Kim Stanley (February 11, 1925 – August 20, 2001) was an American actress, primarily in television and theatre, but with occasional film performances.She began her acting career in theatre, and subsequently attended the Actors Studio in New York City, New York. She received the 1952 Theatre World Award for her role in The Chase (1952), and starred in the Broadway productions of Picnic (1953) and Bus Stop (1955). Stanley was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her roles in A Touch of the Poet (1959) and A Far Country (1962).During the 1950s, Stanley was a prolific performer in television, and later progressed to film, with a well-received performance in The Goddess (1959). She was the narrator of To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) and starred in Séance on a Wet Afternoon (1964), for which she won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She was less active during the remainder of her career; two of her later film successes were as the mother of Frances Farmer in Frances (1982), for which she received a second Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress, and as Pancho Barnes in The Right Stuff (1983). She received an Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Miniseries or a Movie for her performance as Big Mama in a television adaptation of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in 1985. That same year, Kim Stanley was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.
Howard Clinton Reid, Justin Truman Reid, Carol Ann Reid, Kenneth Reid
Awards
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or a Movie, National Board of Review Award for Best Actress, Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Nominations
Academy Award for Best Actress, Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture, Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Play, BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress
Movies
The Goddess, Séance on a Wet Afternoon, The Three Sisters, Frances, The Right Stuff, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Flesh and Blood, Dragon Country, U.M.C.
TV Shows
American Playhouse, Ben Casey
Star Sign
Aquarius
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Quote
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I was happy on stage; it was my home, really - Hollywood was phony.
Was twice nominated for Broadway's Tony Award as Best Actress (Dramatic): in 1959, for Eugene O'Neill 's "A Touch of the Poet," and in 1962, for "A Far Country." Although one of Broadway's most esteemed actresses, she never won a Tony.
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She worked extensively as an acting teacher after she retreated from the stage. One of her students was Lauren Hutton.
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Some sources indicate 1921 as the year of Kim Stanley's birth, but this is not verifiable at this time.
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She attended the University of New Mexico and graduated from the University of Texas with a psychology degree.
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A brilliant and sensitive stage actress, she was so shaken by the hostile press reception given the London staging of the Actors' Studio production of Anton Chekhov's "The Three Sisters", in which she played Masha, that she vowed never to act onstage again, and she never did. (The production was torn to shreds by critics who were accustomed to seeing classical actors, not Method actors, in productions of Chekhov.)
Actress
Title
Year
Status
Character
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
1984
TV Movie
Big Mama
The Right Stuff
1983
Pancho Barnes
Quincy M.E.
1983
TV Series
Mrs. Edith Jordan
Frances
1982
Lillian Farmer
It Takes Two
1982
TV Series
Mrs. Tandy
Night Gallery
1971
TV Series
Elizabeth Croft (segment "A Fear of Spiders")
Medical Center
1969-1971
TV Series
Nurse Ernestine Hull / Joanna Hanson
The Name of the Game
1971
TV Series
Veta Marie Goss
Dragon Country
1970
TV Movie
Flesh and Blood
1968
TV Movie
Della
The Three Sisters
1966
Masha
Seance on a Wet Afternoon
1964
Myra
The Eleventh Hour
1964
TV Series
Ben Casey
1963
TV Series
Faith Parsons
To Kill a Mockingbird
1962
Scout as an Adult - Narrator (voice, uncredited)
Westinghouse Presents: That's Where the Town Is Going
1962
TV Movie
Wilma Sills
Armchair Theatre
1958-1960
TV Series
Millie Norman / Georgette Thomas
The DuPont Show of the Month
1960
TV Series
Sarah Anne Howe
The Goddess
1958
Emily Ann Faulkner
Kraft Theatre
1954-1957
TV Series
Studio One in Hollywood
1957
TV Series
Georgette Thomas
Goodyear Playhouse
1952-1956
TV Series
Kay
Playwrights '56
1955-1956
TV Series
Martha Anderson / Abby
The Elgin Hour
1955
TV Series
Lili
Armstrong Circle Theatre
1954
TV Series
The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse
1953-1954
TV Series
Ruth Pack / Wilma Thompson
Inner Sanctum
1954
TV Series
Carla
Danger
1951-1954
TV Series
Helen
You Are There
1953
TV Series
Cleopatra
Joan of Arc
The Gulf Playhouse
1953
TV Series
Out There
1951
TV Series
The Magnavox Theatre
1950
TV Series
Sure As Fate
1950
TV Series
The Trap
1950
TV Series
Escape
1950
TV Series
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Needs of Kim Stanley
Documentary post-production
Herself
The 55th Annual Academy Awards
1983
TV Special
Herself - Nominee: Best Actress in a Supporting Role
A.N.T.A. Album of 1955
1955
TV Movie
Herself
The Ed Sullivan Show
1953
TV Series
Herself
Cavalcade of Stars
1950
TV Series
Herself - Guest Actress
Archive Footage
Title
Year
Status
Character
Schwartz: Seance Is a 'Wicked' Mistress
2011
Video documentary short
Herself
Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There
2003
Documentary
Herself
The 74th Annual Academy Awards
2002
TV Special
Herself (Memorial Tribute)
Won Awards
Year
Award
Ceremony
Nomination
Movie
1985
Primetime Emmy
Primetime Emmy Awards
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or a Special
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1984)
1964
NBR Award
National Board of Review, USA
Best Actress
Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964)
1964
NYFCC Award
New York Film Critics Circle Awards
Best Actress
Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964)
1963
Primetime Emmy
Primetime Emmy Awards
Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Ben Casey (1961)
Nominated Awards
Year
Award
Ceremony
Nomination
Movie
1983
Oscar
Academy Awards, USA
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Frances (1982)
1983
Golden Globe
Golden Globes, USA
Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Motion Picture