Biography: Amanda Blake

Amanda Blake (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 television western Gunsmoke.

Early life and career

Born Beverly Louise Neill in Buffalo, New York, she was a telephone operator before taking up acting.

Nicknamed "the Young Greer Garson," she became best known for her 19-year stint as the saloon-keeper Miss Kitty on the television series Gunsmoke from 1955 until 1974. In 1968, Blake was inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.^[1] She was the third performer inducted, after Tom Mix and Gary Cooper, who were selected in 1958 and 1966 respectively.

Because of her continuing role on television, Blake rarely had time for films. She appeared in a TV comedy routine with Red Skelton and was a panelist on the long-running Hollywood Squares and Match Game 1974. In 1957, she guest-starred as Betty Lavon-Coate in the episode "Coate of Many Colors" of on Rod Cameron's syndicated series western-themed crime drama, State Trooper.

She made one final film appearance in 1988's The Boost, a drug-addiction drama starring James Woods and Sean Young.

Animal welfare

After Gunsmoke, Blake went into semi-retirement at her home in Phoenix, taking on only a few film and TV projects. A lover of animals, she joined with others to form the Arizona Animal Welfare League in 1971, today the oldest and largest "no-kill" animal shelter in the state. In 1985, she helped finance the start-up of the Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) and devoted a great deal of time and money in support of its efforts, including travels to Africa.

Blake reportedly was a one-time board member of the Humane Society of the United States. In 1997, the Amanda Blake Memorial Wildlife Refuge opened at Rancho Seco Park in Herald, California.^[2] The refuge is a PAWS sanctuary for free-ranging African hoofed wildlife, most of whom were originally destined for exotic animal auctions or hunting ranches.

Declining health and death

In 1980, Blake was diagnosed with a form of mouth cancer. A former smoker of two-to-three packs a day,^[3] in 1982 Blake spoke against smoking by testifying for new warning labels for cigarette packages, before a United State House of Representatives subcommittee: "I am a victim of oral cancer, a victim of cigarette smoking. When my doctor told me I had cancer of the mouth, I didn't believe it. I had never even heard of cancer of the mouth, yet I had it."^[4] She told the subcommittee: "I believe that I would not have smoked had I seen a label on a cigarette package or in a cigarette ad that said 'Warning: Cigarette smoking may cause death from heart disease, cancer or emphysema."^[4]

Blake died on August 16, 1989, at Mercy General Hospital in Sacramento, California, of oral cancer.^[3] The exact cause of Blake’s death is unclear. It was widely reported in the news media that she had died of AIDS and had contracted HIV. According to her doctor, Sacramento, California, internist Dr. Lou Nishimura, she had throat cancer at the time of her death. Her death certificate, however, listed the immediate cause as cardiopulmonary arrest due to liver failure and CMV hepatitis. ^[5]

Selected filmography

References

1. ^ Great Western Performers. - National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum
2. ^ Amanda Blake Memorial Wildlife Refuge. - Performing Animal Welfare Society. - (Pawseb.com)
3. ^ ^{a b} Obituaries: "Amanda Blake, 60, Saloonkeeper On TV's 'Gunsmoke' for 19 Years". - Associated Press - (c/o New York Times) - August 18, 1989
4. ^ ^{a b} Krebs, Albin, and Robert MCG. Thomas Jr. - Health: "NOTES ON PEOPLE; Miss Kitty Wants Stronger Warning on Cigarettes". - New York Times. - March 6, 1982
5. ^ Health: "Amanda Blake Died of AIDS, Doctor Says". - Associated Press. - (c/o New York Times). - November 8, 1989

External links

• Amanda Blake at the Internet Movie Database
• Amanda Blake at TV.com
• Amanda Blake at Find a Grave

Amanda Blake main page.