Marjorie Dean Dunfee (December 25, 1915 – December 23, 1994) was an American

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

and

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

actress and acting coach.

Early years

Born in Belmont, Ohio, on December 25, 1915, Dunfee was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. O. B. Dunfee.

Career

Dunfee began her professional acting career at the Ogunquit Playhouse in

Ogunquit, Maine Ogunquit ( ) is a resort town in York County, Maine, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 1,577. Ogunquit is part of the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford metropolitan area. History Ogunquit was first a village within ...

, starring in

Sinclair Lewis Harry Sinclair Lewis (February 7, 1885 – January 10, 1951) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright. In 1930 Nobel Prize in Literature, 1930, he became the first author from the United States (and the first from the America ...

's production of ''

Our Town ''Our Town'' is a three-act play written by American playwright Thornton Wilder in 1938. Described by Edward Albee as "the greatest American play ever written", it presents the fictional American town of Grover's Corners between 1901 and 1913 ...

''. Her stage credits on- and off-broadway include ''Madam, Will You Walk?'' (1953), ''The Midnight Caller'' (1958), ''The Visit'' (1960), ''The Last Days of Lincoln'' (1961) and ''Crowbar'' (1990). She also appeared in several films, most notably as the elderly lady at the bus stop who gives Tom Hanks advice in ''

Forrest Gump ''Forrest Gump'' is a 1994 American comedy-drama film directed by Robert Zemeckis. An adaptation of the Forrest Gump (novel), 1986 novel by Winston Groom, the screenplay of the film is written by Eric Roth. It stars Tom Hanks in the title rol ...

''. After World War II, Dunfee was a student at the Actors Laboratory Theater in Los Angeles and worked there. During that time she gained insights into dialect and phonetics. That experience eventually led to her becoming a dialect specialist. In the early 1960s, she operated the Nora Dunfee Studio in New York. Dunfee studied speech and voice under Margaret Prendergast McLean and taught for many years in the graduate acting program of the

Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic, and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, as the School of the Arts at New York University, Tisch ...

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

. She also taught privately in New York and California and coached many actors over the years, including

Julie Haydon Julie Haydon (born Donella Donaldson, June 10, 1910 – December 24, 1994) was an American Broadway, film, and television actress who received second billing as the female lead in the Ben Hecht–Charles MacArthur 1935 film vehicle for Noë ...

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and

Keanu Reeves Keanu Charles Reeves ( ; born September 2, 1964) is a Canadian actor and musician. The recipient of numerous accolades in a career on screen spanning four decades, he is known for his leading roles in action films, his amiable public imag ...

. In theater, she was a vocal consultant for ''The Real Thing''. ''Two Gentlemen of Verona'' and ''A Lie of the Mind'', and cinematically, she served as dialect coach for such films as ''

Witness In law, a witness is someone who, either voluntarily or under compulsion, provides testimonial evidence, either oral or written, of what they know or claim to know. A witness might be compelled to provide testimony in court, before a grand jur ...

'', ''

Crimes of the Heart ''Crimes of the Heart'' is a play by American playwright Beth Henley. It is set in Hazlehurst, Mississippi in the mid-20th century. The play won the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play. In 1986, th ...

'', and '' The Serpent and the Rainbow''. Dunfee met her future husband, David Clarke, in an acting class and the two married in 1946. Plays in which they acted together included ''Portrait of a Lady'', ''The Visit'' and ''The Gin Game''. Clarke and Dunfee had two daughters together, K.C. and Susan. Her last consulting job was on the film '' Rob Roy'' (1995). Dunfee was working as Sissy Spacek's dialogue coach and preparing for her own role in Charles Matthau's adaptation of

Truman Capote Truman Garcia Capote ( ; born Truman Streckfus Persons; September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984) was an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright, and actor. Several of his short stories, novels, and plays have been praised as literary classics ...

's '' The Grass Harp'' when she became ill and had to leave the shoot.

Death

Dunfee died on December 23, 1994, from complications after a brief illness at St. Clare's Hospital and Health Center in Manhattan.

Filmography

References

External links

* 1915 births 1994 deaths American film actresses American stage actresses People from Belmont, Ohio Actresses from Ohio Tisch School of the Arts faculty 20th-century American actresses {{US-film-actor-1910s-stub