Amanda Blake

Amanda Blake was an American actress best known for the role of the redhaired saloon proprietress Miss Kitty Russell on the television western Gunsmoke. Along with her third husband Frank Gilbert, she ran one of the first successful programs for breeding cheetahs in captivity.

Amanda Blake was born Beverly Louise Neill in Buffalo, New York, the only child of Jesse and Louise Neill. Her father was a banker, and she was a telephone operator before taking up acting. Catherine Kate Moore Barry , one of her ancestors, was a heroine of the American Revolutionary War. She warned local patriots of Banastre Tarletons approach, giving them time to group and prepare for the Battle of Cowpens , a major American victory that helped pave the way for the British defeat at Yorktown. Blake placed a cameosized portrait of Barry owned by her family in the Spartanburg, South Carolina, local history museum, where it remains on display.

Source: Wikipedia