Trivia

After the 1965 Watts race riots, she helped fund two preschool programs for poor families in the South Los Angeles neighborhood.

Known for being outspoken, Phyllis worked with the American Civil Liberties Union to campaign against capital punishment in the late 1950s. Before the California Assembly, she spoke against the death sentence of Caryl Chessman, nicknamed the "Red Light Bandit," who had been convicted on seventeen counts of kidnapping, robbery, rape and sexual assault. She visited him in prison several times before he was executed in 1960. The notoriety effectively led to the end of her acting career.

Became a publicist for CBS News.

Retired from acting in the 1970s.

Probably best remembered on series TV for playing stylish Nora Charles to Peter Lawford's sleuth Nick on The Thin Man (1957) for which she received an Emmy nomination. The series was loosely based on the classic series of films starring Myrna Loy and William Powell.

Had some difficulty in walking due to childhood polio.

Kirk was cremated and her remains interred at Arlington National Cemetery next to her husband, Warren Bush, a television producer she married in the 1960s. He died in 1991.

Member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Actors Branch).

Graduated from Battin High School, Elizabeth, NJ, in 1945.

Once studied acting with Sanford Meisner.

Was a liberal Democrat and feminist.

Was step-mother to two daughters from a previous marriage of her husband Warren Bush.