Olive Moorefield (born August 23, 1932) is an American actress and singer. She appeared in more than twenty films from 1954 to 1976.

Early years

Moorefield is one of eight children. When she was 5 years old, she began studying music, and at 8 she was singing solos in church. At 16, she began studying

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

with the help of a $4,000 scholarship from a radio station in her home town

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

. Her early employment included babysitting, singing in night clubs, and stenography. After she graduated from Homestead High School, she attended

Carnegie Institute of Technology Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...

and then transferred to the Pennsylvania College for Women.

Career

On stage, Moorefield sang with the

Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera (Pittsburgh CLO) is a nonprofit professional theater company based in the Cultural District of Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Despite its name, the organization presents musical theatre classics rather tha ...

She appeared in the 1952

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 ...

musical '' My Darlin' Aida'' at the

Winter Garden Theatre The Winter Garden Theatre is a Broadway theatre at 1634 Broadway in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York, U.S. Originally designed by architect William Albert Swasey, it opened in 1911. The Winter Garden's current des ...

. When that production closed, the

US Information Service The United States Information Agency (USIA) was a United States government agency devoted to propaganda which operated from 1953 to 1999. Previously existing United States Information Service (USIS) posts operating out of U.S. embassies wor ...

(USIS) employed her to sing American folk songs and spirituals for American military personnel stationed in Austria. She also performed in ''

Carousel A carousel or carrousel (mainly North American English), merry-go-round (International English), or galloper (British English) is a type of amusement ride consisting of a rotating circular platform with seats for riders. The seats are tradit ...

'' and ''

Show Boat ''Show Boat'' is a musical theatre, musical with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It is based on Edna Ferber's best-selling 1926 Show Boat (novel), novel of the same name. The musical follows the lives of the per ...

'' in a theater that the USIS opened in Vienna. She used her free time there to study singing and to attend opera and auditioned for Marcel Prawy who brought her to the

Vienna Volksoper The Vienna Volksoper (''Volksoper'' or ''Vienna People's Opera'') is an opera house in Vienna, Austria. It produces three hundred performances of twenty-five German language productions of opera, operetta, musicals, and ballet, during an annual s ...

. There, she sang Bianca, and later Kate, in '' Kiss Me Kate'' in 1956. A reviewer in the ''

Österreichische Musikzeitschrift The ''Österreichische Musikzeitschrift'' (ÖMZ, Austrian music magazine) was a monthly music magazine published in Vienna, Austria, by Verlag Musikzeit. It was established in 1945 by the Austrian cultural politician and music critic . It appear ...

'' called Moorefield a "hurricane of vitality, high spirits and joy". In 1964, Moorefield sang the role of Laetitia in a German-language production of

Gian Carlo Menotti Gian Carlo Menotti (, ; July 7, 1911 – February 1, 2007) was an Italian-American composer, libretto, librettist, director, and playwright who is primarily known for his output of 25 operas. Although he often referred to himself as an American ...

's '' The Old Maid and the Thief'', conducted by Wolfgang Rennert and directed by

Otto Schenk Otto Schenk (12 June 1930 – 9 January 2025) was an Austrian actor, stage director for plays and opera, and theatre director. He worked internationally at major houses such as the Vienna State Opera and the Metropolitan Opera in New York Cit ...

, for

Bayerischer Rundfunk (; "Bavarian Broadcasting"), shortened to BR (), is a public broadcasting, public-service radio and television broadcaster, based in Munich, capital city of the Bavaria, Free State of Bavaria in Germany. BR is a member organization of the ARD (b ...

. At the Volksoper, she portrayed Bess in a 1965 production of ''

Porgy and Bess ''Porgy and Bess'' ( ) is an English-language opera by American composer George Gershwin, with a libretto written by author DuBose Heyward and lyricist Ira Gershwin. It was adapted from Dorothy Heyward and DuBose Heyward's play ''Porgy (play), ...

''. Together with

Peter Alexander Peter Alexander may refer to: * Pete Alexander (born Grover Cleveland Alexander; 1887–1950), American baseball player * Peter Alexander (Shakespearean scholar) (1893–1969), professor of English language and literature at the University of Glasgo ...

, she published in 1966 the album ''Kiss Me Kate''. At the

Oper Frankfurt The Oper Frankfurt (Frankfurt Opera) is a German opera company based in Frankfurt. Opera in Frankfurt am Main has a long tradition, with many world premieres such as Franz Schreker's ''Der ferne Klang'' in 1912, ''Fennimore and Gerda, Fennimore ...

, she played Jenny in

Kurt Weill Kurt Julian Weill (; ; March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for hi ...

's and

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

's '' Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny'' in 1966, directed by Harry Buckwitz. In 1972 at the

Schauspielhaus Zürich The Schauspielhaus Zürich () is one of the most prominent and important theatres in the history of German-speaking theater. It is also known as "Pfauenbühne" (Peacock Stage). The large theatre has 750 seats. The also operates three stages ...

she played Spelunken-Jenny in Brecht's/Weill's '' Die Dreigroschenoper''. Moorefield reprised her Jenny from ''Mahagonny'' in 1973 at the Volksoper. Moorefield's work in films included at least 15 German and Viennese motion pictures. She also recorded German Schlager and performed in an Italian-language production of ''Kiss Me Kate'' on Italian television. In 1962, she became one of the first TV stars in Germany. Her work on European TV included starring in the drama ''Requiem für eine Nonne'', an adaptation of

William Faulkner William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer. He is best known for William Faulkner bibliography, his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, a stand-in fo ...

's 1951 novel ''

Requiem for a Nun ''Requiem for a Nun'' is a work of fiction written by William Faulkner. It is a sequel to Faulkner's early novel ''Sanctuary'', which introduced the characters of Temple Drake, her friend (later husband) Gowan Stevens, and Gowan's uncle Gavin S ...

''. The American National Opera Association recognized Moorefield in 2014 with the "Lift Every Voice" Legacy Award.

Personal life

Moorefield married Kurt Macht, a doctor whom she met when he treated her for a throat problem in Vienna. They have one son.

Partial filmography

References

External links