Kim Hunter

Her father, Donald Cole, was a consulting engineer, and died in 1926 when Kim was only three years old. Her mother, Grace Lind, once performed as a concert pianist. She had one brother who was eight years older than she, and she was educated at Miami Beach High.

She studied at the Actors Studio and her first professional appearance was as "Penny" in "Penny Wise" in Miami in November 1939.

Then, she joined a repertory group called "Theatre of Fifteen", but it disbanded in 1942 when WWII took away most of its male members.

A one-time student of the Pasadena Playhouse, she was appearing in the 1942 production of "Arsenic and Old Lace" when she was discovered by an RKO talent hunter who signed her to a seven-year contract for David O. Selznick's company. Selznick suggested she change her first name to "Kim" and a RKO secretary suggested the last name of "Hunter".

Gave birth to her 1st child at age 22, a daughter Kathryn Deirdre Baldwin on December 13, 1944. Child's father is her 1st husband, William Baldwin.

Returned to work 2 months after giving birth to her daughter Kathryn to begin filming You Came Along (1945).

She made her Broadway debut performance as "Stella" in "A Streetcar Named Desire" at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, New York, in December 1947 that was the 1947-1948 season's success and for which she won the Critics Circle and Donaldson awards.

Political activist, she signed several civil rights petitions and was a sponsor of a 1949 World Peace Conference in New York - which triggered her label of being a Communist sympathizer, for which she was blacklisted in films and TV even though she never even held pro-Communist views. Her testimony to the New York Supreme Court in 1962 against the publishers of "Red Channels" helped pave the way for clearance of many performers unjustly accused of Communist connections.

An agent for David O. Selznick saw her in a stage production of "Arsenic and Old Lace" at the Pasadena Playhouse and signed her to a seven-year contract. Selznick suggested she change her first name to "Kim" and a RKO secretary suggested the last name of "Hunter". A few years later, Irene Mayer Selznick, David's ex-wife by then, recommended Kim for the role of "Stella" in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951).

Was the 36th actress to receive an Academy Award; she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) at The 24th Academy Awards on March 20, 1952.

Gave birth to her 2nd child at age 31, a son Sean Robert Emmett - aka Sean Emmett - on January 20, 1954. Child's father is her 2nd husband, Robert Emmett.

Along with Roddy McDowall, Roddy McDowall, Maurice Evans, Linda Harrison, Ricardo Montalban, John Randolph, Natalie Trundy and Severn Darden, she is one of only nine actors to play the same character in more than one film in the original "Planet of the Apes" series. She played Zira in Planet of the Apes (1968), Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970) and Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971), making her the only actor to play the same character in three of the films.

Was one of 4 Best Supporting Actress Oscar winners to have guest starred in Murder, She Wrote (1984). The others are Teresa Wright, Claire Trevor and Shirley Jones.

She played the mother of Richard Kiley's character in Blue Moon (1999) in spite of the fact that he was eight months her senior.

According to an in-depth article on Kim Hunter by Joseph Collura in the October 2009 issue of "Classic Images", Kim was quiet and painfully shy as a child and overcame it through the guidance of a local dramatics teacher, a Mrs. Carmine. Included were diction, voice and posture lessons.