| Nancy Hadley | |
| Birth Name: | Nancy Jo Hadley[1] |
| Birth Place: | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation: | Model, actress |
| Yearsactive: | 1950–1972 |
Nancy Hadley is an American retired model and actress, who performed on stage and in television and films.
She was born Nancy Jo Hadley at Methodist Hospital in Los Angeles, California.[2] Her parents were Paul Edward Hadley, a dried fruit distributor, and Jessie Morisee Cummings.[3] Her parents divorced when Hadley was a toddler; her mother, with whom Hadley lived, remarried.[4] Hadley had two younger half-siblings from her father's second marriage.[5]
Hadley graduated from Huntington Park High School in 1948.[6] She then went to a modeling school, and later worked for modeling agencies.[7]
From April 1950 on Hadley appeared in newspaper photo spreads as a model for California-based retail events, trade conventions, and fashion merchandise.[8] [9] [10]
She also did television commercials from 1950 through 1956, being known as a "spare parts" girl.[11] This meant that viewers saw only specific features of her, such as hands for a fountain pen ad, teeth for a toothpaste commercial, without seeing her whole face and body. The more traditional fashion modeling would continue even after she was an established actress.[12]
Her modeling gigs would lead to a television appearance, on a local Los Angeles program called Hollywood Studio Party during April 1951.[13] Later that year, she was selected as the photo representative for a heavily promoted musical called My L.A., which opened in Los Angeles in early December 1951.[6] Though not a member of the performing cast, Hadley promoted the musical through photo ops and two more television appearances.[14] [15] Her exposure for the "My L.A." campaign also led to a brief recurring role co-hosting a local KTTV show.[16] She left this program abruptly however to enter a series of beauty contests.[17] The culmination of her modeling career came in Spring 1952, when she won the title of "Miss Los Angeles", and was one of five finalists for that year's "Miss California" contest.[18] [19] This led to more live television appearances in the Los Angeles area.[20] [21]
Hadley's acting career seems to have started at age 21 in March 1952, as the female lead in an original stage production, which is known only from a single advertisement.[22] It was more than two years before she would act again, this time with some summer stock at Tustin, California. The Tustin Playbox, then in its third season, had just been taken over by husband and wife producers Sherwood Price and Cathy Browne.[23] [24] They rejuvenated the community theatre with young Hollywood professionals of their acquaintance, including Hadley. She had featured roles in two productions that season, Blithe Spirit and Petticoat Fever, each of which ran for two weeks.[25] [26] She then had a role in a professionally staged fashion trade show at the Pan-Pacific Auditorium, playing the first female US president.[27]
Hadley passed over doing summer stock in 1955 in favor of doing television shows. According to columnist Terry Vernon, Hadley's popularity with producers was due to a new gamine style haircut.[28]
A trickle of shows in 1955 became a flood in 1956, including a recurring part on one series. Despite the work load she found time for three stage plays, including two dramas at the Tustin Playbox, Picnic and Come Back, Little Sheba.[29] [30] Her recurring role was a featured one on The Brothers, in which she played the girl friend of the younger brother. The series lasted only twenty-four episodes; Hadley appeared in about a third of them.
