Marpessa Dawn was an American actress and model who rose to international fame in the late 1950s. Born on January 3, 1934, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she moved to Europe as a young woman, where she found far greater opportunities in the arts than were available to her in the United States at the time.
Dawn is best known for her starring role as Eurydice in the 1959 film Black Orpheus (Orfeu Negro), directed by Marcel Camus. The film, a retelling of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice set during Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, became a global sensation. It won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, bringing both the film and Marpessa widespread acclaim. Her performance was praised for its grace, vulnerability, and quiet strength.
Dawn continued to act in European films and television through the 1960s and 1970s, primarily in France. Though she never achieved the same level of fame again as she had with Black Orpheus, she remained a respected figure in cinema and was seen as a symbol of beauty and talent during a time when roles for Black actresses were extremely limited.
Dawn passed away on August 25, 2008, in Paris, just weeks before her Black Orpheus co-star, Breno Mello. Take a look at these beautiful photos to see portraits of a young Marpessa Dawn in the 1950s and 1960s.
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