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Actress Kim Hunter, who won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Stella in the 1951 adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire, died Wednesday in her Greenwich Village apartment from an apparent heart attack, Associated Press reports. She was 79. The versatile actress originated the role of Stella on Broadway for director Elia Kazan, with a legendary cast that included Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, and Jessica Tandy; Brando and Malden also starred in the film version with Hunter. A stage actress who originally signed a contract with David O. Selzinck, only to find her way back to the theater, Hunter was also well-known for her film role as chimpanzee psychiatrist Dr. Zira in three of the Planet of the Apes films. The actress spent hours as the makeup and monkey suit were applied and later removed; she once remarked, "The only thing of me that came through was my eyeballs." After the Planet of the Apes movies, Hunter appeared on Broadway in Darkness at Noon, The Children's Hour and The Tender Trap and toured extensively in regional theater. Hunter was most recently seen in the Canadian film Here's To Life (2000), A Price Above Rubies (1998), and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997). --Prepared by IMDb staff...

Actress Kim Hunter, who won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Stella in the 1951 adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire, died Wednesday in her Greenwich Village apartment from an apparent heart attack, Associated Press reports. She was 79. The versatile actress originated the role of Stella on Broadway for director Elia Kazan, with a legendary cast that included Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, and Jessica Tandy; Brando and Malden also starred in the film version with Hunter. A stage actress who originally signed a contract with David O. Selzinck, only to find her way back to the theater, Hunter was also well-known for her film role as chimpanzee psychiatrist Dr. Zira in three of the Planet of the Apes films. The actress spent hours as the makeup and monkey suit were applied and later removed; she once remarked, "The only thing of me that came through was my eyeballs." After the Planet of the Apes movies, Hunter appeared on Broadway in Darkness at Noon, The Children's Hour and The Tender Trap and toured extensively in regional theater. Hunter was most recently seen in the Canadian film Here's To Life (2000), A Price Above Rubies (1998), and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997). --Prepared by IMDb staff...