Inside life of NCIS LA's Linda Hunt from bullying and car crash to decades-long romance

Linda Hunt is best recognised in recent years as NCIS Los Angeles’ mysterious Hetty Lange so it’s no surprise fans are keen to know more about the actress.

NCIS LA was the first NCIS spin-off which sadly came to an end after 14 seasons on CBS last year.

One of the stars who made the show so popular was actress Linda Hunt who portrayed Operations Manager of OSP (Office of Special Projects) from the very beginning.

Difficult beginnings

Actress Linda Hunt was born in April 1945 in Morristown, New Jersey, but grew up with her mum and dad Elsie and Raymond Hunt in Westport, Connecticut.

Her parents suspected something was different about Linda and when they took her to the hospital, they suspected it was cretinism, a condition of abnormal mental and physical development.

They were told that she would have to eventually be institutionalised but her mum persisted in working with her every day on strengthening her motor skills and as such, made significant progress.

Nevertheless, this didn’t stop the now 79-year-old from getting bullied at school as she revealed to CBS Sunday Morning.

She explained: “Everybody either wanted to take care of me or push me around, you know?

“I was teased a lot, sure I was, of course. Fourth grade, fifth grade, sixth grade, everybody was taking their spurts except me. I was not growing up.”

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Hunt also previously told The Bulletin: “I was so lucky my parents were encouraging on every level.

“I was totally alienated by school almost from the first day.

“I had a bad experience with a teacher and was made to feel stupid. I felt bad that I didn’t fit in.”

It was only when she was a teenager that the NCIS LA star was diagnosed with hypopituitary dwarfism, which meant that she would grow no taller than she is today at 4ft 9in.

Pursuing acting

Hunt fell in love with the of entertainment after watching a production of Peter Pan on Broadway and her parents were happy to support her dream.

They sent her off to the Goodman School of Drama in Chicago for two years before she went to live in New York to try and become an actress.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t easy as she spent the next three years just working as a stage manager at small theatres in the off-Broadway scene.

Hunt was ready to give up her dream as she moved back in with her parents but her acting coach pushed her to try again.

This in turn led her to audition for the role of Billy Kwan, a half-Asian male photographer with dwarfism in the film The Year Of Living Dangerously.

Much to her surprise, this led to Hunt becoming the first person to win an Oscar for playing a character of the opposite sex.

In the years to follow, the pensioner starred in various other projects like Kindergarten Cop, Pocahontas, Without A Trace and Practice and of course, NCIS Los Angeles as Hetty Lange.

Car accident

While Hunt starred in the majority of NCIS LA, it was in 2018 that she had to take a temporary step back from the show.

The actress was involved in a car crash in Hollywood in which her black BMW SUV collided with two other cars.

She wasn’t seriously injured but needed time to heal and so was absent from series 10 and the majority of season 11.

In a statement at the time, she said: "I first want to say how much I appreciate the outpouring of support from the NCIS: Los Angeles fans following my car accident this summer.

"Though I had hoped to return to playing Hetty at the start of the season, I had to take some additional time to recover. I look forward to returning later this season."

True love

Hunt is married to psychotherapist Karen Kline and while they only tied the knot in 2008, their romance has been going on since the late 1970s.

It was then in 1987 that the pair moved in together and even opened up their home, a bungalow in Hollywood, to the Los Angeles Times in 2014.

The article described their home as a “a jewel-box home filled with carefully considered details and custom finishes ranging from antique door pulls to lavender-coloured walls and graphic wallcoverings in surprising hues of purple and green.”

When speaking of first impressions to CBS Sunday Morning, Kline joked: “I was kind of struck [by] Linda’s corduroys."

Hunt also teased Kline about her age saying: “Karen’s six years younger, but I forgive her daily. I do, I forgive you for being younger.”

NCIS Los Angeles is available to watch on CBS.