Nanny and the Professor
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	AJ Carothers Thomas L. Miller
Starring	Juliet Mills Richard Long David Doremus Trent Lehman Kim Richards
Theme music composer	George Greeley
Opening theme	"Nanny", written and sung byThe Addrisi Brothers
Composers	Charles Fox Arthur Morton Sidney Fine
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	54
Production
Producer	Charles B. Fitzsimons
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	30 min.
Production company	20th Century-Fox Television
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	January 21, 1970 (1970-01-21) – December 27, 1971 (1971-12-27)

Nanny and the Professor is an early 1970s Americansitcom created byAJ Carothers andThomas L. Miller for20th Century-Fox Television that aired onABC from January 21, 1970 untilDecember 27, 1971. During pre-production, the proposed title wasNanny Will Do.^[1]

Playing upon the popularity ofMary Poppins and other magical nannies of literature, this TV series posited another ostensibly magical British nanny taking care of a family in need of guidance. Unlike the candid "magicality" of its forebears, this Nanny's paranormal nature was less overt and only implied. The Nanny's young wards, and the audience, were left intentionally uncertain of the nature of Nanny's "powers", if any.

The series starredJuliet Mills as Nanny Phoebe Figalilly,Richard Long as Professor Harold Everett, and in season 3Elsa Lanchester in the recurring role of Aunt Henrietta. Figalilly is the housekeeper for Professor Everett and nanny to his three children: Hal, the intellectual tinkerer, played byDavid Doremus; Butch, the middle child, played byTrent Lehman; and Prudence, the youngest, played byKim Richards.^[2]

Nanny is apparently psychic, and has regular flashes of what is often more than intuition (accented by a musical tinkling sound effect); she frequently knows who is at the door before the doorbell even rings. There is the vague suggestion that she may be at least several hundred years old and more than human, which the children think they have discovered in an episode after they see a photo of Nanny's aunt, taken a century earlier, who looks exactly like her. On outings, Nanny wears a navy blueInverness cape and cap that resembled adeerstalker; the program's opening titles showed animations of both. Midway through the first season, Nanny and the kids restore a broken down 1930Model AFord, which Nanny names "Arabella". For some reason, the car's radio can only pick up radio broadcasts from 1930.

The location of the series is never named. In two episodes it is mentioned that Everett is a professor at fictional Collier University.

Following the show's cancellation, two animated adaptations of the series (Nanny and the Professor andNanny and the Professor and the Phantom of the Circus) aired as part ofThe ABC Saturday Superstar Movie. All of the principal cast members provided voices for their respective characters.

• "Nanny" Phoebe Figalilly (Juliet Mills), a beautiful young British woman who shows up unannounced at the Everett household to look after the Professor's children. Though she gives no references, Everett affords Phoebe the customary six-week probationary period to see what she can do. At first her antics seem odd to the family, especially Hal, who calls her a "weirdo", but she soon endears herself to the three kids and Everett himself. Phoebe (who prefers to be called "Nanny") claims to be neither clairvoyant nor magical, but appears to have a sixth sense about many things (accented by a tinkling sound whenever her senses assert themselves), including knowing the names of people she has never met, communicating with animals and, most frequently, knowing someone is at the front door or on the telephone prior to the doorbell or telephone ringing.
• Professor Harold Everett (Richard Long), a widower and mathematics teacher at Collier University. Everett's three children are so rambunctious that he cannot retain a nanny to take care of them; In the first episode, the family has gone through five differentau pairs in less than a year before Nanny's arrival. Although the Professor soon admits Nanny is doing a very good job, his skepticism and Nanny's lack of references maintain his doubts as to whether she will work out, added to which the sheer implausibility of the many strange things that have happened since Nanny's arrival contradict Everett's discipline of practicality. Initially he spends most of his time working, but with Nanny's subtle prompting he begins to spend more and more time with his children. As the series progressed, there were increasingly subtle suggestions of a romantic interest developing between Everett and Nanny.
• Harold "Hal" Everett Jr. (David Doremus), the oldest of the Everett kids, Hal is of above average intelligence and takes after his father's practical and skeptical persona; the two often playchess together. Hal is also a tinkerer and inventor, though his experiments often go awry; one of his inventions is a prototype of what would later become known asThe Clapper.
• Bentley "Butch" Everett (Trent Lehman), the middle child and Hal's younger brother, who hates his real name and, when he's not eating, enjoys sports and is an occasional prankster; He unsuccessfully attempts to frighten Nanny by hiding his pet guinea pig in her bag. Butch harbors jealousy and envy of Hal and has a penchant for following in his footsteps whenever Hal takes up a new career choice, though in one episode the tables are briefly turned when, after he mimics Hal's stargazing, he accidentally discovers a newcomet and the Bureau of Astronomics decide to name the comet after him.
• Prudence Everett (Kim Richards), the youngest of the Everett kids and the Professor's only daughter. Prudence immediately takes a liking to Nanny when she first arrives.
• Mrs. Fowler (Patsy Garrett) (recurring), the Everetts' sometimes nosy neighbor.
• Francine Fowler (Eileen Baral) (recurring), Mrs. Fowler's daughter and classmate of Hal. Francine has a terrible crush on Hal.
• Waldo, the family dog, anOld English Sheepdog

