(cast)
The Flying Nun is an American sitcom produced by Screen Gems for ABC based on the book The Fifteenth Pelican, by Tere Rios, which starred Sally Field as Sister Bertrille.
Madeleine Sherwood played the stern Reverend Mother Plaseato
Marge Redmond played the tolerant Sister Jacqueline, whose voice also served as set-up narration for the episodes
Shelley Morrison played Sister Sixto, who repeatedly mangled English phrases
Linda Dangcil played Sister Ana
Alejandro Rey played local playboy Carlos Ramirez, whom Sister Bertrille would run into with alarming frequency.
No. of seasons 3 / No. of episodes 82
Production
Executive producer Harry Ackerman
Producer(s) Jon Epstein
Ed Jurist
William Sackheim
Original run September 7, 1967 – September 18, 1970 (1970-09-18)
Series background
Developed by Bernard Slade, the series centered on the adventures of a community of Daughters of Charity nuns in the Convent San Tanco in Puerto Rico. The comic elements of the storyline were provided by the flying ability of a novice nun, Sister Bertrille, played by Sally Field in her second sitcom role after Gidget.
In the series pilot, Sister Bertrille, a native of Chicago, arrived from New York City after having been arrested for being involved in a protest. It was also later learned in the episode "My Sister, the Sister" that Sister Bertrille had come from a family of doctors and is the only one who did not follow in their footsteps. Also, it was revealed in the same episode that her real name was Elsie Ethrington.
She could be relied upon to solve any problem that came her way by her ability to catch a passing breeze and fly (attributed to her small stature and heavily starched cornette, the headgear for her habit). Her flying talents caused as many problems as they solved. She once explained her ability to fly by stating, "When lift plus thrust is greater than load plus drag, anything can fly." The reason behind that statement was that Sister Bertrille weighed only 90 pounds, and in one episode tried to gain more weight so she could stay grounded, but those attempts proved to be a failure.
