A staple of television variety shows, Nancy appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, The Glen Campbell Show, The Bobby Darin Show, Johnny Carson, Laugh-In, Hullabaloo, The Kraft Music Hall, Hollywood Palace and many others, including Hippodrome and Top of the Pops in the UK.

Nancy often jokes about her acting career, but the fact remains she did seven movies, two of which, "Speedway" with Elvis Presley and "The Wild Angels" with Peter Fonda, made her the top female box-office draw two years in a row. She also appeared on episodes of TV's "The Virginian" "Burke's Law" and "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.". One of her few on camera appearances in recent years, was in honor of Viet Nam Veterans, on the television classic "China Beach", which recreated one of her shows with the USO and featured another entertainment industry icon and friend, the Honorary Mayor of Hollywood, Johnny Grant. Nancy also performed as herself in the final season of HBO’s, The Soprano’s, along with her daughter, AJ.

During the Vietnam War, Nancy was a favorite pin-up for the GI's on battlefields and ships. For them, she represented the ideal girl to come home to. In the liner notes of her "Sugar" album, Lee Hazlewood tried to explain the dichotomy of the Nancy persona which seemed to capture so many hearts. He called her "a girl and a woman who is quiet and noisy, square yet hip."

There were many other milestones along the way: record breaking appearances in Las Vegas, Juke Box Awards, Grammy nominations and an Emmy winning television special, conceived and produced by Nancy, called "Movin' With Nancy". This collection of music videos, ten years before there were music videos, was released on DVD. Another “first”, the kiss between Nancy and Sammy Davis Jr. Being one of the first interracial kisses seen on television, it has caused some controversy then and now. Contrary to some inaccurate online reports, the kiss was unplanned and spontaneous, as explained by Nancy and Director, Jack Haley Jr. on the DVD audio commentary.

Nancy has written two books about her legendary father with the hope of setting the record straight about his life, “Frank Sinatra, My Father” and “Frank Sinatra An American Legend.”