Kitty Mayfack was a Hollywood actress who worked at Universal Pictures in 1920. She played "Kitty Simms", the female lead in John Ford's Western film Six Steps to Hell. During the production, Kitty befriended Indiana Jones.[1]
Behind the scenes[]
Kitty Mayfack was portrayed by Julia Campbell in Young Indiana Jones and the Hollywood Follies.[1]
The teleplay doesn't give a forename, introducing her with "A beautiful woman in her early thirties, tough, experienced, but with a kind heart is playing KITTY" who is a friend of John Ford like the other cast members. Nevertheless, she's frequently addressed as her character throughout except for one instance of the director using "Miss Mayfack".[2]
It is possible that "Kitty" is both her real name, and the name of her character. When Ford is directing Edwin, who plays "Slim" in Six Steps to Hell, he always calls him "Edwin" (as opposed to his character's name), while he always calls her "Kitty" (both during shooting and elsewhere). When Ford decides out of the blue to shoot the film's final scene (which needs to be done before the end of an ongoing sunset), he tells Pete to get "Harry and Kitty up here right away", without Pete getting confused who "Kitty" is. It was not uncommon for screen actors and their characters of this time period to have the same first name. Harry Carey portrayed men named "Harry" in several movies. Charlie Chaplin's famous Tramp character was sometimes called "Charlie". Molly Malone (the female lead of several John Ford's movies. Including Ford's 1917 feature-film Straight Shooting whose production appears to be fictionalized by the fictional John Ford movie Six Steps to Hell) frequently played women named "Molly".
Appearances[]
- The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles – "Young Indiana Jones and the Hollywood Follies" → Hollywood Follies