Marilyn Buferd (January 30, 1925 – March 27, 1990) was an American film and television actress as well as the winner of both the

Miss California The Miss California competition selects the representative for the state of California in the Miss America competition. The pageant began in Santa Cruz in 1924 and was held there in 1925. During the years 1926 through 1946 in years when the Mi ...

and

Miss America Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 17 and 25. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is now judged on competitors' talent performances and interviews. As ...

pageants of 1946. During the latter half of the 1940s and throughout the 1950s, she performed in nearly two dozen American, Italian, and French films, including ''

Touchez pas au grisbi ''Touchez pas au grisbi'' (, French for "Don't touch the loot"), released as ''Honour Among Thieves'' in the United Kingdom and ''Grisbi'' in the United States, is a 1954 French-Italian crime film based on a novel by Albert Simonin. It was direc ...

'' opposite

Jean Gabin Jean Gabin (; 17 May 190415 November 1976) was a French actor and singer. Considered a key figure in French cinema, he starred in several classic films including ''Pépé le Moko'' (1937), ''La grande illusion'' (1937), ''Le Quai des brumes'' ( ...

(1954). Buford also appears in several television series originally broadcast in the 1950s, such as '' The Millionaire'', ''

Highway Patrol A highway patrol, or state patrol is either a police unit created primarily for the purpose of overseeing and enforcing traffic safety compliance on roads and highways, or a detail within an existing local or regional police agency that is prima ...

'', ''

Schlitz Playhouse ''Schlitz Playhouse of Stars'' is an anthology series that was telecast from 1951 until 1959 on CBS. Offering both comedies and drama, the series was sponsored by the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company. The title was shortened to ''Schlitz Playhouse' ...

'', ''

The Ford Television Theatre ''Ford Theatre'', spelled ''Ford Theater'' for the original radio version and known, in full, as ''The Ford Television Theatre'' for the TV version, is a radio and television anthology series broadcast in the United States in the 1940s and 1950 ...

'', and ''

Orient Express The ''Orient Express'' was a long-distance passenger train service created in 1883 by the Belgian company ''Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits'' (CIWL) that operated until 2009. The train traveled the length of continental Europe and int ...

''.

Biography

Buferd attended the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

. One of the sixteen finalists she defeated in the Miss America 1946 pageant was future Academy Award-winning actress

Cloris Leachman Cloris Leachman (April 30, 1926 – January 27, 2021) was an American actress and comedian whose career spanned nearly eight decades. She won many accolades, including eight Primetime Emmy Awards from 22 nominations, making her the most nomin ...

. Buferd married Franco Barbaro, an Italian submarine commander and a movie agent and producer. After divorcing she married Han E. Orton. Her third husband was Milton Stevens. Buferd died of

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...

at age 65 in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

, on March 27, 1990. Her son,

Nick Barbaro Nick Barbaro (born Nicolo Rafael Barbaro; 1952) is co-creator of the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival and co-founder of ''The Austin Chronicle''. Barbaro's contributions have helped define the Austin, Texas music community. He co-owns the South ...

, is publisher of ''

The Austin Chronicle ''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogr ...

'' and co-founder of

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

Selected filmography

* ''

A Night of Fame ''A Night of Fame'' ( it, Al diavolo la celebrità) is a 1949 Italian comedy film directed by Mario Monicelli and Steno. Cast * Marcel Cerdan as Maurice Cardan * Ferruccio Tagliavini as Gino Marini * Mischa Auer as Bernard Stork * Marilyn B ...

'' (1949) * ''

Totò Tarzan ''Totò Tarzan'' is a 1950 Italian comedy film directed by Mario Mattoli and starring Totò, Marilyn Buferd and Alba Arnova. It is a parody of Edgar Rice Burroughs's novel ''Tarzan of the Apes''. It was shot at the Farnesina Studios in Rome. Th ...

'' (1950) *''

The Elusive Twelve ''The Elusive Twelve'' (Italian: ''L'inafferrabile 12'') is a 1950 Italian comedy film directed by Mario Mattoli and starring Walter Chiari, Silvana Pampanini and Isa Barzizza. It was shot at the Farnesina Studios of Titanus in Rome. The film's ...

'' (1950) * ''

I'm the Capataz ''I'm the Capataz'' (Italian: ''Io sono il capataz'') is a 1951 Italian western-comedy film directed by Giorgio Simonelli and starring Renato Rascel, Silvana Pampanini and Marilyn Buferd. It was shot at the Incir-De Paolis Studios in Rome. The f ...

'' (1951) * '' The Blind Woman of Sorrento'' (1952) * ''

Les Belles de nuit ''Les Belles de nuit'' (US title: ''Beauties of the Night'') is a 1952 French language motion picture fantasy directed and written by René Clair who co-produced with Angelo Rizzoli. The film stars Gérard Philipe, Martine Carol, Gina Lollobrig ...

'' (1952) directed by

René Clair René Clair (11 November 1898 – 15 March 1981), born René-Lucien Chomette, was a French filmmaker and writer. He first established his reputation in the 1920s as a director of silent films in which comedy was often mingled with fantasy. He wen ...

* ''

The Machine to Kill Bad People ''The Machine to Kill Bad People'' (Italian: ''La Macchina ammazzacattivi'') is a 1952 Italian fantasy comedy film directed by Roberto Rossellini and featuring Marilyn Buferd, William Tubbs and Clara Bindi. It is part of the tradition of neoreali ...

'' (1952) directed by

Roberto Rossellini Roberto Gastone Zeffiro Rossellini (8 May 1906 – 3 June 1977) was an Italian film director, producer, and screenwriter. He was one of the most prominent directors of the Italian neorealist cinema, contributing to the movement with films such ...

* ''

'' (1954) directed by

Jacques Becker Jacques Becker (; 15 September 1906 – 21 February 1960) was a French film director and screenwriter. His films, made during the 1940s and 1950s, encompassed a wide variety of genres, and they were admired by some of the filmmakers who led th ...

* ''

The Unearthly ''The Unearthly'' is a 1957 independently made American black-and-white science fiction horror film, produced and directed by Boris Petroff (as Brook L. Peters). It stars John Carradine, Myron Healey, Allison Hayes, Marilyn Buferd, Arthur Bat ...

'' (1957) * ''

Queen of Outer Space ''Queen of Outer Space'' is a 1958 American science fiction feature film shot in DeLuxe Color and CinemaScope. Produced by Ben Schwalb and directed by Edward Bernds, it stars Zsa Zsa Gabor, Eric Fleming, and Laurie Mitchell. The screenplay by C ...

'' (1958)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Buferd, Marilyn 1925 births 1990 deaths Miss America 1940s delegates Miss America winners Miss America Preliminary Swimsuit winners American film actresses 20th-century American actresses Actresses from Detroit Deaths from pancreatic cancer Deaths from cancer in Texas