Her final television appearance in 1956 was for the National Bowl Football Game, held December 15 at the Los Angeles Coliseum. Hadley served as on-camera hostess for the charitable portions of the event, in which all proceeds went to the Kiwanis Crippled Children's Foundation.[31]
Throughout 1957 she continued to average one television performance a month, while still doing stage work. She did a two-week run in Champagne Complex with co-star Joe Flynn under the direction of William Schallert at the Laguna Playhouse, followed by another two weeks doing the same play at the Tustin Playbox.[32]
During October 1957 she opened with the touring company for the then Broadway hit The Tunnel of Love, playing with Tommy Noonan, William Bishop, and Narda Onyx to excellent notices by reviewers.[33] [34] So popular was the play that the tour was postponed for a six-month run at the Alcazar Theatre in San Francisco. Not until April 1958 could the tour resume with a six-week run at the Huntington Hartford Theatre in Los Angeles, where critics were almost as enthused.[35] [36] [37]
Hadley told columnist Gene Sherman that after eight months of continuously wearing a wedding ring for the play, she got used to it and kept it on even after she got engaged for real.[38]
Following her extended stage run, Hadley returned to a busy television schedule from 1958 thru 1961. Westerns predominated among the many series she acted in, and about which she had some strong opinions, as expressed to interviewer Vernon Scott.[39]
If I didn't work in westerns, I wouldn't be working very often... Except for screaming, and running from heavies into the arms of the hero, there's no opportunity for acting. Once in awhile I get a chance to beat out a fire or fall off a horse. And I've been shot a couple of times, too. I've only been killed twice though. Romance is out of the question. The hero usually gives you a slight kiss at the end of the show, but nothing very passionate because he has to have another girl in the next episode.
Her second film, Frontier Uprising in early 1961, would become a mainstay of television in later decades. She had the female lead opposite Jim Davis, and not for the first time, was cast in a Hispanic role.
Hadley was hired as a regular for The Joey Bishop Show in Summer 1961, and appeared prominently as Joey's girlfriend for the first seven episodes starting in October of that year.[40] However, despite good ratings, she and four other regulars were fired by November 1961, prompting a suggestion that the show be renamed to "Exodus".[41]
From then on television roles were few and far between. She was now thirty-one, an age at which leading women in television who hadn't yet reached full star status either turned to character acting or faded away. From 1962 thru 1966 she had only one or two television roles per year, followed by four years without any screen acting jobs. She did her third film role in 1970, in which she had a small part as Alvy Moore's wife for The Late Liz, followed by two last television appearances.
Publicity surrounding her choice as Miss Los Angeles revealed she was 5' 5" tall and weighed 117 pounds at age 21, with brown hair and dark blue eyes. She was a health and exercise enthusiast, which enabled her to continue modeling clothes into her thirties.
Hadley married John G. Falvo a writer and producer, in January 1959.[42] [43] Columnists announced the couple had sunk their savings into their new production company, Alger Films, which was to make a movie Falvo had written and in which they both would perform.[44] They also bought a home in Sherman Oaks, the address and price of which an indiscreet realtor provided to the newspapers.[45]
The couple had three sons together, but were divorced on December 1, 1971. Hadley appears to have resided in Pasadena, California since retiring from show business.[46] [47]
| Year | Play | Role | Venue | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1952 | San Juan Outpost | Glendale Centre Theatre | Her stage debut was as the female lead in a locally written play | |
