Marsha Hunt Biography, Wikipedia
With a nearly 80-year career that started on October 17, 1917, Marsha Hunt was an American actress, model, and activist. On that day, she was given the name Marcia Virginia Hunt, and she died on September 7, 2022. Executives from the film industry put her on a “blacklist” in the 1950s, a time when McCarthyism in Hollywood was at its worst.
She appeared in a number of movies, including Born to the West (1937), in which John Wayne costarred with Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier, Pride and Prejudice (1940), in which Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson costarred with Greer Garson, Kid Glove Killer (1942), with Van Heflin, Cry “Havoc,” in which Joan Blondell and Margaret Sullavan costarred, The Human Comedy (1943), with Mickey Rooney, Raw Deal (1948 (1971).
In the midst of the blacklist era, she became active in the humanitarian cause of world hunger. In her later years, she assisted homeless shelters, supported same-sex marriage, raised awareness of climate change, and promoted peace in Third World countries. She was also an advocate for same-sex marriage.
Early life
Hunt was the younger of two girls and was born on October 17th, 1917 in Chicago, Illinois. She was the youngest of the two. Her father, Earl Hunt, was a lawyer and eventually became the administrator of Social Security, while her mother, Minabel Hunt, was a voice instructor and organist. Her elder sister, Marjorie, a teacher, died in 2002. Marsha is how she wanted her first name to be spelled after she changed it from Marcia.
The Hunt family was very involved in the activities of the Methodist church. During an interview for a book that was published in 1999, she had this to say about her family:
I lucked into the most fortuitous, warm, constructive kind of family context imaginable. My father was a top scholar, a Phi Beta Kappa. My mother was a voice coach and accompanist of singers in the concert and opera fields. We didn’t have the term “liberated woman”, but my mother certainly was…They were brought up, both, in the state of Indiana, which is now called the Bible Belt. They were wholesome, they neither smoked nor drank, and they never used the Lord’s name in vain. I never heard a four-letter word. It didn’t exist in my wholesome family setting.
Hunt’s family moved to New York City when she was young, and she began performing in school plays and church functions. She graduated from the Horace Mann High School for Girls in 1934 at age 16
Career
Modeling
Hunt began modeling for the John Powers Agency and enrolled in stage acting training at the Theodora Irvine Studio after being unable to “find a single institution or university in the land where you could major in theatre before your third year.” However, Hunt was unable to “find a single college or university in the land where you could major in drama before your third year” despite her parents’ wishes for her to pursue a college education. She was already a top model in terms of revenue by 1935. She intended to join at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in the United Kingdom in May 1935 in order to pursue a career as a theatrical actress.
Years at Paramount
Despite the fact that Hunt was initially hesitant to pursue a career in film, he signed a seven-year deal with Paramount Pictures in June 1935 when he was just 17 years old. When she was in Los Angeles visiting her uncle, the famous comedian Zeppo Marx, a member of the Marx Brothers, spotted a picture of her in the local newspaper and brought her to the attention of Paramount Pictures. After that, she was provided with the opportunity to screen test for The Virginia Judge. During his time at Paramount, Hunt was primarily cast in comedic roles. She worked at Paramount on a total of 12 films between the years 1935 and 1938, including starring roles in Easy to Take (1936), Gentle Julia (1936), The Accusing Finger (1936), and Murder Goes to College (1937), as well as two films that were “loaned out” to RKO and 20th Century Fox. She left Paramount in 1938. In 1937, she featured opposite John Wayne in the Western picture Born to the West, which was released a couple of years prior to Wayne’s success in the Hollywood film industry.
In 1938, the studio decided not to renew Hunt’s contract, and after that, she became a leading actress in a number of low-budget films made by studios in the poverty row, such as Republic Pictures and Monogram Pictures. She also went to New York City for employment in summer stock theater not long before she won a supporting role in MGM’s These Glamour Girls (1939) opposite Lana Turner and Lew Ayres. The film was directed by George Cukor. It is said that the character of Betty was created with Hunt in mind specifically when it was written. 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. Other roles in major studio productions soon followed, including: (1941).
