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Marj Dusay
was born and raised in Russell, Kansas, the
second of six children.
Great-grandfather Mahoney emigrated from Ireland
during the Great Potato Famine to become a
homesteader in Kansas. Marj's mother's
family-- the Pivonkas ( descendents of composer
Anton Dvorak) -- came from the "gypsy
region" of Bohemia.
Both
parents were educators: her father
coached Junior College athletics and her
mother was a grade school teacher.
Marj's
upbringing included playing every sport
imaginable. A gifted equestrian, she
trained her own horses to ride in saddle
club shows and riding contests, even
garnering the title of country rodeo
queen. Growing up, Marj also spent as
much time as possible with her beloved
grandmother, Tony Pivonka.
Marj
excelled in every area of high school,
and was an honor student, debater, and
prom queen. While at the University of
Kansas she appeared in several stage
productions and was crowned Kansas
University Homecoming Queen. She married
her childhood sweetheart, John Dusay, and
the couple had two children. While living
in Kansas City, Marj began her modelling
career, and when the family moved to New
York for her husband's medical
internship, Marj began modeling and
studying acting. For his residency, they
relocated to San Francisco, where Marj
quickly became a top fashion model and
nationally-recognized commercial
personality. It
was there Marj began studying
improvisational comedy and radio speech. |
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Ultimately,
Marj moved to Los Angeles and began
working in theatre and film. Her first
break came when Rob Reiner formed an
improvisational comedy troupe called THE
SESSION, whose members included Marj,
Reiner, Richard Dreyfuss, Larry Bishop,
David Arkin, Phil Mishkin, Richard
Mishkin and Bobbi Shaw.
THE
SESSION played Los Angeles for two years
as the city's first in-house improv
comedy group, and appeared many times on
such star-maker shows as Johnny Carson,
Joey Bishop, and Steve Allen. During that
same period, Marj and Dreyfuss also did a
television comedy pilot together.
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Marj's
career to date has encompassed a huge
range of roles in feature films and
television. Some examples of her
work include appearing opposite James
Garner on Bret Maverick, four years on
the CBS soap Capitol, and NBC's Santa
Barbara. She also had a recurring role
for seven seasons on NBC's Facts of Life,
earning two Emmy nominations for her
performance as Blair's mother, Monica
Warner. Marj
has guest-starred hundreds of times on TV
series such as Murder She Wrote; In the
Heat of the Night; Perfect Strangers,
Friday the 13th; Quincy; Wild, Wild West;
Star Trek and The Fresh Prince of Bel
Air. She has received critical acclaim
for her dramatic roles, specifically for
her performance in the film Mac Arthur as
Gregory Peck's wife, and in Mancuso,
playing opposite Robert Loggia.
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Marj
is also an impressive impressionist, and
can conjure the likes of Katharine
Hepburn (at all ages), Marilyn Monroe,
Maggie Smith and Julia Child. She is
adept at accents (English, German,
Russian, Hungarian, Swedish, and French,
to name but a few), as well as regional
dialects such as Midwestern, Southern,
New York and Texan. |
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Marj still enjoys participating in a
variety sports, and has even hosted her
own celebrity golf and tennis
tournaments. She is on the Kansas
University Advisory Board for the Theatre
Arts, and served as Kansas Film
Commission Chairwoman for four years.
She lends her name and support to
Project Angel Food, which provides meals
for men, women and children living with
AIDS, as well as several child abuse
prevention organizations.
