KIM HUNTER BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

Kim Hunter was born on November 12th, 1922 in Detroit Michigan with the birth name Janet Cole.  Her father, Donald Cole was a consulting engineer who passed away when she was only three years old.  Her mother was Grace Lind who used to work as a concert pianist.  She only had one sibling, an older brother.  She attended High School at Miami Beach High and was always a very shy and quiet child.
 
During school, she took drama and voice classes and was able with the help of her teacher, to break out of her shy shell.  After High School she studied at the Actors Studio and in 1939 she did her first professional stage appearance in, "Penny Wise" and she soon after joined a repertory group, "Theatre of Fifteen", however when World War II occurred, the group fell apart due to losing many of the male talent who had to join the military.
 
When she was discovered by a talent scout from RKO while on stage performing, "Arsenic Lace" in 1942, she was offered a seven year contract for the David O. Selznick's company.  It was then that she took on her stage name Kim Hunter.
 
In 1947, Hunter made her Broadway debut in, "A Streetcar Named Desire" for which she was awarded the Critics Circle and Donaldson Award.  Then in 1951, Hunter reprised the role of, Stella in the film, "A Streetcar Named Desire" co-starring with Vivien Leigh, Marlon Brando and Karl Malden for which she won an Oscar.
 
She made a number of television appearances such as, "The Comedian" (1957) which was a television live broadcast opposite Mickey Rooney.  She also appeared on, "Eleventh Hour" (1962), "Breaking Point" (1963), "Dr. Kildare" (1965) and on the television soap opera, "The Edge of Night" for which she won a Daytime Emmy Award nomination in 1980 as Best Actress and she further acted in shows such as "Alfred Hitchcock Hour", "Bonanza", "Climax!" and "Robert Montgomery Presents".
 
Kim Hunter also had a decent number of films roles to add to her resume such as, "A Matter of Life and Death" (1946) starring with David Niven, Roger Livesey, Marius Goring, Richard Attenborough and Raymond Massey and "Planet of the Apes" (1968) also starring Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Maurice Evans, James Whitmore, James Daly, Woodrow Parfrey and Linda Harrison, for which she did three films and won the admiration of sci-fi viewers for portraying the character, Dr. Zira.  Her final screen appearance was in 2001 on an episode of the television series, "The Education of Max Bickford".  
 
Kim Hunter married twice throughout her lifetime, first to William A. Baldwin on February 11th, 1944 for only two years, divorcing in 1946 after having one child, a daughter Kathy.  Her second husband was Robert Emmett in 1951 and they remained married until he passed away on April 8th, 2000 after also having one son, Sean Emmett.    
 
Two years after losing her husband, Kim Hunter passed away on September 11th, 2002 in New York City, New York after suffering a heart attack at the age of seventy nine.  
 
Kim Hunter was very involved in politics and was a sponsor of a 1949 World Peace Conference in New York.  For this she was actually blacklisted from working in film and television because she was being accused of being a communist.  However, later this was proven untrue and she was allowed to continue working. 
 
She was honored with two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to the Motion Picture and Television industry.  She is survived by her two children.  
 

Filmography

2001 The Education of Max Bickford 
2000 Here's to Life! 
2000 The Hiding Place 
1999 Out of the Cold 
1999 Blue Moon 
1999 Shadows of the Past 
1998 A Price Above Rubies 
1997 Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil 
1997 As the World Turns
1994 L.A. Law
1994 Mad About You 
1993 All My Children
1993 Triumph Over Disaster: The Hurricane Andrew Story
1993 Bloodlines: Murder in the Family 
1993 The Black Cat 
1990 Murder, She Wrote
1990 Two Evil Eyes
1989 Cross of Fire
1988 Drop-Out Mother 
1987 The Kindred
1985 American Playhouse 
1985 Private Sessions 
1981 Skokie 
1980 F.D.R.: The Last Year 
1979-1980 The Edge of Night
1979 The Golden Gate Murders 
1979 The Rockford Files
1979 Backstairs at the White House 
1961-1978 Hallmark Hall of Fame 
1978 Project U.F.O.
1977 The Oregon Trail
1977 Hunter
1976 Once an Eagle 
1976 Baretta
1976 The Dark Side of Innocence 
1976 Dark August 
1975 Wide World Mystery
1975 Ellery Queen
1975 Lucas Tanner
1975 Insight
1971-1974 Medical Center 
1974 Ironside
1974 Bad Ronald 
1974 Born Innocent 
1973-1974 The Evil Touch
1974 Unwed Father 
1973 Hec Ramsey 
1973 Police Story
1973 Griff
1973 Marcus Welby, M.D.
1973 The Magician
1973 Love, American Style
1973 Mission: Impossible
1972 Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law 
1972 Rod Serling's Night Gallery 
1972 Young Dr. Kildare
1971 Columbo
1971 Jennifer on My Mind
1971 Cannon
1971 Escape from the Planet of the Apes 
1971 In Search of America 
1971 The Bold Ones: The New Doctors
1967-1970 Mannix
1970 Bracken's World
1970 The Young Lawyers
1970 Beneath the Planet of the Apes 
1970 The Teaching
1970 Dial Hot Line
1969 NET Playhouse
1968 CBS Playhouse 
1968 The Jackie Gleason Show
1968 The Swimmer 
1968 Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color
1968 The Young Loner 
1968 Planet of the Apes 
1968 Bonanza
1966 Hawk
1966 Lamp at Midnight 
1965 Dr. Kildare
1965 The Defenders
1964 Lilith 
1964 The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
1963 Arrest and Trial 
1963 Breaking Point
1963 The Doctors and the Nurses 
1963 Jackie Gleason and His American Scene Magazine
1962 The Eleventh Hour
1956-1962 The United States Steel Hour
1962 The Dick Powell Theatre 
1962 Naked City
1961 Give Us Barabbas 
1960-1961 Play of the Week 
1960 Special for Women: The Cold Woman
1956-1960 Playhouse 90
1960 Sunday Showcase
1956-1960 G.E. True Theater 
1960 The Closing Door 
1959 Adventures in Paradise
1959 The Lineup
1959 Rawhide
1958 Alcoa Theatre
1958 Rendezvous
1958 Money, Women and Guns
1955-1958 Climax!
1958 Studio One in Hollywood
1957 The Kaiser Aluminum Hour
1957 The Young Stranger
1956 The Joseph Cotten Show: On Trial
1956 Studio 57
1956 Bermuda Affair 
1956 Storm Center 
1955 Lux Video Theatre
1955 Omnibus
1955 Screen Directors Playhouse
1955 Star Tonight
1955 Appointment with Adventure
1955 Justice
1954 Janet Dean, Registered Nurse 
1953 The Gulf Playhouse
1952 Anything Can Happen
1952 Deadline - U.S.A. 
1952 Celanese Theatre
1952 Robert Montgomery Presents
1951 A Streetcar Named Desire 
1949 The Ford Theatre Hour 
1949 Suspense
1949 The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse
1948-1949 Actor's Studio 
1949 The Silver Theatre
1946 Stairway to Heaven 
1945 You Came Along 
1944 A Canterbury Tale
1944 When Strangers Marry 
1943 Tender Comrade
1943 The Seventh Victim