Star Archive


Martita Hunt (1900 - 1969)

Despite appearing in over seventy films, Martita Hunt's cinema career is dominated by one role: that of Miss Haversham in Great Expectations.

She was born in Buenos Aires to British parents, and was sent to England to boarding school at the age of ten. She trained for the stage and joined Liverpool Rep. She made her London debut in 1923. In 1929 she joined the Old Vic for a season, playing several leading roles including Rosalind in As You Like It and Gertrude in Hamlet opposite John Gielgud.

Although she made a short film in 1920, her film career started in earnest in 1932. Like many actors at the time, she combined filming with theatre. She built up a large portfolio of scene-stealing cameos which contrasted with the major roles she played on stage. In 1939 she played Miss Haversham in a production of Great Expectations which inspired David Lean to film the novel. When he finally did, she naturally reprised her role.

She made her Broadway debut in 1948 as The Madwoman of Chaillot and won a Tony award for her performance. By now she was firmly typecast as eccentric and posh, a role she appears to have played in real life too. Her last stage role was in 1956 opposite Alec Guinness to whom she had given voice lessons at the start of his career.

Martita Hunt in Great ExpectationsPoster for Great Expectations

Filmography

1920 The Rank Outsider
1932 Love on Wheels
1932 Service for Ladies
1933 I Was a Spy
1933 Friday the Thirteenth
1934 Too Many Millions
1935 Mr. What's-His-name
1935 The Case of Gabriel Perry
1935 First a Girl
1935 King of the Damned
1936 Pot Luck
1936 The Interrupted Honeymoon
1936 When Knights Were Bold
1936 Tudor Rose
1926 Sabotage
1937 The Mill on the Floss
1937 Good Morning, Boys
1937 Farewell Again
1937 Paradise for Two
1938 Second Best Bed
1938 Everything Happens to Me
1938 Strange Boarders
1938 Prison Without Bars
1939 The Nursemaid Who Disappeared
1939 A Girl Must Live
1939 Trouble Brewing
1939 Goodbye Mr Chips
1939 Young Man's Fancy
1940 Old Mother Riley Joins Up
1940 At the Villa Rose
1940 The Middle Watch
1940 The Good Old Days
1940 Tilly of Bloomsbury
1941 The Seventh Survivor
1941 Freedom Radio
1941 Quiet Wedding
1941 East of Piccadilly
1942 Lady from Lisbon
1942 They Flew Alone
1942 Sabotage at Sea
1942 Talk About Jacqueline
1943 The Man in Grey
1944 Welcome Mr Washington
1945 The Wicked Lady
1946 Great Expectations
1947 The Ghosts of Berkeley Square
1948 My Sister and I
1948 Anna Karenina
1948 So Evil My Love
1948 The Little Ballerina
1949 The Fan (US)
1952 Treasure Hunt
1952 It Started in Paradise
1952 The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men
1952 Meet Me Tonight
1953 Folly to Be Wise
1953 Melba
1955 March Hare
1955 King's Rhapsody
1956 Three Men in a Boat
1956 Anastasia
1957 Dangerous Exile
1957 Les Espions (Fr.)
1957 The Admirable Crichton
1958 Bonjour Tristesse
1958 Me and the Colonel
1959 La Prima Notte
1960 Bottoms Up
1960 The Brides of Dracula
1960 Song Without End (US)
1961 Mr Topaze
1962 The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (US)
1964 Becket
1964 The Unsinkable Molly Brown (US)
1965 Bunny Lake is Missing
1969 The Best House in London
 

 Martita Hunt at Amazon UK

 Martita Hunt at Amazon US