Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Flint Portraits: Nancy Kovack



What does the Vehicle City have to do with Jason and the Argonauts, the awkwardly animated film that once seemed so cool and cutting edge?


Note: This post has been updated to correct two errors.

Actress Nancy Kovack, of course.
"On March 11, 1935 1936, Nancy was born in Flint, Michigan. Yes, the same Flint, Michigan, made popular by another prominent child of the city, Michael Moore, in his film documentaries," cultsirens.com breathlessly explains. "Our girl was a brainy student type, as it was reported that she enrolled at the University of Michigan at age 15 to eventually graduate around 19! She took the time to be a radio deejay and to win a lot of beauty contest titles (at least eight) by the age of 20."
And what's Flint's best-known actress doing these days? How does a bombshell who's worked with Dean Martin and Alfred Hitchcock pass the time? She lives quietly with her family in a modest house off East Court in Flint. She enjoys the Farmer's Market on Saturdays, and she's been sighted at the White Horse Tavern on occasion.

Just kidding.

"Another big honor came her way when she said ‘yes’ to a marriage proposal coming from famed orchestra conductor Zubin Mehta," according to cultsirens.com. "They were united on July 19, 1969. She subsequently popped up a couple of times on TV, credited as Nancy Mehta, and was last seen on a Bronk episode in 1976. The couple had two children. Mehta became the music director for the New York Philharmonic. And Nancy preferred to dedicate herself to family life. Of course, Mehta eventually worked with Pavarotti and Domingo. In 1998 the couple moved to Germany, where hubby became Music Director of the Bavarian State Opera. Also, Nancy lost some money to Susan McDougal, a player in the Whitewater scandal. By her own admission, Nancy Kovack refused to play the Hollywood game, be it casting couch or swingers scene, despite playing seductive and/or sexy roles. She never became a major movie star and this suited her fine."


11 comments:

  1. Here's a bit of little known trivia (I think) concerning Nancy Kovack.

    Nancy grew up in what is now Flint Township, in the area of Corunna and Linden Roads. Her family home was located on land on currently occupied by the Home Depot on Corunna Road. When Home Depot purchased the land and before construction began, I remember reading in an article in the Flint Journal that Mrs. Mehta paid to have her childhood home (which was still standing at the site) moved and brought to where she lived so it would avoid the wrecking ball...

    Money talks, doesn't it?

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  2. She was also Miss Flint of 1955. She also graduated from Dye School,which was located at the corner of Dye and Corunna. When she went there it was the high school and when I went there it was grades 6th and 7th in the early sixties.

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  3. I'll forgive the crappy animation comment, just because You did this article. Always appreciated seeing Her movies when a yonker, and now as old(er)man...uh...even more.

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  4. bustup, I knew I was in trouble for downgrading the animation on this one almost immediately. I've had two friends ask me what I was thinking criticizing a groundbreaking work of animation. All I can say is I'm a writer, not an animator. What do I know?

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  5. ain't no thang Homeslice. just an old fan of stop-action, Ya know? like the Man said: "To each, His own". firm believer. I read this cyberspot everyday, right after the Journal, and Mich. Messenger. So, You're at least, in 50% good company. Many Thanks

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  6. How about an article highlighting the other famous former Flinttoids? Bob Eubanks has my vote!!!!!

    RoadsideDinerLover

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  7. only know her from the first episode of Bewitched. She was Sheila.

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  8. google her as nancy mehta and hold your breath when her pics pop up in her current incarnation.

    she looks nothing like herself, she's a blonde now and she's also gained quite a bit of weight.

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  9. Anonymous post "she looks nothing like herself, she's a blonde now and she's also gained quite a bit of weight."

    Dude, did you think your were going to get into your time machine and go back to 1965 to hook-up with Nancy Kovack? Everyone knows that's ridiculous. Nancy Kovack wouldn't hook-up with you.

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  10. "she looks nothing like herself, she's a blonde now and she's also gained quite a bit of weight."

    Heh. Of course, none of the rest of us have gained an ounce, or undergone a hair-color (or quantity) change, or aged at all. 8^)

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  11. FYI

    She never had any children with Mr. Mehta. He has a son and daughter from his first marriage.

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Thanks for commenting. I moderate comments, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. You might enjoy my book about Flint called "Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City," a Michigan Notable Book for 2014 and a finalist for the 33rd Annual Northern California Book Award for Creative NonFiction. Filmmaker Michael Moore described Teardown as "a brilliant chronicle of the Mad Maxization of a once-great American city." More information about Teardown is available at www.teardownbook.com.