Marketa Kimbrell

Marketa Kimbrell, born Markéta Nitschová on August 1, 1928, in Prague, Czechoslovakia, was an American actress and educator whose career spanned stage, television, and film. She died on July 6, 2011, in Sykesville, Maryland, at the age of 82, from complications related to Alzheimer's disease.

Kimbrell's path to the United States began in the aftermath of World War II, when she met George Kimbrell, an American Army major, at a refugee camp in Germany in 1945. She was born to Alfred and Josefina Nitsch, and after marrying George Kimbrell she relocated to America, where she built her professional career. George Kimbrell died in 1952.

Her Broadway career extended from 1960 to 1967 and included appearances in Galileo, the musical East Wind, Yerma, The Alchemist, and The Wall. Beyond Broadway, Kimbrell worked in television and film throughout her career.

In 1970, Kimbrell and actor Richard Levy co-founded the New York Street Theater Caravan, a company dedicated to bringing theatrical productions to underserved audiences. The company performed for prisoners, residents of coal mining towns, rural communities, Native American reservations, and low-income urban neighborhoods.

That same year, Kimbrell joined the faculty of the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, where she taught acting and film directing as a full-time professor until her retirement in 2006. She was survived by two sons, seven grandchildren, one great-grandchild, and a sister.