Nan Martin R.I.P.

Nan Martin, who appeared frequently on television, film, and stage, passed on Thursday at the age of 82.

Nan Martin was born in Decatur, Illinois on July 15, 1927, but was raised in Santa Monica, California. Her acting career began when attending the University of California, Los Angeles part time and she was received a role in the school's production of The Gentle People. Eventually she moved to New York and made her debut on Broadway in 1950 in the play  A Story for a Sunday Evening. The following year she appeared in ta revival of The Constant Wife.

Nan Martin made her television debut on Studio 57 in 1955 and her film debut in The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit the following year. From 1955 to 2005, Martin would then have an incredibly prolific career. On Broadway she appeared in a revival of Makropoulos Secret (1957), J.B. (1958), The Great God Brown (1959), a revival of Lysistrata (1959), a revival of Henry VI Part I (1960), Under the Yum-Yum Tree (1960), Come Live with Me (1967), Summer Brave (1975), and The Eccentricities of a Nightingale (1976).  In California she was part of the South Coast Repertory, with which she performed in such plays as The Road to Mecca, Buried Child, and All My Sons.

 Nan Martin appeared very frequently on television. In the Fifties she guest starred on such shows as Robert Montgomery Presents, Sunday Showcase, and Play of the Week. In the Sixties she guest starred on Ben Casey, The Untouchables, The Twilight Zone, The Defenders, The Fugitive, Perry Mason, and Mission: Impossible. In the Seventies she guest starred on Bewitched, The F.B.I.,and Ellery Queen. In the Eighties she guest starred on Hart to Hart, Star Trek: the Next Generation, Columbo, and The Golden Girls. She was one of the stars of the series Mr. Sunshine and appeared in the mini-series The Thorn Birds. In the Nineties she guest starred on The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. and ER. She was a semi-regular on The Drew Carey Show as Mrs.Louder. In the Naughts she guest starred on Six Feet Under, NYPD Blue, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and Las Vegas.

Nan Martin also appeared in a large number of films. In the Sixties she appeared in the 1964 version of Toys in the Attic, Hamlet, The Art of Love, For the Love of Ivy, and Goodbye, Columbus. In the Seventies she appeared in The Young Nurses, The Other Side of the Mountain, Jackson County Jail, and A Small Circle of Friends. In Eighties she appeared in All of Me, and A Nightmare on Elm Street 3:  Dream Warriors. From the Nineties into the Naughts she appeared in Last Gasp, Big Eden, Forever Lulu, and Cast Away.