`Hillbillies' ' Nancy Kulp Is Dead

PALM DESERT, Calif. - Actress Nancy Kulp, best known for her role as the erudite secretary Jane Hathaway on ``The Beverly Hillbillies'' TV series, has died of cancer. She was 69.

Miss Kulp died Sunday at 12:35 a.m. in a desert residence, said John Caranci of Wiefels and Son Funeral Home.

Miss Kulp graduated with a journalism degree from Florida State University and wrote feature stories for the Miami Beach Tropics in the early 1940s.

``My first love has always been journalism,'' she once said in an interview.

She began her film career with nonspeaking parts, then landed roles in ``The Model and the Marriage Broker'' and ``Shane.'' She also played the secretary in ``Love That Bob,'' starring Robert Cummings.

In 1962, she was cast as the plain, erudite secretary in the hit TV series ``The Beverly Hillbillies.''

Miss Kulp ran for Congress as a Democrat from Port Royal, Pa., in 1984, but was defeated.

Caranci said he didn't have names of family survivors.