---
name: "Marpessa Dawn"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/marpessa-dawn"
fi1m_id: "marpessa-dawn"
imdb_id: "nm0206026"
tmdb_id: 17581
wikidata_id: "Q535841"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "3 January 1934"
died: "25 August 2008"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-25T08:55:46.150608+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Marpessa Dawn

## Identity

Marpessa Dawn

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/marpessa-dawn
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** marpessa-dawn
- **IMDb ID:** nm0206026
- **TMDB ID:** 17581
- **Wikidata ID:** Q535841
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marpessa_Dawn, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q535841, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0206026/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/17581

Actor. Born 3 January 1934 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Died 25 August 2008.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 3 January 1934, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
- **Died:** 25 August 2008
- **Also known as:** Marpessa Dawn Menor, Gypsy Marpessa Dawn Menor
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marpessa_Dawn, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q535841, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0206026/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/17581

## Streaming the US now

- **HBO Max:** [*Black Orpheus*](https://film.one/film/black-orpheus.md) (78)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Biography

Marpessa Dawn (also credited as Marpessa Dawn Menor or Gypsy Marpessa Dawn Menor) was an American-French actress, singer and dancer. Born on 3 January 1934 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she worked as a laboratory technician in New York before moving to Europe as a teenager. She began with minor television roles in England and, after settling in France in 1953, performed as a singer and dancer in nightclubs while occasionally working as a governess.

At the age of 24 she was cast as Eurydice opposite Breno Mello in Marcel Camus's *Black Orpheus* (1959). The film won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. She later appeared in films including *Sweet Movie* (1974) and worked in French theatre and television. Dawn died in Paris on 25 August 2008.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, latimes.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Black Orpheus* (1959), Fi1m 78, as Eurydice — [page](https://film.one/film/black-orpheus.md)

## Complete filmography (12)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Private Collections* (1979), as a siren
- *Sweet Movie* (1974), as Mama Communa
- *Boubou cravate* (1972), Actor
- *Le Bal du comte d'Orgel* (1970), as Marie
- *Chérie Noire* (1966), as Chérie
- *At Theatre Tonight* (1966), series, as Chérie
- *The Secret of the Blue Men* (1961), as Malika
- *Black Orpheus* (1959), as Eurydice — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/film/black-orpheus.md)
- *Womaneater* (1958), as Native Girl
- *Élisa* (1957), as Negress
- *Armchair Theatre* (1956), series, as Felicia Chinik
- *Africa on the Seine* (1955), Actor

## Gallery

- ![Marpessa Dawn](https://film.one/media/person/3876824/gallery-e7500d94a898.png) Marpessa Dawn — NorthForestBear, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/Marpessa_Dawn_BW.png?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Marpessa Dawn](https://film.one/media/person/3876824/gallery-3bf5a8f5cbda.jpg) Marpessa Dawn — Image via TMDB
- ![Marpessa Dawn](https://film.one/media/person/3876824/gallery-6b6de7cdbe08.jpg) Marpessa Dawn — Image via TMDB
- ![Marpessa Dawn](https://film.one/media/person/3876824/gallery-fbd867319a40.jpg) Marpessa Dawn — Image via TMDB
- ![Marpessa Dawn](https://film.one/media/person/3876824/gallery-3dd18dbc09a4.jpg) Marpessa Dawn — Image via TMDB

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/marpessa-dawn