Kim Hunter

Kim Hunter Headshot

Actress

Birth Date: November 12, 1922

Death Date: September 11, 2002

Birth Place: Detroit, Michigan

This vivacious, brunette will forever be remembered for her Oscar-winning role as Stella Kowalski in Elia Kazan's "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1951), a role she had originated on Broadway. Kim Hunter has also amassed an impressive list of stage and television credits in a career that has spanned over 50 years.

Although born in Detroit, Michigan, Hunter was raised in the Miami, Florida, area. While still a teenager, she made her stage debut in a local production, was spotted by talent scouts and put under contract by film producer David O Selznick. After arriving in Hollywood, she was loaned out for her first film, the offbeat thriller "The Seventh Victim" (1943), which found her cast as a naive girl who stumbles upon devil worshipers in NYC's Greenwich Village. The same year, Hunter was cast in Edward Dmytryk's "Tender Comrade," a Ginger Rogers vehicle about women who live communally during WWII.

Partly as a result of her participation in this film, Hunter's name appeared in "Red Channels," a pamphlet listing those with alleged Communist sympathies, that led to her being blacklisted in the 1950s. Prior to this, however, Hunter had turned in several fine performances. She was a bride with suspicions that her husband (Dean Jagger) may be a murderer in "When Strangers Marry" (1944) and an American WAC in love with a British pilot (David Niven) in the Michael Powell-Emeric Pressburger classic "A Matter of Life and Death/Stairway to Heaven" (1946). After recreating her stage triumph in "Streetcar," Hunter had a strong role as the ex-wife of newspaper editor Humphrey Bogart in Richard Brooks' "Deadline U.S.A." (1952).

As the blacklisting faded, she began to occasional film work delivering strong portrayals of a rebellious teenager's concerned mother in "The Young Stranger" (1957) and especially as the head of a mental institution in Robert Rossen's "Lilith" (1964). She also shone alongside Roddy McDowall in "Planet of the Apes" (1968) and lesser so in its to sequels. Her last film role to date was as murderer Harvey Keitel's interfering neighbor in the Dario Argento-directed segment of "Two Evil Eyes" (1990).

On stage, Hunter has worked constantly throughout the US since her 1947 Broadway debut in "Streetcar." Among her numerous credits are the Broadway productions of "Darkness at Noon" (1951), "The Children's Hour" (1952), "The Penny Wars" (1969) and "To Grandmother's House We Go" (1981), with Eva Le Gallienne. Hunter has appeared in regional productions in such roles as Eleanor of Aquitaine in "The Lion in Winter," Emily Dickinson in the one-woman show "The Belle of Amherst" and in the title role of "Driving Miss Daisy."

In 1996, she returned to the Ethel Barrymore Theater on Broadway where "Streetcar" had premiered to appear as Lady Markby in a revival of Oscar Wilde's "An Ideal Husband." Hunter's small screen credits are also numerous, dating from her first appearances as a recurring player on "Actors Studio" (ABC, 1948-49; CBS, 1949-50). She has gone from playing the ingenue (as in the 1949 CBS production of "Little Women") to leading lady (i.e., "The Comedian," CBS 1957) to character roles ("Skokie," CBS 1981). Hunter has made guest appearances on numerous shows from an Emmy-nominated appearance on "Baretta" to the NBC sitcom "Mad About You." Her only series role was as Nola Madison on the ABC daytime drama "The Edge of Night" (1979-80), which also was Emmy-nominated.

Credits

Cameraman: The Life & Work of Jack Cardiff

Actor
Movie
2010

The Prize Fighter

Producer
Movie
2003

The Education of Max Bickford

Guest Star
Show
2001

Here's to Life!

