Amanda Blake

Acting

Amanda Blake

Born 1929-02-20 · Buffalo, New York, USA

Amanda Blake was an American actress known for the role of the red-haired saloon proprietress "Miss Kitty Russell" on the television western Gunsmoke. Amanda Blake (born Beverly Louise Neill; February 20, 1929 – August 16, 1989) was an American actress best known for the role of the red-haired saloon proprietress "Miss Kitty Russell" on the Western television series Gunsmoke. Along with her fourth husband, Frank Gilbert, she ran one of the first successful programs for breeding cheetahs in captivity. Early life Amanda Blake was born Beverly Louise Neill in Buffalo, New York, the only child of Jesse and Louise (née Puckett) Neill. Her father was a banker. Blake was a telephone operator and briefly attended Pomona College before she took up acting. Blake attended Brenau Academy from 1944 to 1945. She then served on the board of advisors and became a trustee. Career In the late 1940s, Blake was signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as the studio saw her as its next Greer Garson. She appeared in a few Hollywood films, such as the 1952 western Cattle Town and in the starring role of Miss Robin Crusoe, a 1954 adaptation of the Robinson Crusoe adventure. In 1954, she appeared in A Star Is Born. Blake became best known for her 19-year stint as the saloon-keeper Miss Kitty on the television series Gunsmoke from 1955 to 1974. On February 27, 1974, Blake brought a lion named Kemo on to the Gunsmoke set. Because of her continuing role on television, Blake rarely had time for films. She did appear on a number of television shows, including a recurring comedy routine on The Red Skelton Show; as a celebrity on Hollywood Squares, Tattletales, and the 1970s revival of Match Game; and comedy appearances on the Dean Martin Celebrity Roast. In 1957, Blake guest-starred as Betty Lavon-Coate in the episode titled "Coate of Many Colors" on Rod Cameron's crime drama, State Trooper. Later, after a Gunsmoke reunion film, she made two feature-film appearances: in The Boost, a drug-addiction drama starring James Woods and Sean Young, and B.O.R.N, both in 1988. Personal life Blake was married five times, first to Jack Shea (1952–53), then Don Whitman in 1954, divorced from him in 1956. After the divorce from Whitman, she would go to the 'saloon set' of Gunsmoke. Blake felt like it was home to her on the days when she was not needed. She married Austin, Texas, city councilman Mark Edward Spaeth in 1984. Spaeth died of AIDS-related pneumonia in 1985. Declining health and death In 1977 Blake, who was a heavy cigarette smoker, developed oral cancer that was successfully treated with surgery. She became a supporter of the American Cancer Society and made fundraising appearances throughout the country. On August 16, 1989, Blake died of AIDS-related hepatitis at Mercy General Hospital in Sacramento, California, at the age of 60. Her death was initially attributed to throat cancer but, after her death, her doctor publicly announced her death was due to complications from AIDS. It is not known how Blake contracted the disease. Blake's close friends insisted that she was not a drug user or sexually promiscuous, and that she may have acquired AIDS from her fifth husband who also died of AIDS-related pneumonia in 1985. CLR From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Acting credits

A Star Is Born poster
7.1

A movie star helps a young singer-actress find fame, even as age and alcoholism send his own career into a downward spiral.

A Star Is Born

1954

Lili poster
6.8

Members of a circus troupe "adopt" Lili Daurier when she finds herself stranded in a strange town. The magician who first comes to her rescue already has romantic entanglements and thinks of her as a little girl. Who can she turn to but the puppets, singing to them her troubles, forgetting that there are puppeteers? A crowd gathers around Lili as she sings. The circus has a new act. She now has a job. Will she get her heart's desire?

Lili

1953

Scarlet Angel poster
6.1

After robbing a sea captain in New Orleans, a beautiful saloon girl flees and assumes a dead woman's identity.

Scarlet Angel

1952

Stars in My Crown poster
7.0

An orphaned man recalls his upbringing with his aunt and her husband, the parson, in a small Western town during the Reconstruction.

Stars in My Crown

1950

The Family Secret poster
6.1

When his son accidentally kills someone, a lawyer must defend the man wrongly charged with the murder.

The Family Secret

1951

The Adventures of Hajji Baba poster
6.0

In Ispahan, Persia, Hajji Baba is leaving his father's shop to seek a greater fortune, while the Princess Fawzia is trying to talk her father, the Caliph into giving her in marriage to Nur-El-Din, a rival prince known far and wide as mean and fickle. Her father intends for Fawzia to marry a friend and ally, and makes plans to send her to him.

