#Fact1She coordinated a clothing drive for 200 families living in homeless shelters in San Fernando Valley.2Shared the same birthday with the late Beverly Garland, who (like Julie Adams) was also 9 years Hunt's junior. They both guest-starred on an episode of Climax! (1954).3Her acting career spread for 73 years, with her first film being released in 1935 and her final one had been set for distribution in 2008.4Her father, Earl Hunt, worked as a lawyer, and later, a Social Security Administrator, and her mother, Minabel Hunt, worked as a vocal teacher and organist.5It was during a 1927 trip that Hunt and her family visited Indianapolis, Indiana, to see her aunt Edith Conklin, who owned one of the first electric cars in the city.69 days after her 30th birthday, HUAC ordered dozens of Hollywood actors, directors, and screenwriters to testify about "Communist influences" in the movie industry. She, Dalton Trumbo, and 17 others refused to participate. Ten were found in contempt of Congress and became known as the "Hollywood Ten." [26 October 1947].7She made 54 films in 17 years before a series of unfortunate events led to her being unfairly blacklisted. After the blacklist, she championed humanitarian causes, forging a new career as one of Hollywood's first celebrity activists.8Identifies herself as a political liberal, and is very concerned with such issues as global pollution, worldwide poverty, peace in third world nations, and population growth.9An avid songwriter.10Her maternal grandfather, William Morris, was a saddle-back-riding Baptist who traveled through Indiana, working in towns that sprang up across the farmlands.11Whilst celebrating her 95th Birthday, the five-part article is being reposted in honor of the actress. [17 October 2012].12Before she was a successful actress and activist, she was once a model.13After her role on Empire State Building Murders (2008), she retired from acting at age 90.14Began acting at an early age, performing in school plays and church functions.15Her father, Earl Hunt, was a Phi Beta Kappa scholar at DePauw University, a violin soloist at the Glee Club, and became the singles collegiate tennis champion of Indiana.16In 2013, she debuted a clip of a song she wrote 40 years earlier titled "Here's to All Who Love" about love and same-sex marriage. Sung by Glee (2009) star Bill A. Jones, the clip immediately went viral.17After graduation, Hunt's parents wanted to her to pursue a college degree, but Hunt, unable to "locate a single college or university in the land where you could major in drama before your third year", instead found work modeling for the John Powers Agency and began taking acting classes at the Theodora Irvine Studio for the Theatre in New York City, New York.18At age 17, Hunt moved to Hollywood, California, in 1935, to become an actress.19Hunt is the younger of two girls.20While people sang on her 90th Birthday, Hunt was appointed an Ambassador for Peace, in honor of decades of activism on behalf of the United Nations and other organizations. [17 October 2007].21Met Julie Adams, Piper Laurie and Tony Curtis, when the three were under contract at Universal, in 1949, except for Hunt, who was being blacklisted, and later left as a result.22She became blacklisted, at age 32, and had trouble finding roles afterwards.23Had signed another contract career with MGM in 1941.24Before John Rubinstein would have a successful career, he used to guest-star with her on both shows: The Young Lawyers (1969) and Harry O (1973).25Friends with: Shirley Jones, Angela Lansbury, Eddie Albert, Ann Sothern, Donna Reed, Lena Horne, Red Skelton, Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Lee Bowman, John Wayne, Robert Cummings, Frances Farmer, Gene Kelly, Van Johnson, June Foray, Edie Adams, Ann Rutherford, Beverly Garland, Anne Jeffreys, Julie Adams, Piper Laurie, Joan Leslie, James Stewart, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Raymond Burr, Kathryn Kramer, Tab Hunter, Mickey Rooney, Norman Lloyd, Robert Young, Coleen Gray, Lucille Ball, Joan Crawford and Esther Williams.26Shares the same birthday with Julie Adams, who nine years Hunt's junior.27Along with her family, Hunt moved to New York City, New York, in 1921, when she was only 3.28Graduated at the Horace Mann High School for Girls, in New York City, New York, in 1934, at only 16 years of age.29Marsha's original Paramount contract granted her two unusual concessions: she could do her own make-up and she was not required to appear in the usual photos other starlets did.30Lifelong friend of Julie Adams and Piper Laurie.31When Hunt enrolled in the Paramount Actors Training School, her classmates were Frances Farmer, Olympe Bradna, Robert Cummings, Eleanore Whitney, and Rosalind Keith.32Sherman Oaks, California: Living in retirement [July 2013]33She was a very active member of both the Hollywood Democratic Committee and The Hollywood Anti-Nazi League and donated her time and money to many liberal causes (such as the creation of the United Nations and the Civil Rights Movement) and political candidates (including Franklin D. Roosevelt, Henry Wallace, Adlai Stevenson, John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, John Kerry, and Barack Obama) during her lifetime.34She is a proud supporter of UNICEF, The March of Dimes, and The American Red Cross.35Talks about her blacklisting, and the horror movie Back from the Dead (1957), in the book "A Sci-Fi Swarm and Horror Horde" (McFarland, 2010) by Tom Weaver.36According to the late Colin Briggs, a steadfast writer for "Classic Images", Marcia was called Betty while growing up because the names Marjorie (her sister) and Marcia sounded too much alike. She changed the spelling of her first name to "Marsha" by the time she entered pictures.37Marsha was a strong consideration for the role of Melanie in Gone with the Wind (1939), since the studio's first pick, Olivia de Havilland, was having trouble being loaned out by Warner Bros. In fact, David O. Selznick selected Marsha to play the role at one point but the following day the loanout worked itself out and Olivia was handed the part.38Her older sister, Marjorie, was a teacher. She died in 2002.39Her first husband, editor-turned-director Jerry Hopper was a cousin to actress Glenda Farrell.40Before her career she taught Sunday School at New York's St. Paul's Methodist Church.41Her only child, a daughter, was born prematurely on July 1, 1947, and died a day later. She and her second husband later became foster parents.42Was initially cast as James Dean's overwrought mother in Rebel Without a Cause (1955), but had to give up the role just before rehearsals were to start due to a prior stage commitment. Ann Doran took over the role.43Once appeared with Johnny Carson in a Broadway stage production of "Tunnel of Love" in 1958.44In 1998 she was the recipient of the Eleanor Roosevelt Humanitarian Award for her many selfless efforts.45Paramount Pictures signed her to a contract in 1935.46As an ingénue, she attended Paramount Pictures' acting school with fellow ingénue/actress Frances Farmer.47A very good singer, she sang in a few of her movies.48Nephew Allan Hunt is a director.49Although she was never subpoenaed by the House of Un-American Activities, her name appeared in the red-baiting pamphlet Red Channels because of her membership in the Committee for the First Amendment and for liberal petitions she signed and she and her husband writer Robert Presnell Jr. found it increasingly difficult to get work because of the blacklist.50Honorary mayor of Sherman Oaks, California.