Marsha Hunt

Movie Actress

Marsha Hunt was born in Chicago, Illinois, United States on October 17th, 1917 and is the Movie Actress. At the age of 107, Marsha Hunt biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.

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Date of Birth
October 17, 1917
Nationality
United States
Place of Birth
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Age
107 years old
Zodiac Sign
Libra
Profession
Actor, Film Actor, Stage Actor, Television Actor
Marsha Hunt Height, Weight, Eye Color and Hair Color

At 107 years old, Marsha Hunt physical status not available right now. We will update Marsha Hunt's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Height
Not Available
Weight
Not Available
Hair Color
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Eye Color
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Build
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Measurements
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Marsha Hunt Religion, Education, and Hobbies
Religion
Not Available
Hobbies
Not Available
Education
Horace Mann School
Marsha Hunt Spouse(s), Children, Affair, Parents, and Family
Spouse(s)
Jerry Hopper, ​ ​(m. 1938; div. 1943)​, Robert Presnell Jr., ​ ​(m. 1946; died 1986)​
Children
1
Dating / Affair
Not Available
Parents
Not Available
Marsha Hunt Career

Hunt's parents wanted her to pursue a college degree, but Hunt, unable to "locate a single college or university in the land where you could major in drama before your third year", found work modeling for the John Powers Agency and began taking stage acting classes at the Theodora Irvine Studio. She was one of the highest-earning models by 1935. In May 1935, she planned on studying stage acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in the United Kingdom.

Although initially reluctant to pursue a film career, in June 1935, at age 17, Hunt signed a seven-year contract with Paramount Pictures. Paramount discovered her when she was visiting her uncle in Los Angeles and the comedian Zeppo Marx (of the Marx Brothers fame) saw a picture of her in the newspaper. She was then offered a screen test for The Virginia Judge. At Paramount, Hunt mainly played ingenue parts. Between 1935 and 1938, she made 12 pictures at Paramount, including starring roles in Easy to Take (1936), Gentle Julia (1936), The Accusing Finger (1936), Murder Goes to College (1937), and two on "loan-out" to RKO and 20th Century Fox. In 1937, she starred opposite John Wayne, a couple of years before his breakthrough in Hollywood, in the Western film Born to the West.

The studio terminated Hunt's contract in 1938, and she spent a few years starring in B-films produced by poverty row studios such as Republic Pictures and Monogram Pictures. She also headed to New York City for work in summer stock theatre shortly before winning a supporting role in MGM's These Glamour Girls (1939) opposite Lana Turner and Lew Ayres. The role of Betty was said to have been written especially with Hunt in mind. Other roles in major studio productions soon followed, including supporting roles as Mary Bennet in MGM's version of Pride and Prejudice (1940) with Laurence Olivier, and as Martha Scott's surrogate child Hope Thompson in Cheers for Miss Bishop (1941).

In 1941, Hunt signed a contract with MGM, where she remained for the next six years. While filming Blossoms in the Dust, film director Mervyn LeRoy lauded Hunt for her heartfelt and genuine acting ability. During this period she had starring roles in 21 films, including The Penalty (1941) opposite Lionel Barrymore, Panama Hattie (1942) opposite Ann Sothern and Red Skelton, and the war drama Pilot No. 5 (1943) in which she was cast as the love interest of Franchot Tone, and The Valley of Decision (1945). In 1944 she polled seventh in a list by exhibitors of "Stars of Tomorrow". She previously did a screen test to play Melanie Hamilton in Gone with the Wind (1939) and was told by David O. Selznick she would play the role, but to "keep it a secret for now." Three days later, it was announced that Olivia de Havilland was cast. In 1944, she appeared in None Shall Escape, a film that is now regarded as the first about the Holocaust. She played Marja Pacierkowski, the Polish fiancée of a German Nazi officer named Wilhelm Grimm.

In 1945, Hunt was invited to join the board of the Screen Actors Guild.

Disturbed by the actions of the House Committee on Unamerican Activities (HCUA), Hunt and her husband, screenwriter Robert Presnell Jr., became members of the Committee for the First Amendment in 1947. According to NPR, she was – at the time of her 100th birthday – the last surviving member of the group.