Years at MGM
Hunt got a contract with MGM in 1941, and she remained employed by the company for the subsequent six years. Mervyn LeRoy, the director of the film Blossoms in the Dust, praised Hunt for her ability to give an honest and sincere performance when the movie was being filmed. During this time period, she had starring roles in 21 films, some of which include The Penalty (1941) opposite Lionel Barrymore, Panama Hattie (1942) opposite Ann Sothern and Red Skelton, the war drama Pilot No. 5 (1943) in which she was cast as the love interest of Franchot Tone, and The Valley of Decision (1943). (1945). In 1944, she received the seventh most votes on a list compiled by the exhibitors of “Stars of Tomorrow.” She had previously given a screen test for the part of Melanie Hamilton in the 1939 film Gone with the Wind, and thereafter, David O. Selznick informed her that she would be cast in the role, but instructed her to “keep it a secret for now.” After another three days had passed, it was revealed that Olivia de Havilland would play the leading role. She had a role in None Shall Escape, which was released in 1944 and is widely considered to be the first film to focus on the Holocaust. She was cast in the role of Marja Pacierkowski, a Polish woman who was engaged to Wilhelm Grimm, a German Nazi lieutenant.
Humanitarian work
In 1955, after a trip that opened her eyes to the problem of hunger in the Third World, Hunt gave speeches across the United States, encouraging Americans to join the United Nations Association in order to join the fight against starvation in the Third World. These speeches were given after a trip that opened her eyes to the problem of hunger in the Third World. Hunt was instrumental in the establishment of one of the earliest homeless shelters in the San Fernando Valley, as well as the “San Fernando Valley Mayor’s Fund for the Homeless,” which he helped establish. In 1960, she was the producer of a refugee-themed television show that was an hour long and starred Bing Crosby, Paul Newman, and Jean Simmons as well as other celebrities. She advocated for homeless adults and children, as well as those suffering from mental illness, while serving for many years on the advisory board of directors of the San Fernando Valley Community Mental Health Center, a large non-profit organization. During that time, she helped raise money for the “Rose Cottage,” which is a daycare shelter for homeless children. In addition, she worked to establish the “Rose Cottage.” In 1983, she was bestowed the title of honorary mayor of Sherman Oaks, California.
Hunt maintained his self-identification as a political liberal, and he was particularly concerned with topics such as international pollution, worldwide poverty, peace in Third World nations, and population growth.
Personal life
On November 23, 1938, Hunt wed Jerry “Jay” Hopper, who was at the time the assistant head of the editing department at Paramount and who would eventually become a director. In 1943, they got a divorce.
On February 10, 1946, Hunt wed scriptwriter and radio director Robert Presnell Jr., who was her second husband.
While filming Carnegie Hall, Hunt was seven months pregnant and in a lot of pain.
On July 1, 1947, she gave birth to her only biological child, a daughter who was delivered prematurely and passed away the next day. After that, she and her second husband became parents to foster children. They stayed together till his passing on June 14th, 1986, when he was 71 years old.
Hunt called the Sherman Oaks neighborhood of Los Angeles, in which she stayed in a house that she had owned from the year 1946. On September 7, 2022, she passed away there for reasons unrelated to human activity at the age of 104.
Awards and honors
- Hunt was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 8, 1960. The star is located 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 recognition of her work in Western movies and television shows, she was presented with a Golden Boot Award in the year 2002.
- It was reported in March 2015 that Marsha Hunt would be presented with the first-ever “Marsha Hunt for Humanity Award” at a Hollywood screening series that was established by Kat Kramer, the daughter of the late film director Stanley Kramer and actress Karen Sharpe.
- During the 52nd annual Cinecon Classic Film Festival, which took place in Hollywood in 2016, Marsha was honored with the Cinecon Legacy Award. Stan Taffel conducted the interview with her following a screening of None Shall Escape. Taffel was the one who awarded the award.
- Hunt has appeared in three films that have gone on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. In 1941 and 1942, respectively, Pride and Prejudice and Blossoms in the Dust were both honored with an Academy Award for Best Production Design. These awards were presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In 1944, the
- Academy Award for Best Story was given to The Human Comedy. This category has since been discontinued by the Academy.
