Marsha Hunt (actress)

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For the African American singer and novelist, see Marsha Hunt (singer and novelist).

Marsha Hunt

Marcia "Marsha" Virginia Hunt (born October 17, 1917 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American film, theater, and television actress who was blacklisted by Hollywood movie studio executives in the 1950s.

With big, bright eyes, standing five-foot-six, and always very slender, Hunt was considered very attractive in her early career. She attended the Theodore Irving School of Dramatics during her high school years. She was also a very good singer, and modeled before Paramount Studios signed her to a contract in 1934. At just 18 years of age she made her film debut in The Virginia Judge.

In 1938 she married film director Jerry Hopper; they were divorced in 1943. Three years later, in 1946, she married television and film writer Robert Presnell Jr., which lasted until his death in June of 1986.

During the late 1930s and into the 1940s she signed a number of petitions promoting liberal ideals. She was also a member of the Committee for the First Amendment. Because of this association her name appeared in the pamphlet "Red Channels". And although she and her husband, Robert Presnell, were never called before the House Un-American Activities Commission (HUAC), like Charlie Chaplin, their names were put on the blacklist, and they found it extremely difficult to find work. On October 27, 1947 she flew with a group of about 30 actors, directors, writers, and filmmakers (including John Huston, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall and Danny Kaye), to Washington D.C. to protest the actions of Congress. When she returned to Hollywood three days later things had changed. She was asked to denounce her activities if she wanted to find more work, but she refused. For her, the issue here was not Communism, but freedom of speech, privacy of opinion, freedom of advocacy, and freedom of democracy. She did keep working until the publication of Red Channels, but afterwards it became very hard.

She had worked steadily from 1935 until 1949, appearing in 52 films. After being blacklisted, she appeared in only three films in the next eight years. In 1957 she started getting more work, appearing in six films the next three years, at which time she semi-retired in 1960. Since then she has appeared only in small roles in five films and numerous television shows. Presnell would only be credited for one film from 1948 to 1955.

In 1971 she would appear in a movie written by fellow blacklist member, Dalton Trumbo (whom Kirk Douglas had gotten back on the screen with Spartacus), in the movie Johnny Got His Gun, playing the mother of Timothy Bottoms.

Since 1980 she has been the honorary mayor of Sherman Oaks, California. Hunt is still very liberal, and is very concerned with such issues as global pollution, worldwide poverty, peace in third world nations, and population growth.

Hunt plays Elizabeth Lyons in a 2005 movie, Chloe's Prayer.