SANTA FE, N.M.
Actress Kim Stanley, whose roles ranged from a nightclub singer in the Broadway play "Bus Stop" to the mother of Frances Farmer in the movie "Frances," has died. She was 76.
Stanley died of cancer Monday in St. Vincent Hospital, her brother, Justin Reid, said Tuesday from his home in Crestone, Colo.
In plays like "Picnic, "Traveling Lady" and especially William Inge's "Bus Stop," Stanley captivated Broadway audiences and dazzled the critics. In the 1955 "Bus Stop," she played Cherie, a worn-at-the-edges nightclub singer.
There were more good reviews for her stage work, which included "That Old Black Magic," "A Clearing in the Woods," "A Touch of the Poet," "Cheri," "A Far Country" and "The Three Sisters."
Although Stanley established herself as one of Broadway's most brilliant actresses in a little more than a decade, she never won a Tony.
She was nominated for two Oscars _ one for portraying a crazed medium in 1964's "Seance on a Wet Afternoon," the other for her role in "Frances" (1982). Her film credits also include "The Goddess" (1958) and "The Right Stuff" (1983).
She won two Emmy awards _ one for a 1963 appearance in a "Ben Casey" episode and another for her role as Big Mama in a PBS production of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof."
Stanley was born Patricia Beth Reid Feb. 11, 1925, in Tularosa and was raised in Texas. She attended the University of New Mexico and graduated from the University of Texas with a psychology degree.
A scout with the Pasadena Playhouse in California spotted her during a college performance, and she stayed at that theater for a year.
Stanley, who spent a season with a stock company in Louisville, Ky., then traveled to New York on a bus in 1947.
She joined the Actors Studio and worked with its guru, Lee Strasberg.
Stanley appeared in plays at the Cherry Lane Theater and at the Equity Library Theater in New York before her Broadway stints.
Stanley spent her last years in New Mexico, teaching at the College of Santa Fe.
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