Marlene Warfield, a veteran New York actress known to classic TV fans for starring alongside Bea Arthur in Maude and appearing in Little House on the Prairie, has died.
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Warfield passed away from lung cancer on April 6 at a Los Angeles hospital, her sister, Chequita Warfield, confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter, who reported the news on July 26.
After performing in the East Village at St. Mark’s Playhouse in Jean Genet’s The Blacks, where she understudied Cicely Tyson and worked alongside performers like James Earl Jones, Godfrey Cambridge, and Maya Angelou, Warfield made it to Broadway in October 1968, cast as Clara in Howard Sackler’s The Great White Hope.
She won the Theatre World and Clarence Derwent awards for her performance and later joined Tony winners Jones and Jane Alexander in Hollywood to reprise their roles in the 1970 film directed by Martin Ritt.
In Network (1976), Warfield portrayed Laureen Hobbs, a young revolutionary. She crosses paths with Diana Christensen (Faye Dunaway), a UBS executive pitching a show about the Ecumenical Liberation Army. During their exchange, Diana describes herself as “a racist lackey of the imperialist ruling circles,” to which Hobbs sharply responds, “a bad-ass Commie [n-word].”
According to IMDb, Warfield’s filmography includes notable titles such as Joe (1970), Across 110th Street (1972), and Richard Pryor’s Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling (1986).
Marlene Warfield Makes Her Mark on the Small Screen
According to THR, guided by trailblazing Black talent agent Ernestine McClendon, Warfield relocated to California in 1977 to join the cast of Maude. She made her debut late in the show’s fifth season, stepping into the role of maid for the suburban Findlay household. Warfield succeeded Esther Rolle (as Florida Evans) and Hermione Baddeley (as Nell Naugatuck), continuing the legacy of memorable characters in the series.
Over the decades, she made memorable guest appearances on numerous iconic TV series, including The Name of the Game, Lou Grant, The Jeffersons, Little House on the Prairie, Hill Street Blues, Cagney & Lacey, In the House, ER, The West Wing, The Shield, Law & Order, and Cold Case.
She is survived by her sister, her son Keith, her grandson Demetrius, and her cousin Vivian Warfield. She was married to William Horsey from 1967 until his death in 1993. Her brother Earl passed away in January 2024.