Gayle Hunnicutt


Gayle Hunnicutt, Lady Jenkins, is an American film, television and stage actress, She has made more than 30 film appearances.

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.

Marriage and family

On November 16, 1968, Hunnicutt married British actor David Hemmings, with whom she had a son, the 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. The couple divorced in 2009.

Career

Acting

During her film career, Hunnicutt was typecast as a brunette 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 film Marlowe, in which her character was a glamorous Hollywood actress.
After she moved to England with Hemmings in 1970, Hunnicutt was able to use the finer range of her acting. She had a prominent role as Charlotte Stant in Jack Pulman's television adaptation of Henry James's novel The Golden Bowl. She played Lionel's wife in The Legend of Hell House and Tsarina Alexandra in Fall of Eagles. She appeared as Irene Adler, opposite Jeremy Brett, in the first episode of the TV series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. She also appeared in another Marlowe mystery in an episode of HBO's Philip Marlowe, Private Eye, this time starring Powers Boothe. Hunnicutt returned to the United States in 1989 to play the role of Vanessa Beaumont in Dallas until 1991.
In 2012, Hunnicutt was featured in an episode of the HGTV reality show Selling London.

Writing

Hunnicutt has written 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.

Filmography