Marketa Kimbrell (August 1, 1928 – July 6, 2011) was an Czechoslovakian-born American actress and professor of acting and film directing.[1] In 1970, Kimbrell and actor Richard Levy founded the New York Street Theater Caravan, a theater company which brought stage productions to audiences who otherwise might not have access to theater.[1] Her target audiences included prisoners, coal mining towns, rural communities, Native American reservations, and low income inner city neighborhoods.[1]
Kimbrell was born Marketa Nitschova in a town near Prague, Czechoslovakia, on August 1, 1928, to parents, Alfred and Josephine Nitsch.[1] She married her husband, an American Army major named George Kimbrell, whom she met at a refugee camp in Germany following World War II.[1] She moved to the United States with Kimbrell and was cast in stage, television shows and film.[1] George Kimbrell died in 1952.[1]
Kimbrell also taught as a full-time professor of acting and film directing at the Tisch School of the Arts of New York University from 1970 until her retirement in 2006.[1]
Kimbrell died of complications of Alzheimer's disease on July 6, 2011, in Sykesville, Maryland, at the age of 82.[1] She was survived by her two sons, Mark and Andrew; seven grandchildren, one great-grandchild, and her sister.[1]