Nancy Kilgas (dancer and actor, known for Seven Brides for Seven Brothers)
She was not on the list.
Nancy Blanche Kilgas was born in Seattle on 7 November 1930 to Carl (a credit manager) and Frances Kilgas (nee Hurlburt).
The family were living in Portland by 1941 – Nancy wrote a letter to the kids page of her local newspaper to give away some kittens. She was involved in many activities, including being a member of the cartoon, dramatics, pet and sewing clubs, and even wrote newspaper articles as a Young Oregonian Reporter. She interviewed several noted dancers, including Lucia Chase, Igor Yousekivitch and Andre Eglesky, who all “spoke encouragingly of dancing as a profession”.
Nancy studied ballet with Nicholas Vasilief and went on to teach children’s ballet classes at the Paul Armstrong School of Dancing, as well as regularly performing at the Portland Theatre of Opera and Ballet.
After graduating from Grant High School, she studied Liberal Arts at Vanport College (now Portland State University) and, in 1950, was chosen as “sweetheart” of the Delta Tau Rho fraternity and presented with an engraved locket. However, she decided to follow her passion for dancing and moved to Hollywood.
A later newspaper article said that she accompanied her parents on a business trip to LA and took some dancing classes while she was there to pass the time. The teachers said she showed promise, so she moved permanently. I think that’s probably a slightly dramatized version of the story, but, however it happened, she moved into the Hollywood Studio Club and studied ballet with Lotte Goslar and Maria Bekefi.
Nancy began working very quickly – dancing at the Hollywood Bowl and appearing regularly on The Dinah Shore Show. She also (so the story goes!) found out that a bunch of women were auditioning for the new musical movie, Hans Christian Andersen, and decided to turn up “uninvited” herself. When the casting director found out she wasn’t a member of the Screen Actors Guild, she was dismissed, but was quickly called back and cast!
She joined the Billy Daniels Revue and performed in a seven week engagement at the Mocambo, where an MGM producer saw her and invited her to audition. She didn’t get the first job she went for, but the next one was Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.
Nancy worked with her co-stars, June Powell and Virgina Gibson, again in the movie Athena – also featuring Debbie Reynolds and a pre-Hercules Steve Reeves. And she continued appearing in movies throughout the 1950s – in some named roles, but often as an uncredited dancer.
In 1954, Nancy was featured in a set of “beach beauties” photos with Debbie Reynolds, Cyd Charisse, Janet Leigh and another one of the “brides”, Betty Carr. In 1956, she was one of thirteen starlets to “start on the road to fame” at the fourth annual Deb Star Ball of the Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists.
Nancy’s parents were still living in Portland and she visited them in 1958. All three were in a car crash and Nancy suffered minor neck injuries.
Nancy did more acting work on television in the late fifties, as well as appearing as a model in a photo series about ballet posture and stretching exercises. And a slightly weird advertisement selling a pattern for a set of storage shelves to hang on the back of a door. Throughout the 1960s, she was a dancer in Nevada.
Moving away from dance, Nancy became a successful realtor in LA – seen in newspaper articles and listings from 1969 to 1992.
Nancy was an only child and never married. By 1993, her parents were living with her in Pacific Palisades, California. Her father died in 2000 and her mother in 2003.
Nancy died in 2022, aged 91. Her gravestone says “devoted daughter, caretaker of all creatures great and small”.
She appears to have provided a bequest to the scholarship set up to honour her mother’s sister – the Blanche Marie Hurlburt Memorial Scholarship to provide continued higher education for graduating high school students from Thompson Falls, Montana.
