Biography

Martita Hunt

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Popular British character actress known for her rich cluster of queens, dowagers, shrews and evildoers, Martita Hunt was born on a ranch in Argentina to British parents, but moved with her family to England at age 10 for her formal education. On stage at age 21 with the Liverpool Repertory Theatre, she grew in stature as a dramatic actress with the Old Vic before expanding her sights to include film in the 30s. Her imposing glare and fervent gait reminded one of the equally horsey-looking Edna May Oliver, and lent itself to a number of scene-stealing supports in such top-quality British efforts as When Knights Were Bold (1936), Nine Days a Queen (1936), The Mill on the Floss (1936), and The Wicked Lady (1945). But it was her brilliant performance as the mad, reclusive Miss Havisham in the classic period piece Great Expectations (1946) that earned her international recognition and Hollywood quickly took notice. More flavorful roles came her way in the post-war years, both regal and ravaged, with Anastasia (1956), Becket (1964) and The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964) the highlights. In 1949, she won a Broadway Tony award for her "The Madwoman of Chaillot". Martita Hunt died at age 69 of natural causes in London.
- IMDb mini biography by: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net

In 1933, she was employed by a young Alec Guinness as an acting coach. After 12 lessons she told him, "You'll never make an actor, Mr Guinness", although the two remained friends. Guinness persevered and made his professional stage debut the following year, and in 1946, his film debut as Herbert Pocket in Great Expectations (1946), in which he co-starred with none other than Martita Hunt.
Won Broadway's 1949 Tony Award as Best Actress (Dramatic) for "The Madwoman of Chaillot.".
Although her birth year is listed as 1899 on the 1911 census and her grave marker, Hunt's death registration (on which the enumerator mistakenly listed her first name as 'Martila') gives the year as 1900.
She was notorious for chain-smoking in bed and nodding off whilst doing so - her former student Alec Guinness reports in his autobiography that she was forever having to buy new bed-sheets because of the holes made in them by cigarette burns. There were even reports that she had died in a fire caused by this habit of hers, but this would appear not to be true.
Although her birth date was given as 1900 in some records, Martita gave it as 1899 for the UK 1939 Register (a pre-War census). She also gave it as 1899 on documents related to entry to the US in 1948 when she gave her place of birth as Uruguay, not Argentina. The 1911 census gives her birthplace as Salto, Uruguay, but states that she was British by parentage.

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