Marjorie Steele

Marjorie FitzGibbon (née Steele; 27 August 1930 – 20 January 2018) was an Irish-American artist and actress.

Early life and family Marjorie FitzGibbon was born Marjorie Steele on 27 August 1930 in Reno, Nevada, United States. Her parents were Jack, a salesman, and Ora Steele. On her maternal side her family was of Swedish descent, and her paternal grandmother was Native American. She was the second of four daughters. FitzGibbon left the family home in San Francisco to move to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. While there she studied painting at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and won a scholarship to study stage acting at the Actors Lab.

FitzGibbon met her first husband, Huntington Hartford, while working part-time as a cigarette girl in Ciro's Nightclub on Sunset Strip. They were married in 1949 and had two children, John and Catherine. Her first major role was in Tennessee Williams's New York production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in 1955. She was part of the Actors' Equity campaign to end segregation of union actors. She bought her parents a ranch in the Santa Monica Mountains. Her father died by suicide soon after. Her daughter, Catherine, died at age 38 in a drug-related accident. One of her most famous works is the statue of James Joyce on North Earl Street, Dublin. She also created a statue of Eamon Andrews in the foyer of the RTÉ offices.

She had solo exhibitions at Wildenstein Gallery (1953), Godolphin Gallery (1973), Tom Caldwell Gallery in 1978, and the Grafton Gallery in 1985. In 1988 she was commissioned by the Arts Council to produce work for the Heads show which toured schools.