Kim Hunter

American actress

Also known as: Janet Cole

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

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Quick Facts

Original name:: Janet Cole

Born:: Nov. 12, 1922, Detroit, Mich., U.S.

Died:: Sept. 11, 2002, New York, N.Y. (aged 79)

Awards And Honors:: Academy Award (1952); Academy Award (1952): Actress in a Supporting Role; Golden Globe Award (1952): Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture

Married To:: Robert Emmett (1951–2000 [his death]); William A. Baldwin (1944–1946)

Movies/Tv Shows (Acted In):: "Jennifer on My Mind" (1971); "The Eleventh Hour" (1962); "Celanese Theatre" (1952); "The Evil Touch" (1973–1974); "Mannix" (1967–1970); "A Price Above Rubies" (1998); "Sunday Showcase" (1960); "The Kindred" (1987); "The Seventh Victim" (1943); "Appointment with Adventure" (1955); "Breaking Point" (1963); "Rawhide" (1959); "Ellery Queen" (1975); "Beneath the Planet of the Apes" (1970); "Play of the Week" (1960–1961); "Here's to Life!" (2000); "Money, Women and Guns" (1958); "General Electric Theater" (1956–1960); "The Hiding Place" (2000); "Alcoa Theatre" (1958); "Naked City" (1962); "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1951); "The Education of Max Bickford" (2001); "Jackie Gleason: American Scene Magazine" (1963); "Love, American Style" (1973); "A Matter of Life and Death" (1946); "Storm Center" (1956); "The Young Lawyers" (1970); "Omnibus" (1955); "Out of the Cold" (1999); "Police Story" (1973); "Deadline - U.S.A." (1952); "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" (1997); "Anything Can Happen" (1952); "Planet of the Apes" (1968); "Confidential for Women" (1966); "Suspense" (1949); "All My Children" (1970); "The Defenders" (1965); "Murder, She Wrote" (1990); "Night Gallery" (1972); "The Magician" (1973); "The Gulf Playhouse" (1953); "Lux Video Theatre" (1955); "Dr. Kildare" (1965); "Insight" (1975); "Once an Eagle" (1976); "Bermuda Affair" (1956); "Abilene" (1999); "Playhouse 90" (1956–1960); "The United States Steel Hour" (1956–1962); "Dark August" (1976); "Bracken's World" (1970); "Studio One" (1958); "World Wide '60" (1960); "The Silver Theatre" (1949); "The Jackie Gleason Show" (1968); "Scene of the Crime" (1984); "Baretta" (1976); "Mission: Impossible" (1973); "On Trial" (1956); "Young Dr. Kildare" (1972); "The Ford Theatre Hour" (1949); "Screen Directors Playhouse" (1955); "Escape from the Planet of the Apes" (1971); "Mad About You" (1994); "Gunsmoke" (1971); "Hec Ramsey" (1973); "Cannon" (1971); "Hawk" (1966); "Disneyland" (1968); "The Philco Television Playhouse" (1949); "When Strangers Marry" (1944); "A Canterbury Tale" (1944); "L.A. Law" (1994); "The Rockford Files" (1979); "The Kaiser Aluminum Hour" (1957); "Adventures in Paradise" (1959); "Climax!" (1955–1958); "Bonanza" (1968); "Marcus Welby, M.D." (1973); "Star Tonight" (1955); "NET Playhouse" (1969); "Chronicle" (1963); "Rendezvous" (1958); "Actor's Studio" (1948–1950); "American Playhouse" (1985); "Project U.F.O." (1978); "Medical Center" (1971–1974); "Justice" (1955); "Robert Montgomery Presents" (1952); "The Edge of Night" (1979–1980); "CBS Playhouse" (1968); "Hunter" (1977); "Ironside" (1974); "The Wide World of Mystery" (1975); "The Lineup" (1959); "You Came Along" (1945); "The Young Stranger" (1957); "The Nurses" (1963); "The Oregon Trail" (1977); "Columbo" (1971); "Griff" (1973); "As the World Turns" (1997); "Lucas Tanner" (1975); "Due occhi diabolici" (1990); "The Dick Powell Show" (1962); "Tender Comrade" (1943); "Lilith" (1964); "Studio 57" (1956); "The Bold Ones: The New Doctors" (1971); "The Swimmer" (1968); "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour" (1964); "Arrest and Trial" (1963); "Backstairs at the White House" (1979); "Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law" (1972); "Janet Dean, Registered Nurse" (1954); "Lamp Unto My Feet" (1958)

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Kim Hunter (born Nov. 12, 1922, Detroit, Mich., U.S.—died Sept. 11, 2002, New York, N.Y.) was an American actress of stage, screen, and television who was perhaps best known for her portrayals of two extremely varied roles: Stella Kowalski in the stage (1947) and film (1951) versions of A Streetcar Named Desire and the sympathetic chimpanzee psychiatrist Dr. Zira in three Planet of the Apes movies (1968, 1970, and 1971).

Hunter became interested in acting when she was a young child and at age 17 joined a little theatre group and made her stage debut in Penny Wise. She then acted on tours and in stock companies, and in 1942 her performance in Arsenic and Old Lace at the Pasadena (Calif.) Playhouse attracted the attention of David O. Selznick and resulted in a film contract. Hunter’s first movie role came in 1943 with The Seventh Victim, and that same year she appeared in Tender Comrade. One of her most notable roles was in the British film A Matter of Life and Death (1946; U.S. title, Stairway to Heaven), and upon her return to the United States, she was cast in A Streetcar Named Desire. While performing in that play, she took the opportunity to study at the Actors Studio. In 1951 Hunter starred with Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh in the film version of A Streetcar Named Desire, and she won a best supporting actress Academy Award for her performance as Stanley Kowalski’s anguished wife.

Because she had helped sponsor a world peace symposium in 1949 and because some considered Tender Comrade pro-Soviet, Hunter was listed as a communist sympathizer in the pamphlet Red Channels, which led to her being blacklisted for a few years in the 1950s. In 1962 in the New York Supreme Court, her testimony against the publishers of that pamphlet helped clear the names of several actors. In addition to her film and stage roles, Hunter counted hundreds of appearances on television programs, including the anthology series Playhouse 90 and such series as Bonanza, Dr. Kildare, Gunsmoke, Columbo, and the daytime soap operas The Edge of Night and As the World Turns. In 1975 she published what she called “an autobiographical cookbook,” Loose in the Kitchen.

Empty movie theater and blank screen (theatre, motion pictures, cinema).

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