Phyllis Kirk(1927-2006)

Known for being outspoken, Phyllis worked with the American Civil Liberties Union to campaign against capital punishment in the late 1950s. Before the California Assembly, she spoke against the death sentence of Caryl Chessman, nicknamed the "Red Light Bandit," who had been convicted on seventeen counts of kidnapping, robbery, rape and sexual assault. She visited him in prison several times before he was executed in 1960. The notoriety effectively led to the end of her acting career.

[on Bryan Foy, the producer of La maschera di cera (1953)] . . . he was just a divine old curmudgeon. That's exactly what he was, with a hellish reputation for being impossible. I got called to his office before anyone had even told me that I was going to be in that film, and he looked at me long and hard and said, "Wellll, Miss Kirk, we're giving you this part because you're the only intelligent actress I know that I can stand."