Marsha Hunt born Marcia Virginia Hunt October 17 1917 September 7 2022 was an American actress model and activist with a career spanning nearly 80 years She was blacklisted by Hollywood film studio executives in the 1950s during McCarthyism Although initially reluctant to pursue a film career in June 1935 at age 17 Hunt signed a sevenyear contract with Paramount Pictures Paramount discovered her when she was visiting her uncle in Los Angeles and the comedian Zeppo Marx saw a picture of her in the newspaper She was then offered a screen test for The Virginia Judge At Paramount Hunt mainly played ingenue parts Between 1935 and 1938 she made 12 pictures at Paramount including a starring roles in Easy to Take Gentle Julia The Accusing Finger Murder Goes to College and two on loanout to RKO and 20th Century Fox In 1937 she starred opposite John Wayne a couple of years prior to his breakthrough in Hollywood in the Western film Born to the West The studio terminated Hunts contract in 1938 and she spent a few years starring in Bfilms produced by poverty row studios such as Republic Pictures and Monogram Pictures She also headed to New York City for work in summer stock theatre shortly before winning a supporting role in MGMs These Glamour Girls opposite Lana Turner and Lew Ayres The role of Betty was said to have been written specially with Hunt in mind Other roles in major studio productions soon followed including supporting roles as Mary Bennet in MGMs version of Pride and Prejudice with Laurence Olivier and as Martha Scotts surrogate child Hope Thompson in Cheers for Miss Bishop In 1941 Hunt signed a contract with MGM where she remained for the next six years While filming Blossoms in the Dust film director Mervyn LeRoy lauded Hunt for her heartfelt and genuine acting ability In 1944 she polled seventh in a list by exhibitors of Stars of Tomorrow She also appeared in None Shall Escape a film that is now regarded as the first about the Holocaust She played Marja Pacierkowski the Polish fiancé of a German Nazi officer named Wilhelm Grimm
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