Kim Hunter

Kim Hunter (born Janet Cole; November 12, 1922 – September 11, 2002) was an American theatre, film, and television actress. She achieved prominence for portraying Stella Kowalski in the original production of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, which she reprised for the 1951 film adaptation, and won both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Decades later, she was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for portraying Nola Madison on the soap opera The Edge of Night. She also portrayed the chimpanzee Zira in Planet of the Apes (1968), and its sequels Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970) and Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971).

Early life Hunter was born in Detroit, Michigan, the daughter of Grace Lind, who was trained as a concert pianist, and Donald Cole, a refrigeration engineer. She was of English and Welsh descent. Hunter attended Miami Beach High School.

Career Hunter's first film role was in the 1943 horror The Seventh Victim, and her first starring role was playing opposite David Niven in the 1946 British fantasy film A Matter of Life and Death. In 1947, she was Stella Kowalski on stage in the original Broadway production of A Streetcar Named Desire. Recreating that role in the 1951 film version, Hunter won both the Academy and Golden Globe awards for Best Supporting Actress. In the interim, however, in 1948, she had already joined with Streetcar co-stars Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, and 47 others, to become one of the first members accepted by the newly created Actors Studio.

In 1952, Hunter became Humphrey Bogart's leading lady in Deadline USA.

Hunter was blacklisted from film and television in the 1950s, amid suspicions of communism in Hollywood, during the era of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC).

In 1956, with the HUAC's influence subsiding, she co-starred in Rod Serling's Peabody Award-winning teleplay on Playhouse 90, "Requiem for a Heavyweight". The telecast won multiple Emmy Awards, including Best Single Program of the Year. She appeared opposite Mickey Rooney in the 1957 live CBS-TV broadcast of The Comedian, another drama written by Rod Serling and directed by John Frankenheimer. In 1959, she appeared in Rawhide in "Incident of the Misplaced Indians" as Amelia Spaulding. On February 4, 1968, she appeared as Ada Halle in the NBC TV Western series Bonanza in the episode "The Price of Salt".

Hunter starred in the controversial TV movie Born Innocent (1974) playing the mother of Linda Blair's character. She also starred in several episodes of the CBS Radio Mystery Theater during the mid-1970s. In 1971, she appeared in an episode of Cannon. In the same year, she starred in a Columbo episode "Suitable for Framing". In 1974, she appeared on Raymond Burr's Ironside. In 1977, she appeared on the NBC Western series The Oregon Trail starring Rod Taylor, in the episode "The Waterhole", which also featured Lonny Chapman.

Hunter was a lifelong progressive Democrat.

Hunter died in New York City on September 11, 2002, of a heart attack at the age of 79.

Legacy Hunter received two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for motion pictures at 1615 Vine Street and a second for television at 1715 Vine Street.

Filmography

Film Year Title Role Notes 1943 The Seventh Victim Mary Gibson 1943 Tender Comrade Doris Dumbrowski 1943 Reconnaissance Pilot Catherine Cummings Uncredited / Documentary short 1944 A Canterbury Tale Johnson's Girl US release scenes shot in 1946 1944 When Strangers Marry Mildred "Millie" Baxter Re-release title Betrayed 1945 You Came Along Frances Hotchkiss 1946 A Matter of Life and Death June 1951 A Streetcar Named Desire Stella Kowalski Academy Award for Best Supporting ActressGolden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture 1952 Deadline – U.S.A. Nora Hutcheson 1952 Anything Can Happen Helen Watson 1956 Bermuda Affair Fran West 1956 Storm Center Martha Lockridge 1957 The Young Stranger Helen Ditmar 1958 Money, Women and Guns Mary Johnston Kingman 1964 Lilith Dr. Bea Brice 1968 Planet of the Apes Dr. Zira 1968 The Swimmer Betty Graham 1970 Beneath the Planet of the Apes Dr. Zira 1971 Escape from the Planet of the Apes Dr. Zira 1971 Jennifer on My Mind Jennifer's Mother Scenes deleted 1976 Dark August Adrianna Putnam 1987 The Kindred Amanda Hollins 1990 Due occhi diabolici Mrs. Pym Segment: "The Black Cat" 1993 The Black Cat Mrs. Pym Short release of segment in Due occhi diabolici 1997 Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil Betty Harty 1998 A Price Above Rubies Rebbitzn 1999 Abilene Emmeline Brown 1999 Out of the Cold Elsa Lindepu 2000 The Hiding Place Muriel 2000 Here's to Life! Nelly Ormond

