Minta Durfee

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Minta Durfee

Araminta Estelle "Minta" Durfee (born October 1, 1889 in Los Angeles , † September 9, 1975 in Woodland Hills , Los Angeles) was an American actress of the silent film era . In the 1910s she appeared in numerous Keystone Studios short comedies . From 1926 until 1971 she played in almost 30 productions in which she was never mentioned in the credits.

Life

Durfee, whose parents were Charles Warren Durfee and Flora Adkins, began her career as a stage actress when she was seventeen. At first she worked as a revue dancer, later she received better assignments. In Long Beach she met the comedian Roscoe Arbuckle during a joint appearance in a musical , whom she married in 1908 and with whom she made short films for Keystone from 1913. Her bigger roles for the studio included the caught landlady in Charlie Chaplin's The Star Boarder , the kidnapped innocence in Arbuckle's Leading Lizzie Astray and the grieving "widow" of a bustling husband ( Mack Swain ) in Ambrose's First Falsehood . She was especially memorable in men's clothing in The Knockout and as an exuberant bar dancer in Caught in a Cabaret . In 1918 Durfee played alongside Mabel Normand in the feature film Mickey , here she had the role of Elsie Drake . She had a long friendship with Normand.

Since 1917 Durfee lived separated from Arbuckle. When the comedian got involved in the 1921 Hollywood harrowing scandal over the death of young starlet Virginia Rappe , she stood by him. Arbuckle was acquitted after three trials, but his career was ruined. In 1925, Durfee divorced her husband for good, but continued to be on good terms with him. She later played supporting roles in numerous films, television productions and series. She helped to work through the history of the silent film and that of her ex-husband Arbuckle. In long interviews with Stuart Oderman, she helped make his Arbuckle biography more authentic. Durfee died in 1975 in Woodland Hills, a suburb of Los Angeles, at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital .

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Commons : Minta Durfee  - collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Excerpts of Interview with Minta Durfee Arbuckle by Don Schneider and Stephen Normand , accessed on March 4, 2011.
  2. ^ Film Quarterly , Volume 49, No. 1 (Herbst, 1995), p. 65
personal data
SURNAME Durfee, Minta
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Durfee, Araminta Estelle
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American actress of the silent film era
DATE OF BIRTH October 1, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH Los Angeles , California , United States
DATE OF DEATH September 9, 1975
Place of death Woodland Hills , Los Angeles