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Martita Hunt is a Actor British born on 30 january 1900 at Buenos Aires (Argentine)

Martita Hunt

Martita Hunt
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Nationality United-kingdom
Birth 30 january 1900 at Buenos Aires (Argentine)
Death 13 june 1969 (at 69 years) at London (United-kingdom)

Martita Edith Hunt (30 January 1900 – 13 June 1969) was an Argentine-born English theatre and film actress. She had a dominant stage presence and played a wide range of powerful characters. She is best-remembered for her performance as Miss Havisham in David Lean's Great Expectations.

Biography

Early life
Hunt was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 30 January 1900 to English parents Alfred and Marta (née Burnett) Hunt. She spent the first 20 years of her life in Argentina before she returned with her parents to England to attend Queenwood Ladies' College, in Eastbourne, and then to train as an actress.


Early theatrical career
Hunt began her acting career in repertory theatre at Liverpool before moving to London. She first appeared there in the Stage Society's production of Ernst Toller's The Machine Wreckers at the Kingsway Theatre in May 1923. From 1923-29 she appeared as the Principessa della Cercola in W. Somerset Maugham's Our Betters (Globe, 1924) and as Mrs. Linde in Ibsen's A Doll's House (Playhouse, 1925) in the West End, along with engagements at club theatres such as the Q Theatre and the Arts Theatre and a short 1926 Chekhov season at the small Barnes Theatre under Theodore Komisarjevsky (playing Charlotta Ivanovna, in The Cherry Orchard and Olga in Three Sisters).

In September 1929, she joined the Old Vic company, then led by Harcourt Williams, and, during the following eight months played Béline in Molière's The Imaginary Invalid, Queen Elizabeth in George Bernard Shaw's The Dark Lady of the Sonnets, and Lavinia in Shaw's Androcles and the Lion. However, her time there was more noted for a succession of Shakespearian roles: The Nurse in Romeo and Juliet, Portia in The Merchant of Venice, the Queen in Richard II, Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Portia in Julius Caesar), including some alongside John Gielgud (Rosalind in As You Like It, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, and Gertrude in Hamlet.


Donald Roy, in Hunt's Oxford Dictionary of National Biography entry, wrote:"With an arresting appearance and a dominant stage presence, she proved most effective as strong, tragic characters, her Gertrude in Hamlet being accounted by some critics the finest they had seen."
She then returned to the West End (briefly returning to the Old Vic to play Emilia in their 1938 Othello), notably playing Edith Gunter in Dodie Smith's Autumn Crocus (Lyric, 1931), the Countess of Rousillon in All's Well That Ends Well (Arts, 1932), Lady Strawholme in Ivor Novello's Fresh Fields (Criterion, 1933), Liz Frobisher in John Van Druten's The Distaff Side (Apollo, 1933), Barbara Dawe in Clemence Dane's Moonlight is Silver (Queen's, 1934), Theodora in Elmer Rice's Not for Children (Fortune, 1935), Masha in Chekhov's The Seagull (New Theatre, 1936), the Mother in an English-language version of García Lorca's Bodas de sangre ("Marriage of Blood"; Savoy, 1939), Léonie in Jean Cocteau's Les Parents terribles (Gate, 1940), Mrs Cheveley in Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband (Westminster, 1943), and Cornelia in John Webster's The White Devil (Duchess, 1947).


Early film career
Hunt also appeared in many supporting and cameo roles in several popular British films such as Good Morning Boys (1937), Trouble Brewing (1939), and The Man in Grey (1943). The Wicked Lady (1945) was an international success, but her next film role in David Lean's Great Expectations (1946) would be her most famous and most lauded. As Miss Havisham, she reprised her role from the 1939 stage adaptation by Alec Guinness which provided the inspiration and template for Lean's film. Her performance met with significant acclaim and Roger Ebert later wrote in 1999 that she "dominate[d] the [film's] early scenes, playing Miss Havisham as a beak-nosed, shabby figure, bedecked in crumbling lace and linen, not undernourished despite her long exile."


Later career
From this time on she divided her time between British and American films as well as the stage. She won a Tony Award in 1949 for her Broadway début as Countess Aurelia in the English-speaking première of Giraudoux's The Madwoman of Chaillot (though she had relatively less impact on the production's 1952 tour). Her last stage role was as Angélique Boniface in Hotel Paradiso, an adaptation from Feydeau, again alongside Guinness at the Winter Garden Theatre in May 1956.

Other films in which she appeared include: Anna Karenina (1948), The Fan (1949), Anastasia (1956), Three Men in a Boat (1956), The Admirable Crichton (1957), The Brides of Dracula (1960), The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962), Becket (1964), The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964) and Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965). She also appeared on TV as Lady Bastable in several adaptations of the Saki stories (1962)


Death
Martita Hunt died of bronchial asthma at her home in Hampstead, London, aged 69, on 13 June 1969. Her estate was valued at £5,390. She never married. She was an aunt of actor Gareth Hunt.

