Both of her Columbo appearances are fabulously iconic. In one, she’s the matriarch of an Irish shipping clan that illicitly supports the IRA. In the other, she’s the maid for the uncle of twins played by Martin Landau who is pissed at Columbo the entire time. Both characters are a delight, and she’s spectacular in both of them. In some ways, we miss out a bit by not letting people do more than one character on a show anymore, not least because she’s arguably more noteworthy on her second appearance. Oh, someone else could’ve played Mrs. Peck, and probably played her well, but we still would’ve missed out. Fans of the show definitely know that the character was amazing and worthwhile and possibly the only non-murderer to completely and utterly lose their cool at him.
Nolan was one of many people who came up through the Pasadena Playhouse, and she just never stopped. She made her radio debut in 1932, and her final IMDb credit is from 1998. If someone’s actual life were that length, you’d agree it had been cut a little short but not tragically so. And if she was a character actress throughout it, well, her screen debut was as Lady Macbeth . . . opposite Orson Welles. Not a man known for being willing to put up with substandard leading ladies. (Also it’s his birthday today, so happy birthday, Orson Welles?) It’s frankly surprising she didn’t have a more noteworthy career after that.
Oh, she did a lot of stuff. Another “because they let you do this back then” is that she did six episodes of Perry Mason, including playing his client once and the murderer a whopping three times. (No overlap, of course.) She has 205 IMDb credits, which of course doesn’t cover radio or stage, both of which she’s been known to do. She’s got a Standard TV Career covering decades. Starting, in my judgement, with The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and going all the way to MacGyver. (She did Dear John after that, but that doesn’t make the Standard TV Career list.) And that’s just the TV.
My specific interests include noting that she did Widow Tweed in The Fox and the Hound, which we’re getting to next month, and Ellie Mae—one of the many bayou animals—in The Rescuers. She also did nine episodes of The Wonderful World of Disney, including four of Gallegher, a series I wish Disney would make available, as I’m pretty sure there’s nothing that has aged more poorly than, say, Peter Pan in it. She did Emergency! In fact, at this point, it’s surprising that she did neither Cop Rock nor The Rockford Files.
She’s in movies directed by Fritz Lang and John Ford, and if she paid the bills with The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo and TJ Hooker, well, you’ve got to pay the bills. She was married nearly sixty years, and she and her husband routinely appeared together on things, presumably paying the bills together. And as part of that Standard TV Career, they were Dan Fielding’s parents on Night Court, which is an episode I haven’t seen in a long time and need to go get caught up on at some point. It’s hard for me to spend much time watching things I love without encountering her.
If you love my tributes, consider supporting my Patreon or Ko-fi!