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Kim Stanley (born Patricia Reid; February 11, 1925 – August 20, 2001) was an American actress who was primarily active in television and theatre but also had occasional film performances.
She began her acting career in theatre and subsequently attended the Actors Studio in New York. She received the 1952 Theatre World Award for her role in Horton Foote (1952), and starred in the Broadway productions of Picnic (1953) and Bus Stop (1955). Stanley was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her roles in A Touch of the Poet (1959) and A Far Country (1962).
In the 1950s, Stanley was a prolific performer in television; she later progressed to film, with a well-received performance in The Goddess (1958). She was the narrator of To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), and starred in Séance on a Wet Afternoon (1964), for which she won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She was less active during the remainder of her career; two of her later film successes were as the mother of Frances Farmer in Frances (1982), for which she received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, and as Pancho Barnes in The Right Stuff (1983). Stanley received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Miniseries or a Movie for her performance as Big Mama in a television adaptation of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in 1985. That same year, she was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.
She was nominated for the 1959 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for A Touch of the Poet and the 1962 Tony for Best Actress in a Play for her portrayal of Elizabeth von Ritter in Henry Denker's A Far Country. Stanley also portrayed Maggie "The Cat" in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in the original London production of the play. In 1965, she played Masha in the London run of an Actors Studio production of Anton Chekhov's play The Three Sisters. After a savaging of the production by local critics, she made good on her promise to never act on stage again.
She taught her unique approach to Method Acting in New York City. One of her students, John Uecker, continued to teach her technique in a studio setting that prepared actors for work of heightened realism, which was equally suited towards works of heightened circumstances as in those by Tennessee Williams and James Purdy, or kitchen-sink realism. The Kim Stanley Method featured a preparation technique with modified Misner repetition exercise, as well as Sense Memory and Affective memory. It was relaxation-based, using needs individually or in combination to help integrate the actor into the context of the work. The needs, combined with a sense of place and relationships, made acting a sensual experience, not an intellectual exercise: the "actor" would not have to control their reactions, but allow themselves to be informed of the reality of the work. For stage work, this gave the actor a momentum of reality before even stepping on stage. For film, it might be simple enough to work on a small piece of music and allow that to inform the body, and therefore, the reactions.
A filmed version of Strasberg-directed Three Sisters (1966) opened with Stanley reprising the role of Masha, and is the only time one can see her perform in a film alongside Geraldine Page, Sandy Dennis, Shelley Winters and other well-known names of the Actors Studio. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture for her performance as Frances Farmer's possessive mother in Frances (1982). She also played Pancho Barnes in The Right Stuff (1983). Stanley was the uncredited narrator in the drama film To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). As the narrator, she represents the character Jean Louise Finch ("Scout") as an adult. Mary Badham portrays Scout as a child in the film.
She received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for her appearance in the episode, "A Cardinal Act of Mercy" (1963), of the television series, Ben Casey (1961–1966), and an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or a Special for her appearance in the 1984 television adaptation of Tennessee Williams's Southern melodrama Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, this time as Big Mama.
She had three children: one by Curt Conway; one by Brooks Clift (brother of Montgomery Clift), while she was married to Conway; and one by Alfred Ryder (Laurie). During her marriage to Ryder, Stanley converted to Judaism.
Stanley did not act during her later years, preferring the role of teacher in New York City, Los Angeles, and later Santa Fe, New Mexico.
She was inducted into the New Mexico Entertainment Hall of Fame in 2012.
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| 1952 Theatre World Award for Kim Stanley |
| New York Drama Critics Award |
| Tony Award nomination, Best Actress |
| Tony Award nomination, Best Actress |
| Voice, Uncredited |
| Laurel Award (3rd place) National Board of Review Award for Best Actress New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress Nominated-Academy Award for Best Actress Nominated-BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role |
| Nominated-Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated-Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture |
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