You may not know her name, but if you’ve ever watched Forrest Gump, you’ve seen her face—the sweet Southern lady on the bench who offers Tom Hanks a few kind words. That was Marjorie Dean Dunfee, a Broadway stalwart, film actress, and one of Hollywood’s most respected acting and dialect coaches.
Born on Christmas Day in 1915 in Belmont, Ohio, Dunfee got her start on stage at the Ogunquit Playhouse in Maine, starring in Sinclair Lewis’s production of Our Town. Her early career bloomed on and off Broadway in shows like Madam, Will You Walk?, The Visit, and The Midnight Caller. But it was behind the scenes where she shaped generations of actors.
After World War II, Dunfee studied at the Actors Laboratory Theater in Los Angeles, diving deep into the world of dialects and phonetics. That training became the cornerstone of her second act: coaching actors. Her clients? A who’s who of Hollywood royalty: James Earl Jones, Diane Keaton, Mel Gibson, Raul Julia, Keanu Reeves, and more.
She taught for years at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and ran the Nora Dunfee Studio in New York, where she became a treasured mentor to many. On set, she was the dialect whisperer behind Witness, Crimes of the Heart, and The Serpent and the Rainbow—making sure every accent rang true.
In 1946, she married fellow actor David Clarke, whom she met in an acting class. The two often performed together on stage and raised two daughters, K.C. and Susan. Even in her final years, Dunfee was working—coaching Sissy Spacek on Rob Roy and preparing for a role in The Grass Harp, which would become her final film.
Marjorie Dunfee passed away in December 1994, just shy of her 79th birthday. A woman of warmth, talent, and extraordinary insight, she left behind not just performances—but performances within others. The voices you hear on stage and screen today? Many still carry her imprint.
