Kim Winona(1930-1978)
- Actress
Kim Winona was enrolled as Constance M. Marlow in the Santee Sioux tribe of Nebraska and spent her childhood on the Rosebud
Indian Reservation in South Dakota. When she was 17, she and her parents moved
to Spokane, Wash. where she met her husband who was also of Indian
extraction. At this time she had no theatrical aspirations. Soon after
her marriage they moved to Los Angeles. Harvey was a printer by trade
and established his own business. Kim took a secretarial job in the
office of a commercial artist. The firm in which she was employed had
many artists and photographers, many of whom noticed Kim and her
unusual natural beauty. Soon after, Kim was supplementing her income as
a model. A talent scout spotted one of her pictures, interviewed her,
and shortly had a screen test for a role in The Last Hunt (1956). She lost
the part to a better known actress but was soon named "Miss Apache",
and toured the U.S. to promote the film. In June of 1955 Roy rogers'
Frontier Productions was looking for someone to play the tribal maiden
Morning Star in the Brave Eagle (1955) series. Mike North, the executive
producer was having trouble finding someone with the unique
requirements that they needed for the role of Morning Star which called
for riding ability, physical stamina to meet the active pace of
location shooting, and a player with more than a token knowledge of
Indian lore. Kim filled all those perfectly. Kim was also an
accomplished painter and sculptress. One sculpture, in wood, on display
at the Carnegie Institute. Kim's husband's grandmother was a Custer.