Television Year Title Role Notes 1948–1950 Actors Studio Season 1 Episode 7: "The Ropes" (1948)Season 1 Episode 17: "The Little Wife" (1949)Season 2 Episode 6: "The Return to Kansas City" (1949)Season 2 Episode 17: "The Little Wife" (1950) 1949 The Philco Television Playhouse Season 2 Episode 4: "The Lonely"Season 2 Episode 11: "The Promise" 1949 The Silver Theatre Season 1 Episode 3: "Rhapsody in Discord" 1949 Suspense Emily Season 2 Episode 13: "Man in the House" 1949 The Ford Theatre Hour Meg March Season 2 Episode 6: "Little Women" 1952 Robert Montgomery Presents Season 3 Episode 14: "Rise Up and Walk" 1952 Celanese Theatre Gaby Maple Season 1 Episode 11: "The Petrified Forest" 1953 Gulf Playhouse Season 2 Episode 11: "A Gift from Cotton Mather" 1954 Janet Dean, Registered Nurse Sylvia Peters Episode: "The Putnam Case" 1955 Omnibus Joan of Arc Season 3 Episode 12 (Segment: "The Trial of St. Joan") 1955 Justice Season 2 Episode 32: "The Blues Kill Me" 1955 Appointment with Adventure Season 1 Episode 12: "Race the Comet" 1955 Star Tonight Season 1 Episode 21: "Cross-Words" 1955 Screen Directors Playhouse Elizabeth Season 1 Episode 3: "A Midsummer Daydream" 1955 Lux Video Theatre Lina Season 6 Episode 11: "Suspicion" 1955 Climax! Barbara Williams Season 2 Episode 11: "Portrait in Celluloid" 1956 Studio 57 Molly Season 3 Episode 4: "Perfect Likeness" 1956 The Joseph Cotten Show Anita Wells Season 1 Episode 9: "The Person and Property of Margery Hay" 1956 General Electric Theater Mary Murphy Season 4 Episode 22: "Try to Remember" 1956–1960 Playhouse 90 (1) Grace Carney(2) Julie Hogarth(3) Anna Rojas(4) Joyce McClure(5) Shirl Cato(6) Mrs. Anderson(7) Maria(8) Helen Bragg (1) Season 1 Episode 2: "Requiem for a Heavyweight" (1956)(2) Season 1 Episode 20: "The Comedian" (1957)(3) Season 2 Episode 2: "The Dark Side of the Earth" (1957)(4) Season 2 Episode 20: "Before I Die" (1958)(5) Season 3 Episode 10: "Free Weekend" (1958)(6) Season 4 Episode 2: "The Sounds of Eden" (1959)(7) Season 4 Episode 13: "The Hiding Place" (1960)(8) Season 4 Episode 14: "Alas, Babylon" (1960) 1956 The United States Steel Hour Vivan Season 3 Episode 18: "Moment of Courage" 1957 The Kaiser Aluminum Hour Louise Marden Season 1 Episode 17: "Whereabouts Unknown" 1958 Climax! (1) Lynn Griffith(2) Ann Brewster (1) Season 4 Episode 21: "So Deadly My Love"(2) Season 4 Episode 34: "Cabin B-13" 1958 Studio One Maggie Church Season 10 Episode 34: "Ticket to Tahiti" 1958 Lamp Unto My Feet Episode: "Antigone" 1958 Alcoa Theatre Stephanie Heldman Season 2 Episode 7: "The Dark File" 1958 Rendezvous Amanda 'Mandy' Sullivan Skowran Season 1 Episode 8: "In an Early Winter" 1959 Rawhide Amelia Spaulding Season 1 Episode 16: "Incident of the Misplaced Indians" 1959 The Lineup Sister Angela Season 6 Episode 2: "The Strange Return of Army Armitage" 1959 Adventures in Paradise Vanessa Sutton Charles Season 1 Episode 11: "Haunted" 1960 The Closing Door Television film 1960 NBC Sunday Showcase Season 1 Episode 24: "The Secret of Freedom" 1960 World Wide '60 Jill Episode: "The Secret of Freedom" 1960 Special for Women: The Cold Woman The Cold Woman Television film 1960 The Play of the Week Norma Trahern Season 1 Episode 13: "The Closing Door" 1961 The Play of the Week Season 2 Episode 21: "The Sound of