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Phyllis Kirk
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Phyllis Kirk, born Phyllis Kirkegaard (September 18, 1927 - October 19, 2006) was an American actress. She had polio as a child and as a result had difficulty walking later in life.
According to many accounts, Kirk was born in Syracuse, New York; however, her sister, Megan Kirk Flax of Santa Rosa, California, states that she was born in Plainfield, New Jersey. Before entering show business on stage, she worked as a sales clerk, waitress, and model. She was brought to Hollywood by a Goldwyn scout in 1954 and made her film debut in Our Very Own. Later she became a Hollywood contract player for MGM and Warner Brothers.
Kirk is best known for her many television and film roles throughout the 1950s. She appeared with Vincent Price in the 3-D horror film House of Wax in 1953. Her most notable television role was opposite Peter Lawford in The Thin Man (1957—1959), where they played Nick and Nora Charles. She also appeared with Jerry Lewis in his 1957 film The Sad Sack, with Robert Ryan, Anita Ekberg, and Rod Steiger in the 1956 film Back from Eternity. Kirk was also a regular on The Red Buttons Show. Kirk appeared as a guest on some television programs, including an episode of The Twilight Zone, and was a panelist on Mantrap in 1971.
Kirk then returned to the stage before leaving show business altogether to enter public relations, working as a publicist for CBS News, retiring in 1992. She died on Thursday, October 19, 2006 of a post-cerebral aneurysm at age 79 in Woodland Hills, California.