# 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".
Starting in 1968, Hunter took on the role of Zira, the sympathetic chimpanzee scientist in the science fiction film Planet of the Apes, as well as two of its sequels. She also appeared in several radio and TV soap operas, most notably as Hollywood actress Nola Madison in ABC's The Edge of Night, for which she received a Daytime Emmy Award nomination as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 1980. In 1979, she appeared as First Lady Ellen Axson Wilson in the serial drama Backstairs at the White House.
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's last film role in a major motion picture was in Clint Eastwood's 1997 film, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. In it, Hunter portrayed Betty Harty, legal secretary for real-life Savannah lawyer Sonny Seiler.

## Personal life

Hunter was married twice, first to William Baldwin, a Marine Corps pilot, in 1944. The couple had a daughter, Kathryn Deirdre (b. 1944), before divorcing two years later. She wed Robert Emmett in 1951. They had a son, Sean Robert, in 1954. Hunter and Emmett would occasionally perform together in stage plays; he died in 2000.
Hunter was a lifelong progressive Democrat.

## Death

Hunter died in New York City on September 11, 2002, of a heart attack at the age of 79. Her ashes were given to her daughter—an attorney, civic leader, and former judge in Connecticut.

## 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 Actress Golden 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 miniseries Season 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 episodes Nominated—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 | Result |
| 1951 | Academy Awards | Best Supporting Actress | A Streetcar Named Desire | Won |
| 1951 | Golden Globe Award | Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture | A Streetcar Named Desire | Won |
| 1980 | Daytime Emmy Award | Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series | The Edge of Night | Nominated |