She was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium on 19 June and her ashes lie in the Ivor Novello Rose Bed.

Best films

Becket (1964)
(Actress)
Anastasia (1956)
(Actress)
Great Expectations (1946)
(Actress)

Usually with

Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Martita Hunt (80 films)

Display filmography as detailed form
YearNameJobRoles
1969The Best House in LondonActressHeadmistress
1965Bunny Lake Is MissingActressAda Ford
1964BecketActressEmpress Matilda
1964The Unsinkable Molly BrownActressGrand Duchess Elise Lupavinova
1962The Wonderful World of the Brothers GrimmActressAnna Richter
1961Mr. TopazeActressBaroness
1960The Brides of DraculaActressBaroness Meinster
1960Bottoms Up!ActressLady Gore-Willoughby
1960Song Without EndActressGrand Duchess
1959Venetian HoneymoonActressLisa Bradwell
1959Venetian HoneymoonActressLisa Bradwell
1958Bonjour TristesseActressPhilippe's Mother
1958Me and the ColonelActressMother Superior
1957Dangerous ExileActressLady Lydia Fell
1957The Admirable CrichtonActressLady Brocklehurst
1957The SpiesActressConnie Harper
1956AnastasiaActressBaroness Elena von Livenbaum
1956Three Men in a BoatActressMrs. Willis
1956The March HareActressLady Anne
1955King's RhapsodyActressQueen Mother
1953Folly to Be WiseActressLady Dodd
1953MelbaActressMme. Marchesi
1952The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie MenActressQueen Eleanor
1952It Started in ParadiseActressMme. Alice
1952Meet Me TonightActressMabel Grace
1952Treasure HuntActressAunt Anna Rose
1949The FanActressDuchess of Berwick
1949The FanActressDuchess of Berwick
1948Anna KareninaActressPrincess Betty Tversky
1948So Evil My LoveActressMrs. Courtney (SR)
1948My Sister and IActressMrs. Camelot
1947The Ghosts of Berkeley SquareActressLady Mary
1947The Little BallerinaActressMiss Crichton
1946The Wicked LadyActressCousin Agatha
1946Great ExpectationsActressMiss Havisham
1944Welcome, Mr WashingtonActressMiss Finch
1943The Man in GreyActressMiss Patchett
1942The Seventh SurvivorActressMrs. Lindley
1942They Flew AloneActressMiss Bland
1942The Lady from LisbonActressSusan Wellington-Smythe
1942Talk About JacquelineActress
1941Quiet WeddingActressMme. Mirelle
1941East of PiccadillyActressMa
1941Freedom RadioActressFrau Lehmann the Concierge
1941Quiet WeddingActressMme. Mirelle
1940The Middle WatchActressLady Elizabeth Hewett
1940Miss Grant Goes to the DoorActressEdith
1940At the Villa RoseActressHelen Vaquier
1940Tilly of BloomsburyActressLady Marion Mainwaring
1939Goodbye, Mr. ChipsActressBritish Tourist on Bicycle (uncredited)
1939A Girl Must LiveActressMme. Dupont, assistant
1939Young Man's FancyActressDuchess of Beaumont
1939The Nursemaid Who DisappearedActressLady Ballister
1939The Good Old DaysActressSara Macaulay
1939Old Mother Riley Joins UpActressCommandant
1939Trouble BrewingActressMme Berdi
1938Prison Without BarsActressMme. Appel
1938Strange BoardersActressMiss Pitter
1938Prison Without BarsActressMme. Appel
1938Second Best BedActressMrs. Mather
1937SabotageActressThe Professor's Daughter (uncredited)
1937Farewell AgainActressAdela Swayle
1937Good Morning, Boys!ActressLady Bogshott
1937The Mill on the FlossActressMrs. Glegg
1937Paradise for TwoActressMme. Bernard
1936Pot LuckActressMrs Cream
1936Tudor RoseActressJane's Mother
1936The Beloved VagabondActressLady with lorgnettes
1936When Knights Were BoldActressAunt Esther
1936The Interrupted HoneymoonActressNora Briggs
1935First a GirlActressMadame Seraphina
1935Foreign AffairesActressWoman at Lord Wormington's house
1935Man of the MomentActressLady at Roulette Table
1935The Case of Gabriel PerryActressMrs. Read
1935King of the DamnedActressWoman on Plane
1933Friday the ThirteenthActressAgnes Lightfoot
1933I Was A SpyActressAunt Lucille
1932Love on WheelsActressPiano Demonstrator
1932Service for LadiesActressAline - Countess Ricardi's Maid
1920The Rank OutsiderActress