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FEATURE
FILMS |
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| PRIDE AND LOYALTY |
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Independent
film w/Joe Barbara, Mark Consuelos,
Rebecca Budig |
| A CHRONICLE OF
CORPSES |
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Independent
film /Dir. Andrew Repasky McElhinney |
| 12 BUCKS |
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w/Jonathan
Silverman & Ernest Borgnine
/Dir.Wayne Isham |
| LOVE WALKED IN |
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w/Denis
Leary & Terence Stamp /Dir. J
Campanella |
| CIAO YU |
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w/Daniel
J. Travanti /Prod. Ang Lee, Dir. Sylvia
Chang |
| MADE IN HEAVEN |
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w/Kelly
McGillis, Timothy Hutton /Dir. Alan
Rudolph |
| MAC ARTHUR |
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w/
Gregory Peck /Dir. Joseph Sargent |
| SWEET
NOVEMBER |
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w/Anthony Newley
& Sandy Dennis /Dir. Ralph Nelson |
| PENDULUM |
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w/George
Peppard, Richard Kiley /Dir. George
Shaeffer |
| BREEZY |
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w/William
Holden /Dir. Clint Eastwood |
| 30 DANGEROUS
SECONDS |
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Independent
film /Dir. Joseph Taft |
| CLAMBAKE |
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w/Elvis
Presley |
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| SERIES REGULAR |
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| ALL
MY CHILDREN |
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ABC-Contract,
"Vanessa Bennett Cortlandt" 1999 - 2002 |
| GUIDING
LIGHT |
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CBS-Contract,
"Alexandra Spaulding" 1993-1997,1998-1999, 2002 - 2009 |
| SONS AND DAUGHTERS |
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CBS-Recurring,
1991 w/Lucie Arnaz |
| STUDIO 5B |
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ABC-Recurring
w/Justin Deas, George Grizzard &
David Ackroyd |
| FACTS OF LIFE |
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NBC-Recurring,
7 seasons as "Blair's Mom"
Monica Warner |
| SANTA BARBARA |
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NBC-Recurring,
1989 - 1991 as Pamela Capwell Conrad |
| DALLAS |
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CBS-1986
as Marge Billings |
| CAPITOL |
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CBS-4
years Lead w/Richard Egan as Myrna Clegg |
| BRET MAVERICK |
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NBC-Lead
w/James Garner, 1982 as Kate Hanrahan |
| CLIFFHANGERS |
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NBC-Lead,
1981 as Jennifer Selden w/Ray Walston |
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| MINI
SERIES & M.O.W.'s LEADS |
| CLIMB AN ANGRY
MOUNTIAN |
w/Fess Parker,
Barry Nelson, Stella StevensWSS |
| MOST WANTEDT |
w/Tom Selleck,
Robert Stack, Leslie Charleson |
| MURDER IN PEYTON
PLACE |
w/Mia Farrow, Ed
Nelson, Dorothy Malone |
| WHEELS (Arthur
Hailey's) |
w/Rock Hudson, Lee
Remick, Ralph Bellamy |
| FIRE IN THE SKY |
w/Richard Crenna,
Andrew Duggan |
| STRANGE COMPANIONS |
w/Doug McClure |
| THE CHILD STEALER |
w/Beau Bridges,
Blair Brown, Tracy Gold |
| THE PARADISE
CONNECTION |
w/Buddy Ebsen,
Brian Kerwin, Paul Lambert |
| THE
MURDER THAT WOULD'T DIE |
w/WilliamConrad,
Jose Ferrer, Robin Mattson |
| DAUGHTERS OF
PRIVILEGE |
w/Dick Van Dyke,
Daphne Ashbrooke |
| LOVE MATTERS |
w/Griffin Dunn,
Annette O'Toole |
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| THEATRE AND
IMPROV |
| TALE OF THE
ALLERGIST'S WIFE |
w/Paula Prentiss,
David Hedison-CapePlayhouse,MA. |
| GOOD WILL |
w/Dana Reeve,
Directors Company, New York |
| THE COMMITTEE |
San Francisco |
| THE SESSION/THE EXPOSURE OF
RAYNORD SPOLTROUS |
Dir. Rob Reiner |
| THE WOMAN'S GYM |
Circle Theatre |
| MAN AND SUPERMAN |
| OPPER |
| STEVE ALLEN SUMMER
COMEDY SHOW |
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| SPECIAL
SKILLS |
| Golf,
Ping Pong, Swimming, Horseback Riding,
Skiing, and Singing |
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| ACCENTS
AND DIALECTS |
| British,
Irish, German, Russian, All Eastern
European, American, Southern, Midwestern,
and Texas |
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| SPECIAL
APPEARANCES |
| JOHNNY
CARSON SHOW |
| THE
JOEY BISHOP SHOW |
| MERV
GRIFFIN |
| TATTLETALES
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| CBS
TALK SHOW CO-HOST |
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For a detailed list of Marj's
credits and Notable TV guest appearances, visit:
The
Internet Movie DataBase
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