Vitina Marcus (born March 1, 1937) is a retired American actress of Sicilian and Hungarian descent. Her parents were Rose and Frank Marcus, and her Sicilian grandmother was named Vitina. She now works in real estate.

Career

Born in New York City, Marcus was a student of

Lee Strasberg Lee Strasberg (born Israel Strassberg; November 17, 1901 – February 17, 1982) was an American theatre director, actor and acting teacher. He co-founded, with theatre directors Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford, the Group Theatre in 1931 ...

. She appeared in numerous television shows throughout the 1950s and '60s and was sometimes billed as Dolores Vitina, as in the 1958 film ''

Never Love a Stranger ''Never Love A Stranger'' is a 1958 crime and gangster film that is based on Harold Robbins' 1948 debut novel with the same title. The film was shot in black and white starring John Drew Barrymore and Robert Bray, and featuring a young Steve McQuee ...

'', starring

John Drew Barrymore John Drew Barrymore (born John Blyth Barrymore Jr.; June 4, 1932 – November 29, 2004) was an American film actor and member of the Barrymore family of actors, which included his father, John Barrymore, and his father's siblings, Lionel and E ...

and

Steve McQueen Terrence Stephen McQueen (March 24, 1930November 7, 1980) was an American actor. His antihero persona, emphasized during the height of the counterculture of the 1960s, made him a top box-office draw for his films of the late 1950s, 1960s, and 1 ...

. She was in

Irwin Allen Irwin Allen (born Irwin O. Cohen, June 12, 1916 – November 2, 1991) was an American film and television producer and director, known for his work in science fiction, then later as the "Master of Disaster" for his work in the disaster film gen ...

's 1960 production of ''

The Lost World The lost world is a subgenre of the fantasy or science fiction genres that involves the discovery of an unknown Earth civilization. It began as a subgenre of the late- Victorian adventure romance and remains popular into the 21st century. The g ...

'', as well as ''

Taras Bulba ''Taras Bulba'' (russian: «Тарас Бульба»; ) is a romanticized historical novella set in the first half of the 17th century, written by Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852). It features elderly Zaporozhian Cossack Taras Bulba and his sons And ...

'' (1962) with

Tony Curtis Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz; June 3, 1925September 29, 2010) was an American actor whose career spanned six decades, achieving the height of his popularity in the 1950s (Kansas Raiders, 1950) and early 1960s. He acted in more than 100 f ...

and

Yul Brynner Yuliy Borisovich Briner (russian: link=no, Юлий Борисович Бринер; July 11, 1920 – October 10, 1985), known professionally as Yul Brynner, was a Russian-born actor. He was best known for his portrayal of King Mongkut in the ...

. On television, she appeared in ''

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea ''Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea'' is a 1961 American science fiction disaster film, produced and directed by Irwin Allen, and starring Walter Pidgeon and Robert Sterling. The supporting cast includes Peter Lorre, Joan Fontaine, Barbara Eden, M ...

'', including the first-season episode "Turn Back the Clock" (in which producer

reused some of her footage from ''

'') and the second-season episode "Return of the Phantom". She appeared in two episodes of ''

Lost in Space ''Lost in Space'' is an American science fiction television series, created and produced by Irwin Allen, which originally aired between 1965 and 1968 on CBS. The series was inspired by the 1812 novel ''The Swiss Family Robinson.'' The series fo ...

'' as 'The Green Lady' (aka 'Athena'), an admirer of stowaway Dr. Zachary Smith's, who endangers the ''Jupiter II''; ''

Have Gun – Will Travel ''Have Gun – Will Travel'' is an American Western series that was produced and originally broadcast by CBS on both television and radio from 1957 through 1963. The television version of the series starring Richard Boone was rated number t ...

'' as Della White Cloud, an

Apache The Apache () are a group of culturally related Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, which include the Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipan, Mescalero, Mimbreño, Ndendahe (Bedonkohe or Mogollon and Nednhi or Carrizaleño an ...

princess; and in episodes 24 and 26 of ''

The Time Tunnel ''The Time Tunnel'' is an American color science fiction TV series written around a theme of time travel adventure starring James Darren and Robert Colbert. The show was creator-producer Irwin Allen's third science-fiction television series and ...

'', "Chase through Time" and "Attack of the Barbarians". Marcus was in an episode of ''

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. ''The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'' is an American spy fiction television series produced by MGM Television, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television and first broadcast on NBC. The series follows secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who wo ...

'', "My Friend: The Gorilla Affair", in 1966. She guest-starred in the TV series ''

Gunsmoke ''Gunsmoke'' is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. It centers on Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s, during the settlement of the American West. The central character ...

s episodes "The Squaw" as Natacea (1961) and "Old Comrade" as Missy (1962). In 1962, she portrayed "Wahkshum" in the episode "The Peddler" on CBS' '' Rawhide''.

Personal life

Marcus gave birth to a daughter, Athena, and a son, Giuliano. She left Hollywood in the late 1960s, and has resided in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

since the mid-1970s, earning her

real estate license Real estate licenses, authorizations issued by state governments, give agents and brokers the legal ability to represent a home seller or buyer in the process of buying or selling real estate. Real estate agents and real estate brokers are required ...

in 1986. She has been in real estate since then as Vitina Graham.

Children

Her daughter with actor

Rory Calhoun Rory Calhoun (born Francis Timothy McCown, August 8, 1922April 28, 1999) was an American film and television actor. He starred in numerous Westerns in the 1950s and 1960s, and appeared in supporting roles in films such as ''How to Marry a Millio ...

, Athena "Kiki" Marcus Calhoun, was voted "The World's Most Beautiful Showgirl" in 1987, and received "The Key to the City of Las Vegas". Athena was also the weekly segment talk show host of Solid POI's ''Las Vegas Then & Now'' on radio station KLAV 1230 AM.

Filmography

Television

References

External links

* * 1937 births Living people Actresses from New York City People from Bensonhurst, Brooklyn American television actresses American film actresses American real estate businesspeople 21st-century American women {{US-tv-actor-1940s-stub