On October 26 that same year, aged 30, Hunt took part in Hollywood Fights Back, a star-studded radio program co-written by her husband protesting the activities of HCUA. In 2020, Hunt recalled:

The next day, Hunt flew with a group of about 30 actors, directors, writers, and filmmakers (including John Huston, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, and Danny Kaye) to Washington to protest the actions of HCUA. When she returned to Hollywood just three days later, things had changed. She was asked to denounce her activities if she wanted to find more work; she refused.

In 1950, Hunt was named as a potential Communist or Communist sympathizer (along with 151 other actors, writers, and directors) in the anti-Communist publication Red Channels. The publication claimed that her leanings were made evident by her supposedly subversive actions, including asking the Supreme Court to review the convictions of John Howard Lawson and Dalton Trumbo, recording a message in support of a rally organized by the Stop Censorship Committee in 1948, signing a statement in 1946 issued by the Hollywood Independent Citizens Committee of the Arts, Sciences and Professions (HICCASP), and speaking at a rally organized by the Progressive Citizens of America in 1946.

After the publication of Red Channels in 1950, work became scarce for Hunt and Presnell. Hunt said in 2012, "The town turned against us. Just about-face...I was appalled, hurt, shocked that journalism could be so far out in prejudice."

After her 1950 blacklisting, Hunt found most work in television, not film. She appeared in only a handful of films during the next eight years. She later recalled:

During an interview in 1995, Hunt stated that she believed producer Richard J. Collins was among those responsible for her inclusion on the blacklist. She later said:

In 1957, her career began to pick up. She appeared in six films during the next three years before announcing her semi-retirement in 1960.

Following her semi-retirement in 1960, Hunt appeared in small roles in five films and numerous television shows, including an episode of the medical drama Breaking Point. In 1962, she appeared in the season-nine episode of Gunsmoke titled "The Glory and the Mud". In 1967, she had a leading role as Katie's Aunt Cecile in an episode of My Three Sons entitled "The Aunt Who Came To Dinner".

In 1971, she appeared in the film Johnny Got His Gun, written by fellow blacklist member Dalton Trumbo, playing the mother of the title character, portrayed by Timothy Bottoms. It won the Grand Prix at the 1971 Cannes Film Festival. On February 8, 1988, she appeared in Star Trek: The Next Generation in the episode "Too Short a Season" as Anne Jameson, wife of an admiral who took an age-reversing drug. In 1997, she appeared as Ethel Thayer in the Santa Susana Repertory Company's production of On Golden Pond.

In 1993, her book The Way We Wore: Styles of the 1930s and '40s and Our World Since Then was published by Fallbrook Publishing.

She produced the CD Tony London: Songs From the Heart with the Page Cavanaugh Trio which includes two of the 50 songs Hunt has composed.

Hunt played Elizabeth Lyons in Chloe's Prayer, a 2006 film. In 2008, Hunt appeared in a short film noir, The Grand Inquisitor, as Hazel Reedy, the could-be widow of one of America's most infamous unapprehended serial killers.

In 2013, Hunt debuted a clip of a song she wrote 40 years earlier titled "Here's to All Who Love" about love and same-sex marriage. Sung by Glee star Bill A. Jones, the clip immediately went viral. It was featured in Marsha Hunt's Sweet Adversity, a documentary about her life. The documentary debuted at the Palm Springs and Santa Barbara International Film Festivals in January 2015.

When she was 99 in April 2017, Hunt made a public appearance at the 2017 Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival to honor the achievements of actor and activist Ed Asner.

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Marsha Hunt Awards
  • On February 8, 1960, Hunt received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6658 Hollywood Boulevard.
  • In 1999, she was one of the 250 actresses nominated for the American Film Institute's selection of the 25 greatest female screen legends who debuted before 1950.
  • In 2002, she received a Golden Boot Award for her contributions to Western television shows and films.
  • In March 2015, it was announced that Hunt would be honored with the inaugural "Marsha Hunt for Humanity Award" at a Hollywood screening series founded by Kat Kramer, daughter of the late film director Stanley Kramer and actress Karen Sharpe.
  • In 2016, Marsha received the Cinecon Legacy Award at the 52nd annual Cinecon Classic Film Festival in Hollywood. It was presented by Stan Taffel who interviewed her after a screening of None Shall Escape.
  • Three of the films in which Hunt has appeared have won the Academy Award. Both Pride and Prejudice and Blossoms in the Dust received an Oscar in the category Academy Award for Best Production Design in 1941 and 1942 respectively. The Human Comedy received an Oscar in the now-defunct category Academy Award for Best Story in 1944.