Marpessa Dawn

Marpessa Dawn as "Eurydice" in Marcel Camus' BLACK ORPHEUS (1959) American born French actress, Marpessa Dawn was born in 1935. The actress, singer and dancer grew up on a farm near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and moved to England in her twenties. After relocating to France in 1953, she met director Marcel Camus, winning her the role of "Eurydice" in his 1959 film Black Orpheus. For this role she received the Palme d'or at the 1959 Cannes Film Festival and the 1960 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. She found great success in French films and television during her lifetime and passed away in 2008.

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Excerpted from The Film Encyclopedia by Ephraim Katz

Marpessa Dawn is featured in Edition: A Tribute to Women in Film