Nanny and the Professor

1 9 7 0 – 1 9 7 1 (USA)
54 x 30 minute episodes

“Phoebe Figalilly is a silly name, and so many silly things keep happening”

Long before Fran Drescher came on the scene there was another Nanny who won the hearts of many male TV viewers. This was a very special, magical nanny, and her name was Phoebe Figalilly.

Phoebe (Juliet Mills) was a young English woman who worked as a nanny for Professor Harold Everett (Richard Long) and his family. She breezed in from England unannounced and captivated the Everett household.

She arrived just at the right time too – as Miss Dunbar (Professor Everett’s 5th housekeeper in a year) had just quit in utter frustration at trying to keep order in the chaotic household.

Nanny found herself in charge of Hal (David Doremus), a 12-year-old with a fascination for scientific experiments; 8-year-old Butch (Trent Lehman), who was into everything, and 5-year-old Prudence (Kim Richards), a musical prodigy who practised the same piano piece incessantly.

And then there was Waldo the family sheepdog, Myrtle the guinea pig and sundry other pets.

Nanny’s sunny disposition and seemingly psychic abilities (could she really talk to animals?) won everybody’s heart in this relentlessly cute comedy.

A one-off 60 minute animated special also called Nanny and the Professor aired on ABC on 15 September 1973, with all the cast providing the voices.

Trent Lehman, who played Butch, hanged himself outside his old elementary school in Arleta, Los Angeles in January 1982, aged 20.

Phoebe Figalilly (Nanny)
Juliet Mills
Prof. Harold Everett
Richard Long 
Hal Everett
David Doremus
Butch Everett
Trent Lehman
Prudence Everett
Kim Richards
Aunt Henrietta
Elsa Lanchester
Francine Fowler
Eileen Baral
Mrs Florence Fowler
Patsy Garrett

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