The Adventures of Hajji Baba

1954

Clown Alley poster
10.0

An all-star cast joins Red Skelton in this lavish 60-minute salute to circus clowns.

Clown Alley

1966

About Mrs. Leslie poster
7.4

A lonely, unhappy owner of a Beverly Hills boarding house reflects on her lonely, unhappy life and the lonely, unhappy man she once loved.

About Mrs. Leslie

1954

The Boost poster
5.6

Lenny Brown moves to California to find his fortune in tax shelter investments. When the federal government changes the tax laws, poor Lenny finds himself $700,000 in hock with nowhere to turn. His friend, Joel, introduces him to cocaine to give Lenny that needed "boost". What ensues next is a descent into drug addiction and insanity as Lenny tries to regain control of his life, all the while needing that extra "boost".

The Boost

1988

Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge poster
6.5

Will Mannon, "product of the Devil's loins", is released from a frontier prison and promptly goes in search of the people who put him there around twelve years ago, Marshal Matt Dillon and Miss Kitty Russell.

Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge

1987

A Star Is Born World Premiere poster
8.0

Live television broadcast of the world premiere. Described by various participants as the biggest world premiere in memory, even bigger than the Academy Awards.

A Star Is Born World Premiere

1954

The Glass Slipper poster
6.3

In a musical retelling of the Cinderella tale, a mistreated scullery maid escapes the oppression of her stepfamily to finding love with a prince.

The Glass Slipper

1955

B.O.R.N. poster
4.5

A speeding ambulance abducts three beautiful young women to a sinister medical center where someone is making a killing selling healthy human organs on the black market.

B.O.R.N.

1989

High Society poster
5.7

Sach receives news that he is the heir to the Terwilliger Debussy Jones fortune. Accompanied by his pal Slip, he arrives at the Jones mansion to review the legal papers needed for him to claim his new fortune. However, Sach and Slip discover that the rightful heir, the young Terwilliger III, is being cheated out of his inheritance by the miscreant duo of Stuyvesant Jones and Clarissa. Sach and Slip, with the help of their fellow Bowery Boys, save the day and restore the heir’s inheritance.

High Society

1955

Sabre Jet poster
7.0

The story of jet pilots flying over Korea by day, from their Itazuke Air Base in Japan, and of their wives, on station with them, who have dinner ready when they return. Jane Carter (Coleen Gray), a reporter for a large newspaper syndicate arrives... she's also the estranged wife of the assistant squadron commander, Colonel Gil Manton (Robert Stack.) At first, she goes at her assignment of getting a story on the pilots wives with the same ruthlessness and persistence that broke up her marriage - but a mirror isn't needed to peek around the corner to where this one is headed.

Sabre Jet

1953

Duchess of Idaho poster
4.9

Ellen Hallit is in love with her playboy boss, Douglas Morrison, but is too timid to do anything about it. To help her, her roommate Chris decides to step in, and devises a plan. Chris follows Morrison on his trip to Sun Valley, Idaho and plays the overattentive female, hoping that he will send for Ellen (who often played his "fiancée" when he had a female he couldn't discourage otherwise.) Complications arise when Chris catches the eye of band leader Dick Layne, and finds herself caught in a triangle between the two men.

Duchess of Idaho

1950

Cattle Town poster
7.6

The governor of Texas sends a cowboy to keep the peace between ranchers and a land baron.

Cattle Town

1952

Betrayal poster
5.9

Wealthy widow Helen Mercer hires a young woman, Gretchen Addison, to act as her personal assistant and companion. Unfortunately, Helen is a poor judge of character, as Gretchen is part of a murderous extortionist duo with her boyfriend, Jay. However, Gretchen has second thoughts when she develops genuine affection for Helen. When Gretchen informs Jay that she wants to call off their plot, he refuses and carries on with the plan. Now both Helen and Gretchen may be in grave danger.

Betrayal

1974

Smuggler's Gold poster
7.0

A deep-sea diver becomes romantically involved with the daughter of a gold smuggler.

Smuggler's Gold

1951

Counterspy Meets Scotland Yard poster
6.2

A federal agent joins forces with a British lawman to foil a spy ring.

Counterspy Meets Scotland Yard

1950

Miss Robin Crusoe poster
6.5

This 1954 feminist version of "Robinson Crusoe" stars Amanda Blake as a woman shipwrecked on a jungle island. Also with George Nader and Rosalind Hayes.

Miss Robin Crusoe

1953