Gayle Hunnicutt

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Gayle, Lady Jenkins (born 6 February 1943), known by her birth name Gayle Hunnicutt, is an American actress.

Personal life

Hunnicutt was born in Fort Worth, Texas, the daughter of Colonel Sam Lloyd Hunnicutt and Virginia Hunnicutt, and attended the University of California, Los Angeles. She worked as a fashion model before going into acting. She was married from 1968 to 1975 to the actor David Hemmings, by whom she is the mother of actor Nolan Hemmings. She is married to the journalist Sir Simon Jenkins, and lives in London. On 27 July 2008, The Sunday Telegraph reported that the couple had separated and Ms. Hunnicutt had initiated divorce proceedings.

Acting career

During her brief Hollywood career, Hunnicutt was typecast as a brunette sexpot. She co-starred with James Garner in the 1969 film Marlowe, the character she played being a glamorous Hollywood actress.

After she moved to England with Hemmings in 1970, however, the finer range of her acting emerged. A notable role was that of Charlotte Stant, in the critically acclaimed Jack Pulman television adaptation (1972) of Henry James's The Golden Bowl. She went on to play Lionel's wife in The Legend of Hell House in 1973, and Tsarina Alexandra in Fall of Eagles in 1974.

In 1984, she appeared as Irene Adler opposite Jeremy Brett in the very first episode ("A Scandal in Bohemia") of the acclaimed series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

Hunnicutt returned to America to play the role of Vanessa Beaumont in the US series Dallas from 1989 to 1991.

Writing

Hunnicutt has also written a book, Health and Beauty in Motherhood. It was published in 1984. In 2004, she brought out Dearest Virginia: love letters from a cavalry officer in the South Pacific. The book brings together love letters which were exchanged by her parents, Colonel Sam Lloyd Hunnicutt and Virginia Hunnicutt.

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