Murder" 1961 Give Us Barabbas! Mara Television film 1962 The United States Steel Hour Season 10 Episode 4: "Wanted: Someone Innocent" 1962 Naked City Edna Daggett Season 3 Episode 13: "The Face of the Enemy" 1962 The Dick Powell Show Ruth Jacobs Season 2 Episode 2: "Tomorrow, the Man" 1962 The Eleventh Hour Virginia Hunter Season 1 Episode 6: "Of Roses and Nightingales and Other Lovely Things" 1963 Jackie Gleason: American Scene Magazine Guest / Sketches Season 1 Episode 15 1963 The Nurses Lora Stanton Season 1 Episode 32: "They Are as Lions" 1963 Chronicle Episode: "The French, They Are So French" 1963 Breaking Point Anita Anson Season 1 Episode 7: "Crack in an Image" 1963 Arrest and Trial Geraldine Weston Saunders Season 1 Episode 13: "Some Weeks Are All Mondays" 1964 The Alfred Hitchcock Hour Adelaide Winters Season 2 Episode 16: "The Evil of Adelaide Winters" 1965 The Defenders Eileen Rolf Season 4 Episode 18: "The Unwritten Law" 1965 Dr. Kildare Emily Field Season 5 Episode 24: "Something Old, Something New"Season 5 Episode 25: "To Visit One More Spring" 1966 Confidential for Women Season 1 Episode 1: "Love After Marriage" 1966 Lamp At Midnight Maria Celeste Hallmark Hall of Fame Television film 1966 Hawk Mrs. Gilworth Season 1 Episode 16: "Wall of Silence" 1967 Mannix Louise Dubrio Season 1 Episode 1: "The Name Is Mannix" 1968 Bonanza Ada Halle Season 9 Episode 19: "The Price of Salt" 1968 The Young Loner Freda Williams Television film 1968 Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color Freda Williams Season 14 Episode 20: "The Young Loner: Part 1"Season 14 Episode 21: "The Young Loner: Part 2" 1968 The Jackie Gleason Show Miss Patterson Season 3 Episode 3: "The Honeymooners: The Boy Next Door" 1968 CBS Playhouse Gerrie Mason Season 2 Episode 1: "The People Next Door" 1969 NET Playhouse Clytemnestra Season 3 Episode 24: "The Prodigal" 1970 Mannix Angela Warren Season 4 Episode 12: "Deja Vu" 1970 Dial Hot Line Mrs. Edith Carruthers Television film 1970 The Teaching Nan Golden Television film 1970 The Young Lawyers Miriam Hewitt Season 1 Episode 4: "The Alienation Kick" 1970 Bracken's World Amy Dobie Season 2 Episode 8: "A Team of One-Legged Acrobats" 1971 The Bold Ones: The New Doctors Elaine Miller Season 2 Episode 6: "A Matter of Priorities" 1971 In Search of America Cora Chandler Television film 1971 Gunsmoke Bea Colter Season 17 Episode 6: "The Legend" 1971 Cannon Liz Somers Season 1 Episode 7: "Girl in the Electric Coffin" 1971 Columbo Edna Matthews Season 1 Episode 4: "Suitable for Framing" 1971 Medical Center Carla Yarman Season 3 Episode 3: "The Imposter" 1972 Night Gallery Cora Peddington Season 2 Episode 16 (Segment: "The Late Mr. Peddington") 1972 Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law Faye Danner Season 2 Episode 2: "Lines from an Angry Book" 1972 Young Dr. Kildare Episode: "The Thing with Feathers" 1973 Mission: Impossible Hannah O'Connel Season 7 Episode 14: "Incarnate" 1973 Love, American Style Ruth Season 4 Episode 21 (Segment: "Love and the Happy Family") 1973 The Magician Nora Coogan Season 1 Episode: "Pilot" 1973 Marcus Welby, M.D. Vera Pulaski Season 5 Episode 3: "For Services Rendered" 1973 Griff Dr. Martha Reed Season 1 Episode 6: "The Last Ballad" 1973 Police Story Rose Koster Season 1 