Actress
Alfred Hitchcock, Paul Newman, and Julie Andrews in Torn Curtain (1966)
Torn Curtain
6.6
Ballet Member (uncredited)
1966
Alfred Hitchcock in Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955)
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
8.5
TV Series
Jill Treadwell
1959
Kathleen Crowley and Michael Pate in Curse of the Undead (1959)
Curse of the Undead
6.0
Cora (uncredited)
1959
Rod Cameron in State Trooper (1956)
State Trooper
7.6
TV Series
Pat Desmond
1959
Tristram Coffin in 26 Men (1957)
26 Men
7.4
TV Series
Mary ConlanJane Claiborne
1958–1959
Rex Allen in Frontier Doctor (1958)
Frontier Doctor
8.1
TV Series
Kathy Lambert
1959
Dale Robertson in Tales of Wells Fargo (1957)
Tales of Wells Fargo
7.9
TV Series
Gee Gee
1959
June Kenney in The Spider (1958)
The Spider
4.7
Dancer
1958
High School Hellcats (1958)
High School Hellcats
5.6
Laurie
1958
Harriet Nelson, David Nelson, Ozzie Nelson, and Ricky Nelson in The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952)
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
7.4
TV Series
Nancy
1958
Howard Duff and Ida Lupino in Mr. Adams and Eve (1957)
Mr. Adams and Eve
7.4
TV Series
Druscilla
1958
Dick Simmons and Yukon King in Sergeant Preston of the Yukon (1955)
Sergeant Preston of the Yukon
7.5
TV Series
Dora Lloyd
1957
James Cagney, Jane Greer, and Dorothy Malone in Man of a Thousand Faces (1957)
Man of a Thousand Faces
7.1
Mary Philbin in 'Phantom' (uncredited)
1957
Elvis Presley, Wendell Corey, Dolores Hart, and Lizabeth Scott in Loving You (1957)
Loving You
6.5
2nd Autograph Seeker (uncredited)
1957
Father Knows Best (1954)
Father Knows Best
7.4
TV Series
Marge
1957
Hal Baylor, Hans Conried, and Chuck Hicks in Schlitz Playhouse (1951)
Schlitz Playhouse
7.6
TV Series
Rita Connor
1957
Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face (1957)
Funny Face
7.0
Melissa (uncredited)
1957
Jack Webb in Dragnet (1951)
Dragnet
7.5
TV Series
1956
Shake, Rattle & Rock! (1956)
Shake, Rattle & Rock!
5.6
Nancy
1956
When Gangland Strikes (1956)
When Gangland Strikes
6.0
Sarah Ames (uncredited)
1956
Mark Stevens in Big Town (1950)
Big Town
7.3
TV Series
Ann Mason
1956
There's Always Tomorrow (1956)
There's Always Tomorrow
7.4
Leading Dancer in Show (uncredited)
1956
Shirley Jones and Gordon MacRae in Oklahoma! (1955)
Oklahoma!
7.0
Dancer (uncredited)
1955
Debbie Reynolds, Jane Powell, Vic Damone, and Edmund Purdom in Athena (1954)
Athena
5.9
The Sisters: Aphrodite
1954
Jane Powell and Howard Keel in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
7.3
Alice Elcott
1954
Gorilla at Large (1954)
Gorilla at Large
5.4
Trapeze assistant (uncredited)
1954
Jane Russell in The French Line (1953)
The French Line
5.1
Model in Musical Number (uncredited)
1953
Jack Palance and Constance Smith in Man in the Attic (1953)
Man in the Attic
6.2
Dancer (uncredited)
1953
Hans Christian Andersen (1952)
Hans Christian Andersen
6.9
Dancer (uncredited)
1952
Soundtrack
That's Entertainment! (1974)
That's Entertainment!
7.8
performer: "Bless Yore Beautiful Hide" (1954) (uncredited)
1974
Self
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show (1956)
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
8.1
TV Series
Self
1957
Bob Hope in The Bob Hope Show (1950)
The Bob Hope Show
7.3
TV Series
Self - Hollywood Deb-Star
1956
Dinah Shore in The Dinah Shore Show (1951)
The Dinah Shore Show
6.7
TV Series
Self
1954
Archive Footage
Jane Powell and Howard Keel in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)
Sobbin' Women: The Making of 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers'
7.8
TV Movie
Self - Alice Elcott (archive footage)
1997
Father Knows Best (1954)
Father Knows Best
7.4
TV Series
Marge (archive footage)
1959
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