Biography
Though appearing in only seven episodes, Nita Talbot is best remembered for her Emmy-nominated portrayal of the cunning Russian spy Marya Parmanova in the classic 1960s wartime sitcom Hogan's Heroes (1965). Her character was the sole one on the show capable of outwitting Bob Crane's clever Colonel Hogan.
Born Anita Sokol in the Bronx, New York, Nita was of Hungarian-Jewish descent. Eager to enter show business, she frequently accompanied her older sister, Gloria Stone, to auditions at various studios. During one of these visits, a talent scout noticed her and Warner Brothers signed her to a contract, leading to her screen debut at age eighteen in 1949. Two years later, she made her Broadway debut. With her sultry blonde looks, husky voice, and gray-green eyes, studio publicists often compared her to Hollywood icon Lauren Bacall. Consequently, early in her career, she was typically cast as tough, street-smart women or ambitious career girls.
Nita’s first recurring role was as Gloria in Man Against Crime (1949), one of television’s earliest private detective series. She had to wait ten years for another co-starring role, playing an enterprising aide-de-camp in Hot Off the Wire (1960), a sitcom centered on a struggling news service. Alongside numerous anthology dramas, she frequently appeared in prime-time shows such as Perry Mason (1957), The Thin Man (1957), Mike Hammer (1958), Johnny Staccato (1959), and Mr. Lucky (1959), often portraying characters named Blondie, Mimi, Narcissa, Kitten, Belle, or Delilah. Notably, she played 'Lusti Weather,' a nightclub singer and dancer in four episodes of Bourbon Street Beat (1959).
In Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974) episode The Werewolf, her character Paula Griffin aided Darren McGavin in defeating the creature with silver bullets during a swinging sixties cruise. She was Mickey Rooney’s former flame in an episode of The Fugitive (1963) and a pawn in a game between Peter Falk and Leonard Nimoy in the Columbo (1971) episode A Stitch in Time. Her characters met grimmer fates in Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955) (strangulation), McCloud (1970) (poisoning), The Untouchables (1959), and Mannix (1967) (shot twice).
During the 1970s and 1980s, Nita co-starred in two half-hour sitcoms: playing a vain socialite and magazine editor in Here We Go Again (1973), and Rose, a sharp-tongued receptionist for veterinarian Bill Daily in Starting from Scratch (1988). She also appeared as a semi-regular on the soap opera General Hospital (1963). Continuously working, Nita maintained a steady stream of television guest roles until retiring in 1997.
Her film roles mirrored her television work: nightclub singer 'Saturday Night' in Who's Got the Action? (1962), Sunny Daze in the Elvis beach musical Girl Happy (1965), tycoon Roddy McDowall’s Girl Friday Dee Dee Howitzer in the poorly received comedy The Cool Ones (1967), and the brassy Madam Esther in the blaxploitation western Buck and the Preacher (1972). She also had a minor role as the pretentious, hedonistic Joan Schwartzen in the acclaimed satirical drama The Day of the Locust (1975), set in 1930s Hollywood.
With an impressive 153 acting credits listed on IMDb, Miss Talbot’s prolific career spanned decades. She was married to actors Don Gordon and Thomas A. Geas, with both marriages ending in divorce.
