July 30, 2017

The Unsung heroes of Cinema and TV. Part 19. Linda Hunt


Linda Hunt

A miniature powerhouse of an actor with a very unique career. She was the first person to win a best acting Oscar for playing a member of the opposite sex. So as an Oscar winner I'm stretching the boundaries of what unsung means but anyway.... You'd recognise her and her voice from a mile away. The roles she takes on are in direct opposition to her stature as well, she's always someone in charge. Be it teacher, captain or plain ol Mother Of All Life.




She's intimidated Arnold Schwarzenegger. Played a nasty nun in a ghost story. Been a voice in one of HBO's most missed shows. She rivals Morgan Freeman for the amount of voice over work she does. Taken on giant amazonian chimeras. Been the nana in Disney blockbusters. Been LL Cool J's boss in over 192 hours of televison. Been an alien in a David Lynch space opera. Westerns, thrillers, comedies, war films, horrors, Linda does them all. Been acting for 41 years and still going strong. Check out her career here.





Greatest hits

Popeye. Her first film and a joke casting but its a great joke. Mother of Oxblood, a man 4 times her size. This is a bonkers film actually, well worth tracking down.


The Year Of Living Dangerously. The role that made her. She plays Billy Kwan. An Asian bloke. And deservedly won an oscar for it. The make up used to make her look asian would have caused twitter to erupt into flames had it been around back then.

Silverado. Stella, the straight talking saloon owner who ain't afraid of no one. A great character in a film full of them.

Kindergarten Cop. Miss Ingrid. The school principal. In a film full of frighteningly inquisitive children and dodgy folk with guns, she's the only one Arnie is wary of.

God Of War. Gamer's will recognise her voice from the GOW series of games. She plays Gaia, the earth mother and narrator of the game and adds a touch of subtlety and class amongst the disembowellings and eye gougings.

Previous parts

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