A rather large amount of classic television stars have appeared on the show. If you grew up watching Nick At Night in the 1980s and 1990s, back when Nickelodeon's late night block aired shows from the 1950s through 1970s, you may recognize some of these people.
Rose Marie Mazzetta's career spanned over nine decades, with stints in film, radio, records, theater, night clubs, and television. As a child performer during the years just after the silent film era, she had a successful singing career as Baby Rose Marie. As an adult, she was widely known for her role on the CBS sitcom
The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961–1966), where she portrayed comedy writer Sally Rogers. Later, she portrayed Myrna Gibbons on
The Doris Day Show from 1969 to 1971, and was a 14-year panelist on
The Hollywood Squares. In her later years, she appeared in the horror movies
Witchboard (1986),
Psycho (1998) (as the uncredited voice of Norma Bates), and
Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth (2000) (which is technically a horror spoof).
Nancy Jane Kulp's first notable television role was as neighborhood bird watcher Pamela Livingstone in the 1955 series,
The Bob Cummings Show (aka
Love That Bob). The following year, she appeared on
I Love Lucy in the episode "Lucy Meets the Queen", performing as an English maid who shows Lucy and Ethel how to curtsy properly before Queen Elizabeth. On the series
My Three Sons in 1962, she portrayed a high school math and science teacher in two episodes as two different characters. Shortly thereafter, Kulp landed her breakout role as Jane Hathaway, the love-starved, bird-watching, perennial spinster, on the CBS series
The Beverly Hillbillies (photo shown above). In 1967, she received an Emmy Award nomination for her role, and she remained with the show until its cancellation in 1971. Later in life, she played a nun in the
Quantum Leap season 1 episode "The Right Hand of God", which aired on April 7, 1989.
Speaking of The Beverly Hillbillies...
Born Louis Neistat, he entertained the troops during World War II, but is best known for his work on countless television, film, and radio programs. Following his discharge from the United States Army, he began working in live television. He earned his greatest fame as a regular on
The Steve Allen Show, performing with Allen, Don Knotts, Tom Poston, Pat Harrington Jr., and Bill Dana. His characterization of the pretentious country-club braggart Gordon Hathaway, with his catchphrase, "Hi-ho, Steverino," plus Allen's inability to resist bursting into hysterical laughter at his ad-libs, made Nye one of the favorites on Allen's show. When production moved to Los Angeles, Nye went too and became a character actor in Hollywood. Nye played Sonny Drysdale, the spoiled rich stepson of the banker, Milburn Drysdale, on CBS's
The Beverly Hillbillies during the 1962 season. He did six episodes that season, and revived the character briefly during the 1966 season. Nye also appeared on the lecture circuit, in concerts and in nightclubs, and did voice work in animation, such as
Inspector Gadget with Don Adams. At age 92, he continued to work, appearing in the recurring role of Jeff Greene's father on HBO's
Curb Your Enthusiasm from 2000 to 2005.
Harold John Smith was best known for his role as Otis Campbell, the town drunk, on CBS'
The Andy Griffith Show (1960-1966). Smith played many characters on various animated productions, including Owl in the first four original
Winnie the Pooh shorts and later
The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Uncle Tex on
The Flintstones, Goliath in
Davey and Goliath, Flintheart Glomgold and Gyro Gearloose on
DuckTales, and Philippe in Disney's 1991 theatrical animated motion picture
Beauty and the Beast. He was also the official voice of Disney's Goofy character for the period of time between Pinto Colvig and Bill Farmer in the character's voice lineage. He is also known to radio listeners as the original voice of John Avery Whittaker in
Adventures in Odyssey.
Kathleen Marie Garver is most remembered for having portrayed Catherine "Cissy" Davis on the popular 1966 CBS sitcom
Family Affair (photo shown above). She is also known as the voice of Angelica Jones/Firestar in the animated television series
Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends (1981). Garver authored
The Family Affair Cookbook (2009),
Surviving Cissy: My Family Affair of Life in Hollywood (2015), and
X Child Stars: Where Are They Now? (2016). Be sure to check out
Kathy's official website when you're done here.
Jane's career in show business spanned seven decades, including appearances in nightclubs, on recordings, in radio, television, Broadway, and films. Television audiences remember Kean for her role of Trixie Norton in a series of hour-long
color Honeymooners episodes on
The Jackie Gleason Show from 1966–70. She succeeded Joyce Randolph, who had played the role in earlier sketches and on the 1955 sitcom
The Honeymooners, but Kean went on to play the role for many more years than her predecessor. She also appeared as Miss Taylor in Disney's live-action film
Pete's Dragon (1977), and voiced the character Belle in the 1962 television special
Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol, which continues to be shown every year. In 2003, she wrote a memoir,
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to The Honeymooners ... I Had a Life.
Best known for her comic portrayal of Witchiepoo on Sid and Marty Krofft's
H.R. Pufnstuf (photo shown above), her characteristic cackle and animated physicality were notable during the show's 17-episode run in 1969–70. She reprised the role in
The Paul Lynde Halloween Special and the second and final season of
The Banana Splits Adventure Hour on NBC. Hayes portrayed a similar character in other roles, including a 1971 episode of
Bewitched ("Hansel and Gretel in Samantha-Land"), and Weenie the Genie in the Sid and Marty Krofft program
Lidsville. More recently, you may have heard her as Mother Mae-Eye on the animated series
Teen Titans and
Teen Titans GO!.
While we're on the subject of Sid and Marty Krofft...
After appearing for four years as high school student Helen Loomis in the popular ABC show
Room 222 (1969-1974), Judy was cast as the sidekick super heroine DynaGirl in Sid and Marty Krofft's
Electra Woman and Dyna Girl (1976–1977) (photo shown above), where she co-starred with Deidre Hall. Other appearances include roles on
The Spike Jones Show (Jones was her uncle),
The Twilight Zone, and
Bewitched. She appeared twice as an extra on
Batman (1966); her brother, Sam Strangis, was a production manager on the show. In 1984, she guest starred in
The A-Team episode "In Plane Sight" and appeared in the
CHiPs episode "Kidnapped".
Masak's first screen role was as the Harmonica Man in "The Purple Testament", an episode of
The Twilight Zone in 1960. He later appeared on
The Flying Nun, in five episodes of
Bewitched as four different characters, as Beauregard Jackson in the
Land of the Lost episode "Hurricane", and has guest appearances on numerous other shows including
Magnum, P.I. and
Quincy, M.E. He is perhaps best known for a recurring role on
Murder, She Wrote as Sheriff Mort Metzger (photo shown above), although he did make appearances as two other characters in the series.
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