Kim Darby

Kim Darby (born July 8, 1947) is an American actress.

Biography

Darby was born Deborah Zerby in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of professional dancers Inga and Jon Zerby. Her father insisted on calling her "Derby" Zerby because he believed it was a great stagename.

Career

Darby began acting at age fifteen and has appeared in many films and television shows. Her first appearance was as a dancer in the 1963 film Bye Bye Birdie. Among her best known roles are True Grit (1969) when she was twenty-one years old, Gunsmoke: (TV Series) "The Lure" episode, Better Off Dead (1985), and Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995). After she starred in True Grit, film critics predicted that she was at the beginning of a long career as a great actress. In fact, she has made almost no films of note since. This has caused some critics^{[citation needed]} to put her in the same category as Bo Derek (in 10) and Maria Schneider (in Last Tango in Paris), because all three actresses made spectacular splashes in their first films, but never acted in successful films again.

Her television roles included an appearance in the 1960s NBC series The Eleventh Hour, Ironside and in the first season of Star Trek as the title character in "Miri". She appeared in the episode "'Tis Better to Have Loved and Lost" in the 1965 NBC sitcom The John Forsythe Show. She was cast as "Angel" in the classic two-part Gunsmoke episode "Vengeance." She appeared in the 1967 episode "Fair Ladies of France" of the NBC western series The Road West starring Barry Sullivan. She appeared in the 1972 movie The People, which also starred William Shatner, reuniting them from their Star Trek appearance.

Darby also had the central role of Sally Farnham in the 1973 made-for-TV horror film Don't Be Afraid of the Dark. Kim Darby has made numerous guest appearances, including in such TV shows as Crazy Like a Fox, The Love Boat, Riptide, and Becker. In the late 1980s she began to teach acting in the Los Angeles area and has been an instructor in the Extension Program at the University of California since 1992. Darby also appeared as a female convict in a 1999 program of the X Files, "Sein und Zeit" who falsely confesses to the murder of her son who disappeared under mysterious circumstances related to a current occurrence being investigated by Mulder and Scully. She continues to make guest appearances on television and to make occasional films.

Personal life

She has been married five times, three times to well-known people in Hollywood. Her first marriage was to actor James Stacy (1968-1969). They had one child. Her second marriage was to B-movie actor James Westmoreland (aka Rad Fulton) (February to March 1970). Her fourth marriage was the longest, and was to producer William (Bill) Tennant. She was romantically involved with actor John David Carson. She currently lives in Studio City, California.

Partial filmography

• Bye Bye Birdie (1963)
• Bus Riley's Back in Town (1965)
• Hang Down Your Head and Laugh (1966), episode of Run for Your Life (TV series)
• Ironside (1967), television pilot film for the series of the same name
• The Karate Killers (1967)
• True Grit (1969)
• Generation (1969)
• The Strawberry Statement (1970)
• Norwood (1970)
• The Grissom Gang (1971)
• The Streets of San Francisco (1972), made-for-TV pilot for the TV series
• Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark (1973, TV)
• The One and Only (1978)
• Better Off Dead (1985)
• Teen Wolf Too (1987)
• Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)
• News Break (2000)
• Mockingbird Don't Sing (2001)
• You Are So Going to Hell (2004)
• Cold Ones (2006)

External links

• Kim Darby at the Internet Movie Database
• Kim Darby at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• Home Page
• Feature by the Scriptwriters Network