Gayle Hunnicutt, Lady Jenkins (February 6, 1943 – August 31, 2023)
She worked as a fashion model, then became an actress.
Career
Acting
During her film career, Hunnicutt was typecast as a red-haired 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 detective film Marlowe (1969), in which her character was a glamorous Hollywood actress.
She moved to England with husband David Hemmings in 1970. She and Hemmings co-starred in two horror films in the early 1970s, Fragment of Fear (1970) and Voices (1973). She played Charlotte Stant in the Jack Pulman television adaptation (1972) of Henry James's The Golden Bowl. She played Ann Barrett in The Legend of Hell House (1973), and Tsarina Alexandra in the television miniseries Fall of Eagles (1974). She appeared as a housewife and mother in an episode of The Martian Chronicles in 1979. She appeared as Irene Adler, opposite Jeremy Brett, in the first episode of the TV series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes ("A Scandal in Bohemia") in 1984. She also appeared in another Marlowe mystery in an episode of HBO's Philip Marlowe, Private Eye (1983), this time starring Powers Boothe. She had a supporting role in the thriller Target (1985), co-starring Gene Hackman and Matt Dillon. Hunnicutt returned to the United States in 1989 to play the role of Vanessa Beaumont in Dallas, making semi-regular appearances until 1991.
In 2012, Hunnicutt was featured in an episode of the HGTV reality show Selling London, in which she presented the Primrose Hill property where she and her second husband, journalist and editor Simon Jenkins, lived for three decades.
Writing
Hunnicutt wrote 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.
Personal life and death
On November 16, 1968, Hunnicutt married British actor David Hemmings. The couple had a son, actor Nolan Hemmings, before divorcing 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. They divorced in 2009. In 2010 she started dating Richard Evans, tennis correspondent of The Daily Telegraph.
Hunnicutt died in London on August 31, 2023, at the age of 80.
Filmography
Film
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" style="margin-right: 0;"
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! scope="col" | Year
! scope="col" | Title
! scope="col" | Role
! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Notes
! scope="col" class="unsortable" |
|-
! scope="row" | 1966
| '
| Suzie
|
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2"| 1968
| P.J.
| Maureen Preble
|
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
| '
| Adrianna
| Television film
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2"| 1969
| Eye of the Cat
| Kassia Lancaster
|
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
| Marlowe
| Mavis Wald
|
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row"| 1970
| Fragment of Fear
| Juliet Bristow
|
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2"| 1971
| Freelance
| Chris
|
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
| '
| Astrological girl at party
| Uncredited
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row"| 1972
| Running Scared
| Ellen Case
|
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="3"| 1973
| Voices
| Claire
|
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
| Scorpio
| Susan
|
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
| '
| Ann Barrett
|
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row"| 1974
| Nuits rouges
|
| Alternate title: Shadowman
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row"| 1975
| '
| Blanche
|
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2"| 1976
| Strange Shadows in an Empty Room
| Margie Cohn
|
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
| '
| Deborah
|
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2"| 1978
| Once in Paris...
| Susan Townsend
|
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
| Dylan
| Liz Reitel
| Television film
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row"| 1979
| '
| Annabelle West
|
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row"| 1980
| Flashpoint Africa
| Lisa Ford
|
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row"| 1981
| '
| Diana Masterson
| Television film
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2"| 1983
| Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E.
| Andrea Mackovich
| Television film
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
| Savage in the Orient
| Julian Clydesdale
| Television film
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row"| 1984
| Two by Forsyth
|
| Television film
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row"| 1985
| Target
| Donna Lloyd
|
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2"| 1986
| Dream Lover
| Claire
|
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
| Strong Medicine
| Lillian Hawthorne
| Television film
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row"| 1987
| Turnaround
| Pat
|
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="3"| 1989
| Silence Like Glass
| Mrs. Martin
|
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
| Hard to Be a God
|
|
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
| '
| Mrs. Cunningham
| Television film
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
|}
Television
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" style="margin-right: 0;"
|-
! scope="col" | Year
! scope="col" | Title
! scope="col" | Role
! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Notes
! scope="col" class="unsortable" |
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="3"| 1966
| '
| Emaline Fetty
| 2 episodes
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
| Tales of the Unexpected
| Susan Mandeville
| Episode: "The Luncheon"
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
|}