Episode 9: "Man on a Rack" 1973 Hec Ramsey Annie Kirby Season 2 Episode 2: "The Detroit Connection" 1973 The Evil Touch Jill Season 1 Episode 3: "Dr. McDermitt's New Patients" 1974 The Evil Touch Emily Webber Season 1 Episode 26: "Wings of Death" 1974 Medical Center Marion Troy Season 6 Episode 13: "Kiss and Kill" 1974 Ironside (1) Joanna Portman(2) Athena Champion (1) Season 7 Episode 18: "The Taste of Ashes"(2) Season 8 Episode 7: "The Last Cotillion" 1974 Unwed Father Judy Simmons Television film 1974 Born Innocent Mrs. Parker Television film 1974 Bad Ronald Elaine Wilby Television film 1975 Insight Ann Hinds Episode 385: "The Last of the Great Male Chauvinists" 1975 Lucas Tanner Bess Reiter Season 1 Episode 16: "Collision" 1975 Ellery Queen Marion McKell Season 1 Pilot Episode: "Too Many Suspects" 1975 The Wide World of Mystery Episode: "The Impersonation Murder Case" 1976 The Dark Side of Innocence Kathleen Hancock Television film 1976 Baretta Crazy Annie Season 3 Episode 9: "Crazy Annie" 1976 Once an Eagle Kitty Damon Television miniseriesSeason 1 Episode 1: "Part 1"Season 1 Episode 4: "Part 4" 1977 The Oregon Trail Liz Webster Season 1 Episode 3: "The Waterhole" 1977 Hunter Mrs. Lovejoy Season 1 Episode 12: "The Lovejoy File" 1978 Project U.F.O. Samantha Season 2 Episode 3: "Sighting 4017: The Devilish Davidson Lights Incident" 1978 Stubby Pringle's Christmas Mrs. Harper Television film 1979 Backstairs at the White House Mrs. Ellen Wilson Television miniseries (Season 1 Episode 1) 1979 The Rockford Files Mrs. Brockelman Season 5 Episode 19: "Never Send a Boy King to Do a Man's Job" 1979 The Golden Gate Murders Sister Superior Television film 1979–1980 The Edge of Night Nola Madison 113 episodesNominated—Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (1980) 1980 F.D.R.: The Last Year Lucy Rutherford Television film 1981 Skokie Bertha Feldman Television film 1984 Scene of the Crime Helen Hollander Season 1 Episode: "Pilot" 1985 Private Sessions Rosemary O'Reilly Television film 1985 American Playhouse (1) Mary Easty(2) Samuel Nurse (1) Season 4 Episode 18: "Three Sovereigns for Sarah: Part I"(2) Season 4 Episode 20: "Three Sovereigns for Sarah: Part III" 1988 Drop-Out Mother Leona Television film 1989 Cross of Fire Mrs. Oberholtzer Television film 1990 Murder, She Wrote Beatrice Vitello Season 7 Episode 1: "Trials and Tribulations" 1993 All My Children Faye Perth 1993 Bloodlines: Murder in the Family Vera Woodman Television film 1993 Triumph Over Disaster: The Hurricane Andrew Story Elsa Rael Television film 1994 Mad About You Millie Barton Season 2 Episode 19: "Love Letters" 1994 L.A. Law Natalie Schoen Season 8 Episode 22: "Finish Line" 1997 As the World Turns (1) and (2) Nurse(3) Mrs. Tompkins (1) Episode dated May 5, 1997(2) Episode dated May 6, 1997(3) Episode dated September 29, 1997 1999 Blue Moon Sheila Keating Television film 2001 The Education of Max Bickford Adelle Aldrich Season 1 Episode 3: "Who Is Breckenridge Long?"

Awards and nominations Year Association Category Nominated work Result1951 Academy Awards Best Supporting ActressA Streetcar Named Desire Golden Globe Award Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture 1980 Daytime Emmy Award Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series The Edge of Night