Amanda Blake

Amanda Blake was an American actress whose long run as a saloon keeper on television made her a familiar face. Born in Buffalo, New York, she attended Pomona College and Brenau Academy before turning to acting. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer signed her in the late 1940s and groomed her as a successor in the Greer Garson mold. She had roles in Hollywood films including Cattle Town (1952), Miss Robin Crusoe (1954), and A Star Is Born (1954). Her best-known part was Miss Kitty Russell on the Western series Gunsmoke, which she played for 19 years, from 1955 to 1974. She did comedy work on The Red Skelton Show and appeared as a celebrity on Hollywood Squares and Match Game. In 1968 the Hall of Great Western Performers in Oklahoma City honored her, the third performer chosen after Tom Mix and Gary Cooper. After a Gunsmoke reunion film, she appeared in The Boost and B.O.R.N, both in 1988. She died in 1989.