How did she die? Which led to her becoming a victim of the full blacklist story

Marsha Hunt: How did she die? Which led to her becoming a victim of the full blacklist story

Marsha Hunt, one of the few remaining actors from Hollywood’s so-called Golden Age of the 1930s and 1940s, has passed away. Her career spanned the decades between 1930 and 1940. Over the course of her career, temporarily derailed by the blacklisting that occurred during the McCarthy era, Hunt collaborated with notable artists such as Laurence Olivier and Andy Griffith. She was 104 years old. Marsha Hunt, an actress who has appeared in more than a hundred films and television shows, died Wednesday at her home in Sherman Oaks, California, according to Roger Memos, the writer-director of the documentary “Marsha Hunt’s Sweet Adversity,” which was released in 2015. Memos was also the subject of the film.

Marsha Hunt: who was she?

She was born in Chicago and moved to Hollywood in 1935. Over the next 15 years, she appeared in dozens of films, including the comedy “Easy Living,” directed by Preston Sturges, and the production of “Pride and Prejudice” starring Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson. She was considerably younger than 40 when MGM gave her the title of “Hollywood’s Youngest Character Actress.” She was also well-known enough in the early 1950s to appear on the cover of Life magazine, and she seemed well-positioned for success in the then-brand-new television medium. But according to what she stated in 1996, the work suddenly ended.

What caused Marsha Hunt’s death?

Her agent was the one who informed her of the reason, which is that the communist hunting publication Red Channels had revealed that she had attended a peace conference in Stockholm, as well as other events that were allegedly questionable. Along with other prominent Hollywood actors such as Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart and Danny Kaye, Hunt went to Washington in 1947 to protest the activities of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), which had launched a campaign to end extermination. to prevent. communists who work in the film industry.

Marsha Hunt’s bio

Marsha Hunt was an American actress, model and activist whose career spanned more than 80 years. She was born Marcia Virginia Hunt on October 17, 1917 and died on September 7, 2022. Her full name was Marsha Hunt. In the 1950s, when McCarthyism was at its peak in Hollywood, movie studio bosses put her on a “blacklist.”

She had roles in a number of films such as Born to the West (1937) alongside John Wayne, Pride and Prejudice (1940) alongside Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier, Kid Glove Killer (1942) alongside Van Heflin, Cry ‘Havoc’ (1943) alongside Margaret Sullavan and Joan Blondell, The Human Comedy (1943) alongside Mickey Rooney, Raw Deal (1948) alongside Claire Trevor, The Happy Time (1952) alongside Charles Boyer and Da (1971).

In the midst of the period known as the blacklist, she became involved in the humanitarian cause to end world hunger. In her final years, she also helped homeless shelters, supported same-sex marriage, raised awareness about climate change and promoted peace in third world countries.

Marsha Hunt is initially alive

Hunt Hunt, the younger of two daughters, was born on October 17, 1917, in Chicago, Illinois. She was the younger of the two. Her father, Earl Hunt, was a lawyer and eventually became the Social Security administrator, while her mother, Minabel Hunt, was a voice instructor and organist. Her older sister, Marjorie, a teacher, died in 2002. Marsha is how she wanted her first name to be spelled after changing Marcia’s.

The Hunt family was very involved in the activities of the Methodist church.

Family of Marsha Hunt

I was lucky enough to be born into the kind of loving and supportive family environment that could possibly exist. My grandfather was a member of the prestigious academic fraternity Phi Beta Kappa. My mother worked in the music industry as an accompanist and singing teacher for singers in the concert and opera profession. Even though we didn’t have the concept of a “liberated woman,” that’s exactly what my mother was… Both spent their childhoods in Indiana, a state now considered part of the Bible Belt. They were good people who did not indulge in bad habits such as smoking or drinking, and they never took the name of the Lord in vain. Never in my life have I come across a four letter term. There was no such thing in the environment of my good-natured family.

When Hunt was a child, her family moved to New York City, and soon after, she began appearing in school plays and attending religious gatherings. At age 16, she received her diploma from Horace Mann High School for Girls in 1934.

The career of Marsha Hunt

Unable to find “a single college or university in the country where you could do drama before your third year,” Hunt found work as a model for the John Powers Agency and began taking stage acting classes at the Theodora Irvine Studio. . Hunt’s parents wanted her to get a college degree, but she couldn’t find “a single college or university in the country where you could do drama before your third year.”

By the year 1935, she had already established herself as one of the highest earning models.