Actor
Nelly Ormond
Movie
2000

The Hiding Place

Actor
Muriel
Movie
2000

La Valse des souvenirs

Actor
Movie
2000

Blue Moon

Actor
Sheila Keating
Movie
1999

Out of the Cold

Actor
Elsa Lindepu
Movie
1999

Abilene

Actor
Emmeline Brown
Movie
1999

A Price Above Rubies

Actor
Rebbitzn
Movie
1998

Midnight in the Garden of Good and EvilStream

Actor
Betty Harty
Movie
1997
50%

Mad About YouStream

Guest Star
Millie Barton
Series
1992

Cross of Fire

Actor
Mrs. Oberholtzer
Show
1989

La Croix de feu

Actor
Mrs. Oberholtzer
Movie
1989

Drop-Out Mother

Actor
Leona
Movie
1987

Murder, She WroteStream

Guest Star
Beatrice Vitello
Series
1984

Skokie

Actor
Bertha Feldman
Movie
1981

F.D.R. -- The Last Year

Actor
Lucy Rutherford
Movie
1980

Gibbsville

Guest Star
Show
1976

Dark August

Actor
Adrianna Putnam
Movie
1976

The Dark Side of Innocence

Actor
Kathleen Hancock
Movie
1976

Too Many Suspects

Actor
Marion McKell
Movie
1975

The Impersonation Murder Case

Actor
Movie
1975

Ellery Queen

Actor
Marion McKell
Movie
1975

Born Innocent

Actor
Mrs. Parker
Movie
1974

Unwed Father

Actor
Judy Simmons
Movie
1974

Bad Ronald

Actor
Elaine Wilby
Movie
1974

Police Story

Actor
Rose Koster
Series
1973

The Case of the Baltimore Girls

Actor
Movie
1973

The Magician

Actor
Nora Cougan
Movie
1973

ColumboStream

Guest Star
Edna Matthews
Series
1971
84%

Cannon

Guest Star
Liz Somers
Series
1971

Escape From the Planet of the ApesStream

Actor
Dr. Zira
Movie
1971
77%

In Search of America

Actor
Cora Chandler
Movie
1971

Night GalleryStream

Actor
Series
1970

Night GalleryStream

Guest Star
Series
1970

Beneath the Planet of the ApesStream

Actor
Dr. Zira
Movie
1970
37%

Dial Hot Line

Actor
Mrs. Edith Carruthers
Movie
1970

Love, American Style

Actor
Ruth
Series
1969

Marcus Welby, M.D.Stream

Guest Star
Vera Pulaski
Series
1969

The SwimmerStream

Actor
Betty Graham
Movie
1968
100%

The Young Loner

Actor
Freda Williams
Movie
1968

Planet of the ApesStream

Actor
Dr. Zira
Movie
1968
87%

MannixStream

Guest Star
Louise Dubrio
Series
1967

Hawk

Guest Star
Show
1966

LilithStream

Actor
Dr. Bea Brice
Movie
1964
86%

Alfred Hitchcock HourStream

Actor
Series
1962

Give Us Barabbas!

Actor
Mara
Movie
1961

BonanzaStream

Guest Star
Series
1959

RawhideStream

Guest Star
Series
1959

Money, Women and Guns

Actor
Mary Johnston Kingman
Movie
1958

Playhouse 90: The Comedian

Actor
Show
1957

The Comedian

Actor
Show
1957

The Young Stranger

Actor
Helen Ditmar
Movie
1957

Requiem for a Heavyweight

Actor
Grace Carney
Movie
1956

Storm Center

Actor
Martha Lockridge
Movie
1956

Bermuda Affair

Actor
Fran West
Movie
1956

Screen Directors Playhouse

Actor
Show
1955

GunsmokeStream

Guest Star
Bea Colter
Series
1955

Climax!

Actor
Series
1954

The United States Steel Hour

Actor
Vivan
Show
1953

Deadline U.S.A.

Actor
Nora Hutcheson
Movie
1952

Anything Can Happen

Actor
Helen Watson
Movie
1952

A Streetcar Named DesireStream

Actor
Stella Kowalski
Movie
1951

What's My Line?Stream

Guest
Game Show
1950

SuspenseStream

Actor
Series
1949

Studio One

Actor
Series
1948

A Matter of Life and Death

Actor
June
Movie
1946
97%

You Came Along

Actor
Frances Hotchkiss
Movie
1945

When Strangers Marry

Actor
Mildred Baxter
Movie
1944

Betrayed

Actor
Mildred Baxter
Movie
1944

Tender Comrade

Actor
Doris Dumbrowski
Movie
1943

The Seventh VictimStream

Actor
Mary Gibson
Movie
1943
95%