Minta Durfee

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Minta Durfee

Minta Durfee
Born October 1, 1889 (1889-10-01)
Died September 9, 1975 (aged 85)
Woodland Hills, California
Other name(s) Minta Durfee Arbuckle
Spouse(s) Roscoe Arbuckle (1908-1925)

Minta Durfee (October 1, 1889 - September 9, 1975) was a silent film actress from Los Angeles, California.

She met Roscoe Arbuckle when he was attempting to get started in theater and the two married in August 1908. Durfee entered show business in local companies as a chorus girl at the age of seventeen. She was the first leading lady of Charlie Chaplin.

Durfee and Arbuckle separated in 1921. This was just prior to a scandal involving the death of starlet Virginia Rappe. There were three trials and finally Arbuckle was acquitted. His career was destroyed and he received few job offers. Durfee and Arbuckle were divorced in 1925. Durfee was quoted in her later years, saying Arbuckle was the most generous human being I've ever met, and if I had to do it all over again, I'd still marry the same man.[1]

Durfee was an avid defender of Mabel Normand who was a close friend of hers. She spoke fondly of her until her own death.[2]

Durfee was a regular performer on television, appearing on such shows as Noah's Ark (1956). She had minor roles in motion pictures like How Green Was My Valley (1941), Naughty Marietta (1935), Rose- Marie (1936), The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964), and It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963).

In her later life Durfee began to give lectures on silent film and hold retrospectives on her and her husband's pictures. She was surprised and excited by the renewed interest in silent film and did her best to help where she could.[3]

Minta Durfee died in Woodland Hills, California at the Motion Picture Country Home in 1975. She suffered from a heart ailment.

[edit] Selected filmography

[edit] References

  • Los Angeles Times, Minta Durfee, Actress, 85, Dies; Former Wife of Fatty Arbuckle, September 12, 1975, Page 31.

[edit] External links