Kim Winona

American actress Kim Winona was born in 1930 in South Sioux City, Nebraska. She was enrolled as Constance M. Marlow in the Santee Sioux tribe and spent her childhood on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota. At 17, she moved with her parents to Spokane, Washington, where she met her future husband, who was also of Indian extraction. She had no theatrical aspirations at the time. After marrying, they relocated to Los Angeles, where her husband established a printing business. Kim took a secretarial job in a commercial art firm, and her natural beauty quickly caught the attention of artists and photographers. She began supplementing her income as a model. A talent scout spotted her picture and arranged a screen test for The Last Hunt (1956). Though she lost that role to a better-known actress, she was soon named "Miss Apache" and toured the U.S. promoting the film. In June 1955, Roy Rogers' Frontier Productions found her for the role of Morning Star in the Brave Eagle series. Executive producer Mike North had struggled to find someone with the role's requirements: riding ability, physical stamina for location shooting, and a working knowledge of Indian lore. Kim filled all of those perfectly. She was also an accomplished painter and sculptress; one wood sculpture was displayed at the Carnegie Institute.