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1987 WALK OF FAME HONOREE
AMANDA BLAKE
Not only is Amanda Blake the well
known "Miss Kitty" from the famed
Gunsmoke series she is also a long time
animal lover and advocate for animal pro-
tection.
Animal protection and preservation has
always been of great interest to Miss
Blake, so much so, that she is known and
respected world wide for her efforts in
support of these causes.
In the United States, she serves on the Board of Humane Society of
the U.S., is a trustee of the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson,
a member of the Phoenix Zoo Women's Auxilliary and participates in
the Actors and Others for Animals organization headed by Earl
Holliman. Although she now makes her home in the Los Angeles area,
she spends a great deal of time travelling and makes an annual safari
to Kenya, Africa.
Miss Blake's professional career has crossed many eras in
Hollywood. Known to millions as "Miss Kitty Russell," a role she por-
trayed for almost 20 years in the popular "Gunsmoke" series, Amanda
showed America the strength and fortitude of the women of the west.
She was a female entrepreneur long before the ERA.
She's also starred in many films and television movies and in 1968
became the first woman to be inducted into the Cowboy Hall of Fame
at Oklahoma City. She is also the second woman to be placed in
Newhall' s Western Walk of Fame next to Dale Evans who won the
Award in 1983.
Since successful surgery in 1977 to remove a malignant tumor from
her mouth, Miss Blake has been an active volunteer for the American
Cancer Society and has held the position of National Chairman of
Crusade for two years. In April 1984, she received the American
Cancer Society Courage A ward from President Reagan at a White
House Ceremony. Santa Clarita is proud to welcome Amanda Blake in-
to its Western Walk of Fame along with Ben Johnson and Harry
Carey, Sr. (in memoriam) on August 22nd when the program marks its
sixth anniversary.