Marsha Hunt
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Marsha Hunt (born Marcia Virginia Hunt; October 17, 1917 – September 7, 2022) was an American actress, model and activist, with a career spanning nearly 80 years. She was blacklisted by Hollywood film studio executives in the 1950s during McCarthyism. 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 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 a starring roles in Easy to Take, Gentle Julia, The Accusing Finger, Murder Goes to College, and two on "loan-out" to RKO and 20th Century Fox. In 1937, she starred opposite John Wayne, a couple of years prior to 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 opposite Lana Turner and Lew Ayres. The role of Betty was said to have been written specially 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 with Laurence Olivier and as Martha Scott's surrogate child Hope Thompson in Cheers for Miss Bishop. 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. In 1944, she polled seventh in a list by exhibitors of "Stars of Tomorrow". She also appeared in None Shall Escape, a film that is now regarded as the first about the Holocaust. She played Marja Pacierkowski, the Polish fiancé of a German Nazi officer named Wilhelm Grimm.
Known for
Credits
Thunder Trail (1937)
as Amy Morgan
Jigsaw (1972)
as Dr. Gehlen
Johnny Got His Gun (1971)
as Joe's Mother
Hell Town (1937)
as Judy Rustoe
The Valley of Decision (1945)
as Constance Scott
Pride and Prejudice (1940)
as Mary Bennet
Annapolis Salute (1937)
as Julia Clemens
Twenty Years After (1944)
as (archive footage)
The Human Comedy (1943)
as Diana Steed
Born to the West (1937)
as Judy Worstall
Bombers B-52 (1957)
as Edith Brennan
Come On, Leathernecks! (1938)
as Valerie Taylor
Joe Smith, American (1942)
as Mary Smith
Women in Hiding (1940)
as Jane Taylor
Blossoms in the Dust (1941)
as Charlotte
Easy Living (1937)
as Girl Getting Coat Dropped on Her at Finale (uncredited)
Dalton Trumbo: Rebel in Hollywood (2006)
as Herself
Flight Command (1940)
as Claire
Raw Deal (1948)
as Ann Martin
Unholy Partners (1941)
as Gail Fenton
No Place to Hide (1956)
as Anne Dobson
Irene (1940)
as Miss Eleanor Worth
The Accusing Finger (1936)
as Claire Patterson
She Loves Me Not (1949)
as Midge Mercer
The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind (1988)
as Self (archive footage)
Actors and Sin (1952)
as Marcia Tillayou (segment Actor's Blood)
Panama Hattie (1942)
as Leila Tree
Back from the Dead (1957)
as Kate Hazelton
Joe and Ethel Turp Call on the President (1939)
as Kitty Crusper
Seven Sweethearts (1942)
as Regina 'Reggie' Van Maaster
The Grand Inquisitor (2008)
as Hazel Reedy
The Affairs of Martha (1942)
as Martha Lindstrom
Empire State Building Murders (2008)
as Norah Strinberg
The Plunderers (1960)
as Kate Miller
Thousands Cheer (1943)
as Marsha Hunt
Blue Denim (1959)
as Jessie Bartley
These Glamour Girls (1939)
as Betty Ainsbridge
I'll Wait for You (1941)
as Pauline Miller
Cheers for Miss Bishop (1941)
as Hope Thompson
Star Reporter (1939)
as Barbara Burnette
None Shall Escape (1944)
as Marja Pacierkowski
Mary Ryan, Detective (1949)
as Mary Ryan
Hollywood: Style Center of the World (1940)
as Self
Terror Among Us (1981)
as Marge
Music for Millions (1944)
as Rosalind
Easy to Take (1936)
as Donna Westlake
Carnegie Hall (1947)
as Nora Ryan
Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman (1947)
as Martha Gray
Blacklist: Hollywood on Trial (1996)
as Herself
With This Ring (1954)
as Elise Miller John
The Hardys Ride High (1939)
as Susan Bowen
Pilot #5 (1943)
as Freddie Andrews
Marsha Hunt's Sweet Adversity (2015)
as Self
Kid Glove Killer (1942)
as Jane Mitchell
Ellery Queen, Master Detective (1940)
as Barbara Braun
Take One False Step (1949)
as Martha Wier
Jigsaw (1949)
as Mrs. Hartley's Secretary (uncredited)
Murder Goes to College (1937)
as Nora Barry
Journey to Royal: A WWII Rescue Mission (2021)
as Self
Fear No Evil (1969)
as Mrs. Varney
The Happy Time (1952)
as Susan Bonnard
Hollywood Boulevard (1936)
as Patricia Blakeford
Lost Angel (1943)
as Katie Mallory
Winter Carnival (1939)
as Lucy Morgan
The Inside Story (1948)
as Francine Taylor
College Holiday (1936)
as Sylvia Smith
Diplomatic Passport (1954)
as Judy Anderson
Bride by Mistake (1944)
as Sylvia Lockwood
Cry 'Havoc' (1943)
as Flo Norris
The Long Shot (1939)
as Martha Sharon
A Letter for Evie (1946)
as Evie O'Connor
The Arizona Raiders (1936)
as Harriett Lindsay
The Penalty (1941)
as Katherine Logan
Gentle Julia (1936)
as Julia Atwater
Desert Gold (1936)
as Judith 'Judy' Belding
Chloe's Prayer (2006)
Actor
A Word to the Wives... (1955)
as Alice
Rhumba Rhythm at the Hollywood La Conga (1939)
as Herself (uncredited)
The Trial of Mary Dugan (1941)
as Agatha Hall
The Virginia Judge (1935)
as Mary Lee Calvert