| 1954 | Blithe Spirit | Edith | Tustin Playbox | Hadley started at Tustin playing a psychic housemaid |
| Petticoat Fever | Clara Wilson | Tustin Playbox | Some newspapers mistakenly credited Hadley as "Nancy Bradley" | |
| Glamorama | President | Pan-Pacific Auditorium | Professionally staged trade show had Hadley as first female US president | |
| 1956 | Maryella | Maryella | Glendale Centre Theatre | Hadley likely did more plays here than can be documented [48] |
| Picnic | Millie | Tustin Playbox | Critic praised her tomboy role as a romp | |
| Come Back, Little Sheba | Marie | Tustin Playbox | She drew good reviews as the young college boarder | |
| 1957 | Champagne Complex | Allyn Macy | Laguna Playhouse Tustin Playbox | |
| The Tunnel of Love | Isolde Poole | Alcazar Theatre | A six-month run in San Francisco was followed.... | |
| 1958 | The Tunnel of Love | Isolde Poole | Huntington Hartford Theatre | ....by a six-week run in Los Angeles |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1952 | Ellis in Freedomland | Female Model | Undistributed training film for Westinghouse sales reps used dozens of Hollywood stars[49] |
| 1961 | Frontier Uprising | Consuelo Montalvo | |
| 1971 | The Late Liz | Edie Morris | |
| Year | Series | Episode | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1951 | Hollywood Studio Party | (1951-04-20) | Herself | Local variety show hosted by Jack Wheeler on KTTV; she won "Photo Fair" contest |
| Hi Talent Battle | (1951-11-23) | Herself | Hadley judges winner on KLAC high school talent contest | |
| Vine Street Varieties | (1951-11-28) | Herself | Hadley appeared with host Buzz Adlam on a local KECA show | |
| 1952 | Calo Pet Exchange | 4 episodes | Herself | Hadley did four appearances with host Frank Wright on local KTTV show |
| Ladies Matinee | (1952-05-05) | Herself | Hadley appeared after winning Miss LA title with host Jack Rourke on local KTTV show | |
| Glamour Session | (1952-07-09) | Herself | As Miss LA, Hadley appeared with hostess Rita LaRoy on local KTTV show | |
| 1955 | Luke and the Tenderfoot | The Boston Kid | Miss Meacham | Unsold pilot, not broadcast until 1965. |
| Those Whiting Girls | Barbara's Rival | Vickie Fleming | Transfer co-ed Hadley gives UCLA junior Barbara Whiting competition [50] | |
| Cavalcade of America | Swamp Mutiny | Nancy Crofts | With Hans Conried as Francis Marion, Barry Kelley, and Ron Randell[51] [52] | |
| 1956 | Highway Patrol | Mountain Copter | Frieda Hollis | |
| The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show | George Goes Skiing | Tina Clayton | ||
| The Millionaire | The Cindy Bowen Story | Jessica Marlowe | ||
| The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show | Ronnie Gets an Agent | Sally Fletcher | ||
| Medic | If Tomorrow Be Sad | Stella | ||
| Frontier | The Ballad of Pretty Polly | Polly | Modern reworking of the traditional ballad into a triangle[53] | |
| The Ford Television Theatre | The Alibi | Sybil Glennon | Hadley features as an 1890 stage actress[54] | |
| Schlitz Playhouse | The Happy Sun | Walter Brennan starred as a Finnish lumbarjack[55] | ||
| Big Town | Fake S.O.S. | Mark Stevens recruited Tustin Playbox actors for his series[56] | ||
| Dr. Hudson's Secret Journal | The Caroline Story | Caroline | ||
| The Brothers | Gilly's Birthday | Marilee Dorf | Hadley had a recurring role on this series[57] | |
| Dorf's Photo Machine | Marilee Dorf | |||
| The Quadrangle | Marilee Dorf | |||
| The Babies | Marilee Dorf | |||
| National Bowl Football Game | (1956-12-15) | Herself | Hadley served as on-camera hostess for charity game | |
| 1957 | The Brothers | The Brave Ones | Marilee Dorf | |
| The Sheriff of Cochise | Grandfather Grandson | Alice | Star John Bromfield also raided the Tustin Playbox for actors | |
| The Brothers | Prisoners of Love | Marilee Dorf | Hadley's character befriends three female prison escapees[58] | |
| Stop That Bookmaking Up There | Marilee Dorf | [59] | ||
| Picnic | Marilee Dorf | |||
| The Gale Storm Show | Wedding in Majorca | Vickie Chapman | ||
