Kim Hunter (born Janet Cole; November 12, 1922 – September 11, 2002) was an American theatre, film, and television actress. She achieved prominence for portraying Stella Kowalski in the original production of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, which she reprised for the 1951 film adaptation, and won both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Decades later, she was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for portraying Nola Madison on the soap opera The Edge of Night. She also portrayed the chimpanzee Zira in Planet of the Apes (1968), and its sequels Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970) and Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971).

Early life Hunter was born in Detroit, Michigan, the daughter of Grace Lind, who was trained as a concert pianist, and Donald Cole, a refrigeration engineer. She was of English and Welsh descent. Hunter attended Miami Beach High School.

Career Hunter's first film role was in the 1943 horror The Seventh Victim, and her first starring role was playing opposite David Niven in the 1946 British fantasy film A Matter of Life and Death. In 1947, she was Stella Kowalski on stage in the original Broadway production of A Streetcar Named Desire. Recreating that role in the 1951 film version, Hunter won both the Academy and Golden Globe awards for Best Supporting Actress. In the interim, however, in 1948, she had already joined with Streetcar co-stars Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, and 47 others, to become one of the first members accepted by the newly created Actors Studio.

In 1952, Hunter became Humphrey Bogart's leading lady in Deadline USA.

Hunter was blacklisted from film and television in the 1950s, amid suspicions of communism in Hollywood, during the era of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC).

In 1956, with the HUAC's influence subsiding, she co-starred in Rod Serling's Peabody Award-winning teleplay on Playhouse 90, "Requiem for a Heavyweight". The telecast won multiple Emmy Awards, including Best Single Program of the Year. She appeared opposite Mickey Rooney in the 1957 live CBS-TV broadcast of The Comedian, another drama written by Rod Serling and directed by John Frankenheimer. In 1959, she appeared in Rawhide in "Incident of the Misplaced Indians" as Amelia Spaulding. On February 4, 1968, she appeared as Ada Halle in the NBC TV Western series Bonanza in the episode "The Price of Salt".

Starting in 1968, Hunter took on the role of Zira, the sympathetic chimpanzee scientist in the science fiction film Planet of the Apes, as well as two of its sequels. She also appeared in several radio and TV soap operas, most notably as Hollywood actress Nola Madison in ABC's The Edge of Night, for which she received a Daytime Emmy Award nomination as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 1980. In 1979, she appeared as First Lady Ellen Axson Wilson in the serial drama Backstairs at the White House.

Hunter starred in the controversial TV movie Born Innocent (1974) playing the mother of Linda Blair's character. She also starred in several episodes of the CBS Radio Mystery Theater during the mid-1970s. In 1971, she appeared in an episode of Cannon. In the same year, she starred in a Columbo episode "Suitable for Framing". In 1974, she appeared on Raymond Burr's Ironside. In 1977, she appeared on the NBC Western series The Oregon Trail starring Rod Taylor, in the episode "The Waterhole", which also featured Lonny Chapman.

Hunter continued acting in film and TV throughout her life, notably appearing in Clint Eastwood's 1997 film, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. In it, Hunter portrayed Betty Harty, legal secretary for real-life Savannah lawyer Sonny Seiler.

Hunter's final film role was in the Canadian production Here's to Life!, which was released in 2000. She was nominated for a Genie Award as best actress for her performance."Cast, crew of film hopes to make winning Old Hat: Here's To Life gets Eight Genie Nominations". Victoria Times-Colonist, January 28, 2001.

Personal life Hunter was married twice, first to William Baldwin, a Marine Corps pilot, in 1944. The couple had a daughter before divorcing two years later. She wed fellow actor Robert Emmett in 1951. They had a son in 1954. Hunter and Emmett would occasionally perform together in stage plays; he died in 2000.

Hunter was a lifelong progressive Democrat.

Hunter died in New York City on September 11, 2002, of a heart attack at the age of 79. Her ashes were given to her daughter—an attorney, civic leader, and former judge in Connecticut..

Legacy Hunter received two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for motion pictures at 1615 Vine Street and a second for television at 1715 Vine Street.

Filmography

Film Year Title Role Notes 1943 The Seventh Victim Mary Gibson 1943 Tender Comrade Doris Dumbrowski 1943 Reconnaissance Pilot Catherine Cummings Uncredited / Documentary short 1944 A Canterbury Tale Johnson's Girl US release scenes shot in 1946 1944 When Strangers Marry Mildred "Millie" Baxter Re-release title Betrayed 1945 You Came Along Frances Hotchkiss 1946 A Matter of Life and Death June 1951 A Streetcar Named Desire Stella Kowalski Academy Award for Best Supporting ActressGolden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture 1952 Deadline – U.S.A. Nora Hutcheson 1952 Anything Can Happen Helen Watson 1956 Bermuda Affair Fran West 1956 Storm Center Martha Lockridge 1957 The Young Stranger Helen Ditmar 1958 Money, Women and Guns Mary Johnston Kingman 1964 Lilith Dr. Bea Brice 1968 Planet of the Apes Dr. Zira 1968 The Swimmer Betty Graham 1970 Beneath the Planet of the Apes Dr. Zira 1971 Escape from the Planet of the Apes Dr. Zira 1971 Jennifer on My Mind Jennifer's Mother Scenes deleted 1976 Dark August Adrianna Putnam 1987 The Kindred Amanda Hollins 1990 Due occhi diabolici Mrs. Pym Segment: "The Black Cat" 1993 The Black Cat Mrs. Pym Short release of segment in Due occhi diabolici 1997 Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil Betty Harty 1998 A Price Above Rubies Rebbitzn 1999 Abilene Emmeline Brown 1999 Out of the Cold Elsa Lindepu 2000 The Hiding Place Muriel 2000 Here's to Life! Nelly Ormond

Television