An Actress in ‘Andy Griffith’ and ‘Munsters’ Episodes Has Died: Nina Shipman Was 88

Nina Shipman, a familiar face to classic TV fans for her appearances on The Munsters and The Andy Griffith Show, and who also worked with legends like Bing Crosby and Alfred Hitchcock, has died. 

The 88-year-old passed away on Sunday of natural causes at a hospital in Gardena, California, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Born in Los Angeles on Aug. 15, 1938, Shipman came from parents steeped in showbiz. Per THR, Barry Shipman, her dad, wrote Westerns and episodes for shows like Lassie. Meanwhile, her mother, Gwynne Shipman, was an actress who appeared in films like Hopalong Cassidy Returns. Her grandmother, Nell Shipman, was even a silent film star.

After graduating from UCLA and studying acting under Sanford Meisner, Nina Shipman made her film acting debut, popping up in an uncredited role in Hitchcock’s 1958 masterpiece Vertigo. Per IMDb, she then went on to land two parts in the Bing Crosby films Say One for Me (1959) and High Time (1960). She also starred alongside Fred MacMurray in 1959’s The Oregon Trail.

Nina Shipman on Her ‘The Munsters’ Turn: ‘It Was Really Kind of Cool’

However, Shipman really made her mark on the small screen.

In a fan-favorite episode of The Munsters, Lily Munster, Girl Model, a series of madcap events leads to mad-scientist/vampire Grandpa Munster (Al Lewis) transforming into a beautiful model (played by Shipman).

“It was really kind of cool,” Shipman recalled in 2024. “I spoke my own lines, and then after we were through shooting, [Lewis’] voice was dubbed over into my lines so that I talked like Grandpa.”

She later appeared on The Andy Griffith Show episode “The County Clerk.” In the 1966 appearance, she played the nurse love interest of the milquetoast character Howard Sprague (Jack Dodson).

Shipman also appeared in a slew of other high-profile shows over the decades, including The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, Maverick, Bonanza, Rawhide, Dr. Kildare, Perry Mason, The Beverly Hillbillies, The Mod Squad, Highway to Heaven and General Hospital.

Meanwhile, Shipman was married three times. First to Richard Harrington from 1956 until their 1958 divorce, then to actor and stuntman C. Ransom Walrod from 1961 until their 1973 divorce. Finally, she tied the knot with choral conductor Donald Bremer in 1975. That marriage lasted until Bremer died in 2015.

Shipman leaves behind her daughters, Westerly and Lani, and her grandchildren, Bryson, Serena, Cole, Charlie, and Clover.