| Code 3 | The Water Skier | Marge Bentley | ||
| Climax! | The High Jungle | |||
| Personal Report, Inc. | (Pilot Episode) | Diana Welles | This unsold pilot was never broadcast[60] | |
| Perry Mason | The Case of the Sleepwalker's Niece | Edna Hammar | Her character is unlucky in love[61] | |
| The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp | Woman Trouble | Jennie Brant | Hadley plays against type as a deceiver [62] | |
| Mr. Adams and Eve | The Service Story | |||
| 1958 | Love That Jill | Tonight's the Night | Melody - Model | Opening episode of critic panned series features Hadley[63] |
| Official Detective | The Cover-up | Diana | ||
| Matinee Theatre | The End of a Season | (Sister-in-law) | Pianist (Grant Williams) regains sight and dumps wife for her sister[64] | |
| Studio One | The Undiscovered | Helen | Doctors develop vaccine for common cold but...[65] | |
| Bat Masterson | Dude's Folly | Jan Larkin | Hadley's character reopens late father's store[66] | |
| Jefferson Drum | Prison Hill | Ellie Drake | ||
| The Rough Riders | The Counterfeiters | Alice Thompson | Hadley plays widowed teacher who discovers counterfeit money[67] | |
| Have Gun – Will Travel | Something To Live For | Lane Evans | Her character is called "Lane", short for "Elaine"[68] | |
| The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp | The Reformation of Doc Holliday | Marci Stebbins | ||
| 1959 | Rawhide | Incident West of Lano | Emily Haley | Haley sisters show wagon breaks down [69] |
| Flight | Operation Angel | Lieutenant Walpole | Hadley plays WWII nurse on air evac flights[70] [71] | |
| The Captain's Guests | Ellen Courtney | Couple rent spooky old seaside house[72] | ||
| Rawhide | Incident of the Day of the Dead | Ellen Hadley | Hadley plays a bitter crippled rancher[73] | |
| Men into Space | Building a Space Station | Phyllis Smith | ||
| Tightrope! | The Neon Wheel | Lucille Stevens | Crime witness (Hadley) forced to marry corrupt mayor[74] | |
| 1960 | Pony Express | The Golden Circle | Belle Terry | |
| The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp | The Confidence Man | Evie Marlowe | ||
| The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis | The Unregistered Nurse | Valerie Brown | Hadley plays a nurse [75] | |
| Surfside 6 | Deadly Male | Linda Howell | ||
| The Best of the Post | Suicide Flight | Louise | Hadley plays wife of jet test pilot[76] | |
| The Tab Hunter Show | Happily Unmarried | Corina Manville | Hadley plays estranged wife of star's buddy[77] | |
| 1961 | Sugarfoot | Shepherd with a Gun | Mattie Peel | Ambitious rancher's daughter (Hadley) opposes Sugarfoot[78] |
| The Brothers Brannagan | Death Insurance | Angela | ||
| The Joey Bishop Show | On the Spot | Barbara Simpson | Hadley played girlfriend to star Joey Bishop until fired | |
| Joey Meets Jack Paar | Barbara Simpson | |||
| A Windfall for Mom | Barbara Simpson | |||
| Help Wanted | Barbara Simpson | |||
| Five Brides for Joey | Barbara Simpson | |||
| Charity Begins at Home | Barbara Simpson | |||
| Ring-a-Ding-Ding | Barbara Simpson | |||
| 1962 | Alcoa Premiere | Of This Time, Of That Place | Mary Howe | Hadley plays professor's wife[79] |
| Bonanza | The Mountain Girl | Stephanie Harker | A small supporting role for Hadley[80] | |
| 1963 | Empire | Burnout | Ruth Barton | Hadley plays wife of forest ranger[81] |
| Grindl | The Great Schulz | Hilda Schulz | ||
| 1964 | The Cara Williams Show | The Wedding Rehearsal | Diane | Hadley plays a bride who fights with her groom[82] |
| 1965 | Mr. Novak | Mountains to Climb | Ann Stillman | |
| Vacation Playhouse | Luke and the Tenderfoot | Miss Meacham | This was the unsold pilot she made back in 1955[83] | |
| 1966 | Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. | Gomer and the Beast | Ginger | Hadley plays a waitress with an abusive boyfriend[84] |
| 1971 | Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law | The Triangle | Mrs. Hurley | |
| 1972 | A Great American Tragedy | (TV Movie) | Trudy Stewart | |