FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
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.
She appeared in many films, including Born to the West (1937) with John Wayne, Pride and Prejudice (1940) with Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier, Kid Glove Killer (1942) with Van Heflin, Cry ‘Havoc’ (1943) with Margaret Sullavan and Joan Blondell, The Human Comedy (1943) with Mickey Rooney, Raw Deal (1948) with Claire Trevor, The Happy Time (1952) with Charles Boyer, and Dalton Trumbo‘s Johnny Got His Gun (1971).
In the midst of the blacklist era, she became active in the humanitarian cause of world hunger and in her later years aided homeless shelters, supported same-sex marriage, raised awareness of climate change, and promoted peace in Third World countries.
AWARDS AND HONORS
- 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.