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From time to time, some of Nanny's eccentric relatives (and some Nanny claimed as relatives because they were everybody's uncle) dropped by the Everett home for a visit. They include:

• Uncle Alfred (portrayed byJohn Mills,Juliet Mills's father), an eccentric who enthralls the Everett children with his wonderful stories and human flying act in his visit in "The Human Fly".
• Aunt Justine (portrayed byIda Lupino) andAunt Agatha (portrayed byMarjorie Bennett), two of Nanny's loveable aunts who draw a mob of reporters, tourists and "Women's Libbers" when they descend on the Everetts, quite literally, in a balloon in "The Balloon Ladies".
• Uncle Horace (portrayed byRay Bolger), Nanny's roguish uncle, an old charmer, just back from the South seas, finds himself in great demand as rainmaker in Nanny's drought-stricken town during his visit in "South Sea Island Sweetheart".
• Aunt Henrietta (portrayed byElsa Lanchester), an eccentric grand dame who arrives in town with her circus and a disturbing premonition that Nanny is about to be carried off by a mustachioed stranger in "Aunt Henrietta's Premonition." She later appeared in "Aunt Henrietta and the Jinx" during a battle between reason and superstition and returned again in "Aunt Henrietta and the Poltergeist" helping to get rid of a ghost.
• Aunt Arabella, Nanny's aunt and the inspiration for the nickname of Nanny's antique 1930Ford Model A automobile in "Nanny on Wheels".
• Nanny had a lookalike great-aunt (seen only in a photograph) who lived to a ripe old age (she was born in October - a Libra).
• During Nanny's wedding to Cholmondeley Featherstonehaugh (pronounced "Chumley Fanshaw"), she found a note from her mother tucked in her great-great-great-grandmother's wedding gown that told her to only marry if she was truly in love. Nanny took the advice of the note and called off the wedding.

The series first aired as amid-season replacement on January 21, 1970, onABC, with the final episode broadcast on December 27, 1971. The series enjoyed initial success due to its Friday night timeslot when it was scheduled betweenThe Brady Bunch andThe Partridge Family, which were shows aimed at similar demographics (largely young children and pre-teens). Ratings suffered in the third season when ABC moved the series to Monday night oppositeGunsmoke andRowan & Martin's Laugh-In. After the series was canceled, it was seen for a few years insyndication. It was also one of the first shows rerun onFX Network in 1994. The show was added togetTV's lineup in May 2016 for a short time. The show also appeared briefly onNick@Nite.

• Phoebe Figalilly's bio at TV Acres
• Nanny & The Professor atIMDb

• 1970s American single-camera sitcoms
• 1970s American college television series
• 1970 American television series debuts
• 1971 American television series endings
• American fantasy comedy television series
• Television duos
• Television series by 20th Century Fox Television
• American English-language television shows
• Television series about nannies
• American Broadcasting Company sitcoms

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