Gayle Hunnicutt
Gayle Hunnicutt, Lady Jenkins was an American film, television and stage actress. She starred in more than 30 films.
Early life and education
The daughter of Colonel Sam Lloyd Hunnicutt and Mary Virginia Hunnicutt, she was born in Fort Worth, Texas. Hunnicutt attended the University of California, Los Angeles on a scholarship to study English literature and theatre. She worked as a fashion model, then became an actress.Career
Acting
During her film career, Hunnicutt was typecast as a red-haired sexpot. She portrayed Emaline Fetty, a con woman trying to extort money from the Clampetts in two episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies in 1966. She co-starred with James Garner in the detective film Marlowe, in which her character was a glamorous Hollywood actress.She moved to England with husband David Hemmings in 1970. She and Hemmings co-starred in two horror films in the early 1970s, Fragment of Fear and Voices. She played Charlotte Stant in the Jack Pulman television adaptation of Henry James's The Golden Bowl. She played Ann Barrett in The Legend of Hell House and Tsarina Alexandra in the television miniseries Fall of Eagles. She appeared as a housewife and mother in an episode of The Martian Chronicles in 1979. She appeared as Irene Adler, opposite Jeremy Brett, in the first episode of the TV series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes in 1984. She also appeared in another Marlowe mystery in an episode of HBO's Philip Marlowe, Private Eye, this time starring Powers Boothe. She had a supporting role in the thriller Target, co-starring Gene Hackman and Matt Dillon. Hunnicutt returned to the United States in 1989 to play the role of Vanessa Beaumont in Dallas, making semi-regular appearances until 1991.
In 2012, Hunnicutt was featured in an episode of the HGTV reality show Selling London, in which she presented the Primrose Hill property where she and her second husband, journalist and editor Simon Jenkins, lived for three decades.
Writing
Hunnicutt wrote two books. The first, Health and Beauty in Motherhood, was published in 1984. In 2004, she published Dearest Virginia: Love Letters from a Cavalry Officer in the South Pacific, which contains the letters exchanged by her parents during World War II.Personal life and death
On November 16, 1968, Hunnicutt married British actor David Hemmings, with whom she had a son, actor Nolan Hemmings. They divorced in 1975. Hunnicutt married journalist Simon Jenkins in 1978. The couple lived in Primrose Hill, London, where they raised their son Edward. Jenkins was appointed a Knight Bachelor for services to journalism in the 2004 New Year honours. They divorced in 2009. In 2010 she started dating Richard Evans, tennis correspondent of The Daily Telegraph.Hunnicutt died on August 31, 2023, at the age of 80 in London.
Filmography
The Wild Angels as Suzie P.J. as Maureen PrebleThe Smugglers as AdriannaEye of the Cat as Kassia LancasterMarlowe as Mavis WaldFragment of Fear as Juliet BristowFreelance as ChrisThe Love Machine as Astrological girl at party Running Scared as Ellen CaseVoices as ClaireScorpio as SusanThe Legend of Hell House as Ann BarrettNuits rouges aka Shadowman The Spiral Staircase as BlancheStrange Shadows in an Empty Room as Margie CohnThe Sell Out as DeborahOnce in Paris... as Susan TownsendThe Saint and the Brave Goose as Annabelle WestFlashpoint Africa as Lisa FordThe Million Dollar Face as Diana MastersonReturn of the Man from U.N.C.L.E. as Andrea MackovichSavage in the Orient as Julian ClydesdaleTwo by Forsyth Target as Donna LloydDream Lover as ClaireTurnaround as PatSilence Like Glass as Mrs. Martin- ''Hard to Be a God''