In the month of May 1935, she intended to enroll at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in the United Kingdom to pursue a career in stage acting.

Marsha Hunt’s work at Paramount

To help fundraisers for the President’s Birthday Ball, celebrities such as Hunt, Robert Taylor, Jean Harlow, and Mitzi Green were invited to Washington, District of Columbia (1937; Eleanor Roosevelt at center).

Despite initially being hesitant to pursue a film career, in June 1935, when he was only 17 years old, Hunt signed a seven-year contract with Paramount Pictures.

While visiting her uncle in Los Angeles, famous comedian Zeppo Marx, who was a member of the Marx Brothers, saw a photo of her in the paper and brought it to the attention of Paramount Pictures.

Shortly after, she received an invitation to screen test for the role of The Virginia Judge.

During his time at Paramount, Hunt was mainly cast in comedic roles. She made a total of 12 films for Paramount between 1935 and 1938, including leading roles in Easy to Take (1936), Gentle Julia (1936), The Accusing Finger (1936), and Murder Goes to College (1937), as well as two films for RKO. and 20th Century Fox while being “loaned” to those studios. In the 1937 western film Born to the West, she starred opposite John Wayne. This was a few years before Wayne’s big break in Hollywood.

In 1938, the studio decided not to renew Hunt’s contract, and she then became a lead actress in low-budget films made by studios on Hollywood’s “Poverty Row,” such as Republic Pictures and Monogram Pictures.

She also moved to New York City for a summer stock theater job, not long before winning a supporting role in Lana Turner and Lew Ayres’s film These Glamor Girls (1939), produced by MGM.

It is said that the character of Betty was specially created with Hunt in mind 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 (1941).

Marsha hunts for work for MGM

Hunt signed a contract with MGM in 1941 and she remained with the company for 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 film was shot. During this period she had lead roles in 21 films, including 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 screen-tested for the role of Melanie Hamilton in the 1939 film Gone with the Wind, then David O. Selznick told her she would be cast in the role, but instructed her to “keep it a secret for now.” .” After three more days passed, it was revealed that Olivia de Havilland would be playing the part. She had a role in None Shall Escape, which was released in 1944 and is widely regarded as the first film to focus on the Holocaust. She was cast in the role of Marja Pacierkowski, a Polish woman engaged to Wilhelm Grimm, a German Nazi lieutenant.

Blacklisted in Hollywood

In 1945, Hunt received an invitation to join the board of directors of the Screen Actors Guild.

Both Hunt and her husband, the playwright Robert Presnell Jr., joined the First Amendment committee in 1947 after being troubled by the activities of the House Un-American Activities (HCUA) Committee.

According to the NPR, at the time, she was the only member of the group still alive as she celebrated her 100th birthday.

The same year, on October 26 of the same year, Hunt participated in Hollywood Fights Back, a star-studded radio program condemning HUAC’s operations, co-written by her husband. Hunt was then 30 years old.

Marsha yacht in 2020:

After making our statements and participating in a radio program called Hollywood Fights Back, we went home feeling that we had been patriotic and that we had protected our work. If there were communists hiding among us, that was our concern; it was theirs alone.

The next day, Hunt traveled to Washington, DC, along with about 30 other actors, directors, writers, and filmmakers (including John Huston, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, and Danny Kaye) to protest HUAC’s activities.

It had only been three days since she left Hollywood, but everything was different when she came back. When she wanted to continue looking for work, people asked her to recant her actions; nevertheless she refused their request. By 1935, she had become one of the top earning models.

In the 1950s, she was blacklisted by Hollywood film studio executives.

During that period she became involved as a humanitarian activist in the fight against hunger in the world.

The cause of death of Marsha Hunt

She was 104 years old when she died in Los Angeles on September 7, 2022.

Marsha was one of the few actors from the Golden Age of Hollywood, spanning the 1930s and 1940s, who had managed to survive.

In 1996, Hunt said she had played a total of 54 films during her first 16 years in Hollywood. According to Marsha, the actress has made eight films in the past 45 years that show how much damage a career can do by being blacklisted. Being blacklisted, the actress focused her efforts on the theater, which did not meet the blacklist. Towards the end of the 1950s, she again began receiving film work on an irregular basis. Following this, Hunt performed in touring troupes of ‘The Lady’s Not for Burning’, ‘The Tunnel of Love’, ‘The Cocktail Party’ and ‘The Legend of Sarah’, as well as ‘The Paisley Convertible’.