Kim Darby (born Deborah Zerby; July 8, 1947)
Darby has appeared in over 80 films and television series. She was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for her role in the miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man. Between 1992 and 2009, she taught acting in the extension program at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Early life
Darby was born Deborah Zerby in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of professional dancers Inga (née Wiere) and Jon Zerby (known professionally as the "Dancing Zerbys" or "Dancing Zerbies"). Her father nicknamed her "Derby", saying "I thought Derby Zerby would be a great stage name".
Her mother was a Hungarian immigrant from
Budapest.
She performed as a singer and dancer under the name "Derby Zerby".
Career
Film
Darby began acting at age 15; her first appearance was as a dancer in the feature film version of
Bye Bye Birdie (1963), about a rock and roll music singing and guitar-playing star (modeled on the real-life career of
Elvis Presley). Her television work included the Western TV series
Gunsmoke of 1955–1975 (in the 1967 episodes "The Lure" and "Vengeance") and another long-running Western,
Bonanza of 1959–1973 (in its 1967 episode "The Sure Thing"); and as a young girl approaching adulthood on an all-child planet in the 1966–67 first-season episode of "" of the original
TV series of 1966–1969.
Among her many feature film roles, she is best known for her portrayal of Mattie Ross in the Western film classic True Grit (1969), when she was 21 years old. Co-starring with John Wayne and Glen Campbell, she played a precocious, unusually confident 14-year-old Arkansas frontier girl pursuing the murderer who killed her beloved father. Set in the mid-1870s, the film was adapted from a popular Western fiction published in 1968 by Charles Portis. It was hugely successful and reached number one at the box office in the US.
In 1970, Darby appeared in The Strawberry Statement
Television roles
Darby's 1960s television roles included two appearances on the
NBC series
Mr. Novak, starring
James Franciscus, including an appearance as Julie Dean in "To Lodge and Dislodge" (1963). She was cast as Heather Heatherton in the
Wagon Train episode "The Story of Hector Heatherton" (1964) and as Judy Wheeler in "The Silent Dissuaders" (1965).
Darby also appeared about this time on The Eleventh Hour, The Fugitive, The Donna Reed Show, Ironside, and in the first season of Star Trek as the title character in
Darby was cast in an episode of the NBC sitcom The John Forsythe Show ("'Tis Better Have Loved and Lost", 1965), and as Angel in the two-part Gunsmoke episode "Vengeance." She appeared in the episode "Faire Ladies of France" (1967) of the NBC western series The Road West starring Barry Sullivan and a Bonanza episode "A Sure Thing" (1967) as Trudy Loughlin, guest starring Tom Tully as Burt Loughlin, her father.
She was cast in the 1972 movie, The People, which reunited her with William Shatner from her Star Trek appearance.
Darby had the central role of Sally Farnham in the made-for-TV chiller Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (1973). Some of her subsequent television roles included guest appearances on Crazy Like a Fox, Thriller, Family, The Love Boat, The Streets of San Francisco, Riptide, and Becker.
Darby admitted her career declined after the 1970s, partly due to her dependency on amphetamines at the time.
In 1990, she began to teach acting in the Los Angeles area and was an instructor in the extension program at the University of California, Los Angeles from 1992 to 2009.
In 2014, she played Stacia Clairborne, a partially blind witness to a crime, in the episode "Prologue" of the show Perception.
Personal life
Darby has been married several times, including to William Tennant.
In 1968, she married
James Stacy, with whom she had one child, Heather Elias, born in 1968.
Their marriage ended in divorce in 1969.
In 1970, she married James Westmoreland; the marriage ended in divorce after less than two months.
Filmography
Film
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Bye Bye Birdie (1963) as Teenager (uncredited)
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Bus Riley's Back in Town (1965) as Gussie
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The Restless Ones (1965) as April
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The Karate Killers (1967) as Sandy True
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Flesh and Blood (1968) TV movie as Faye
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True Grit (1969) as Mattie Ross
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Generation (1969) as Doris Bolton Owen
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The Strawberry Statement (1970) as Linda
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Norwood (1970) as Rita Lee Chipman
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A Glimpse of Tiger (1971, abandoned)
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Red Sky at Morning (1971) (uncredited)
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The Grissom Gang (1971) as Barbara Blandish
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The People (1972 TV movie) as Melodye Amerson
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Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (1973 TV movie) as Sally Farnham
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The Story of Pretty Boy Floyd (1974 TV movie) as Ruby Hardgrave
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This Is the West That Was (1974 TV movie) as Calamity Jane
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The One and Only (1978) as Mary Crawford
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Flatbed Annie & Sweetiepie: Lady Truckers (1979 TV movie) as Sweetiepie
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(1980 TV movie) as Lucy Tibbets
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The Capture of Grizzly Adams (1982 TV movie) as Kate Bradey
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Summer Girl (1983 TV movie) as Mary Shelburne
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First Steps (1985 TV movie) as Sherry Petrofsky
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Embassy (1985) TV movie as Sue Davidson
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Better Off Dead (1985) as Jenny Meyer
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Teen Wolf Too (1987) as Professor Brooks
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(1995) as Debra Strode
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The Last Best Sunday (1999) as Mrs. Summers
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Newsbreak (2000) as Frances Johnson
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Mockingbird Don't Sing (2001) as Louise Standon
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You Are So Going to Hell! (2004) as Louise
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Dead Letters (2007) as Barbs
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The Evil Within (2017) as Mildy Torres
TV appearances
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Mr. Novak (1963, 1965)
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Dr. Kildare (1964); Episode: "A Nickel's Worth of Prayer" as Patsy
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Wagon Train (1964); Season 8, Episode 13: "The Hector Heatherton Story" as Heather Heatherton
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Run for Your Life (1966); Episode: "Hang Down Your Head and Laugh"
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The Fugitive
(1965); Episode: “An Apple A Day”
(1966); Episode: "Joshua's Kingdom"
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(1966) – Miri in S1:E8, ""
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The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1967); Episode: "The Five Daughters Affair"
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Ironside (1967); pilot film for the NBC series of the same name
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Bonanza (1967); Episode: "The Sure Thing"
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Gunsmoke (1967); Season 12, Episode 23: "The Lure" as Carrie Neely
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Gunsmoke (1967); Season 13, Episodes 4 & 5: "Vengeance, Part 1 & 2" as Angel with James Stacy
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The Streets of San Francisco (1972); pilot for the TV series of the same name
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Circle of Fear (1973); Episode: "Dark Vengeance"
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Love Story (1973); Episode: "Joie"
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Police Story (1974); Episodes: "Captain Hook" & "Wyatt Earp Syndrome"
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Thriller (1975); Series 5, Episode 5: "Good Salary - Prospects - Free Coffin" as Helen
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Rich Man, Poor Man (1976); Miniseries
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Family (1978); Episode: "Princess in the Tower" as Lily Barker
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The Last Convertible (1979); Miniseries
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The Love Boat (1979, 1982)
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Fantasy Island (1982); Episode: "The Challenge / A Genie Named Joe"
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The Facts of Life (1984); Episode: "Joint Custody" as Doris Garrett
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Murder, She Wrote (1984) Episode: "We're Off to Kill the Wizard" & (1995) Episode: "Film Flam"
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Scarecrow & Mrs. King (1985) Episode: "Over the Limit"
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The X-Files (1999); Episode: "Sein und Zeit"
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Becker (1999); Episode: "Point of Contact"
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Perception (2014); Episode: "Prologue"
External links
