two years later, someone explained to me that that character was from a certain planet, and that she was there to save her people by diverting Captain Kirk to not attack her people. Had somebody told me that I may have played that slightly differently, but probably not much more differently. I enjoyed doing it because I got to speak loudly. I got to speak strongly and almost comic-like in your words, and I enjoyed that, it was fun.

For someone who's not a Trekkie, Kovack turned in an exceptional performance, and even though it was only one episode, fans still remember her to this day.

3 Frankie And Johnny (1966)

Nellie Bly

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Frankie and Johnny stars Donna Douglas and Elvis Presley as the titular couple, performers on a Mississippi River riverboat. Johnny is a compulsive gambler and learns from a fortune-teller that a redhead will be his key to winning on the next trip. He then meets Nellie Bly (Nancy Kovack), a singer on the boat. As a redhead, Johnny sees her as the good luck charm he needs, much to Frankie's anger.

This Western musical is filled with the impressive dance numbers and singing that one would expect from a movie starring Presley. It may not be the best film he ever made, but there's a lot going for it. In particular, Nellie is a sensual, kind, and intelligent performer on the boat. Kovack has excellent chemistry with Douglas and Presley, who she tries to keep the peace between.

2 Mannix (1967-1975)

Angela, Barbara Sonderman, Brett Nichols (3 Episodes, 1969-1973)

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Nancy Kovack earned her one and only Emmy nomination for her one-episode portrayal of Brett Nichols in Mannix season 2, episode 17, "The Girl Who Came in with the Tide". In the episode, Detective Joe Mannix (Mike Connors) finds a woman's body washed up on shore. Also involved in the mystery is a woman, Brett Nichols, being possibly framed for this murder and more, though Mannix's infatuation with her clouds his judgment.

Kovack is in full femme fatale form in this episode, but she's still sincere, and it's hard to determine her involvement in the crime. It's a subtle and nuanced performance that earned Kovack the Emmy nomination for Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role. She went on to play different characters in the series, Angela and Barbara Sonderman, in later seasons.

1 Jason and the Argonauts (1963)

Medea

Jason And The Argonauts (1963) Jason And The Argonauts is a 1963 fantasy adventure film directed by Don Chaffey. It follows Jason's quest to retrieve the legendary Golden Fleece, aided by a band of heroes known as the Argonauts. Along their journey, they face various mythical creatures and challenges. The film is renowned for its groundbreaking stop-motion animation by Ray Harryhausen. Todd Armstrong stars as Jason, with Nancy Kovack as Medea and Gary Raymond as Acastus. Director Don Chaffey Release Date June 13, 1963 Cast Todd Armstrong , Nancy Kovack , Honor Blackman , Gary Raymond Runtime 104 Minutes Budget $3 Million

Jason and the Argonauts' Medea is Nancy Kovack's biggest role of her career. The film not only features some of Ray Harryhausen's best monster work, but it's also a thrilling and action-packed sword-and-sandals epic that's still inspiring filmmakers today. Medea is a high priestess of Colchis who Jason (Todd Armstrong) rescues and the two begin a romance that leads to Medea saving Jason at the end of the film.

Jason and the Argonauts is a classic of cinema and Kovack's performance ensures it's not just one long battle between men and claymation monsters. She brings humanity to the film and her chemistry with Armstrong is palpable. It's one of the classic "damsel in distress" roles, the kind that's still mocked decades later in movies like Hercules. But it's Nancy Kovack's greatest performance and a reason she will always be a part of Hollywood history.

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Nancy Kovack Retired From Acting In 1976

Nancy Kovack retired from acting in 1976 after her performance in Cannon as Charlotte Frawley. She currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband, conductor Zubin Mehta. The actress keeps a low media profile, so it's not known exactly what she's doing now. She does make some appearances at Hollywood-related events, including The Hollywood Show in 2019.