Biography
Marsha Hunt (born Marcia Virginia Hunt; October 17, 1917 – September 7, 2022) was an American actress, model, and activist whose career spanned nearly eight decades. During the 1950s, she was blacklisted by Hollywood studio executives amid the McCarthy era.
Though initially hesitant to enter the film industry, Hunt signed a seven-year contract with Paramount Pictures in June 1935 at age 17. Paramount discovered her when she was visiting her uncle in Los Angeles, and comedian Zeppo Marx noticed her photo in the newspaper. She was then offered a screen test for The Virginia Judge. At Paramount, Hunt primarily played ingenue roles. Between 1935 and 1938, she appeared in 12 films for Paramount, including leading roles in Easy to Take, Gentle Julia, The Accusing Finger, Murder Goes to College, and two films on loan to RKO and 20th Century Fox. In 1937, she starred opposite John Wayne in the Western Born to the West, a few years before his rise to stardom.
Paramount ended Hunt's contract in 1938, after which she spent several years starring in B-movies from poverty row studios like Republic Pictures and Monogram Pictures. She also worked in summer stock theatre in New York City before landing a supporting role in MGM’s These Glamour Girls alongside Lana Turner and Lew Ayres. The character Betty was reportedly created specifically for Hunt. She soon secured other supporting parts in major studio films, including Mary Bennet in MGM’s Pride and Prejudice with Laurence Olivier, and Hope Thompson, the surrogate child of Martha Scott’s character, in Cheers for Miss Bishop.
In 1941, Hunt signed with MGM, where she stayed for six years. While filming Blossoms in the Dust, director Mervyn LeRoy praised her for her sincere and heartfelt acting. In 1944, exhibitors ranked her seventh on a list of “Stars of Tomorrow.” She also appeared in None Shall Escape, now recognized as the first film about the Holocaust, portraying Marja Pacierkowski, the Polish fiancée of a German Nazi officer named Wilhelm Grimm.
