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‘The Great White Hope’ and ‘Network’ Star Dies at 83

Marlene Warfield’s 40-plus-year career included memorable roles on Broadway, movies, and TV.

Marlene Warfield, the New York actress best known for her role as an underground revolutionary in Network, has died aged 83. Her sister, Chequita Warfield, confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that the veteran actress passed away at a Los Angeles hospital on April 6. Born in 1941, Warfield appeared in film, television, and stage productions throughout her 40-plus-year career, winning the Clarence Derwent Award for Outstanding Broadway Debut in 1969 and a Theatre World Award for her performance as Clara opposite James Earl Jones in The Great White Hope. Warfield went on to reprise the same role in Martin Ritt’s big-screen adaptation in 1970, as did Jones. In 1976, Warfield played “bad-a-- Commie n*****” Laureen Hobbs, a member of a Black revolutionary group, in Sidney Lumet’s Network. The film co-starred Faye Dunaway and Peter Finch and went on to win four Academy Awards. On television, Warfield became known for her role as Victoria Butterfield, Bea Arthur’s housekeeper, in the final season of Norman Lear’s Maude. Warfield died of lung cancer and leaves behind her sister, son, grandson, and a cousin. Warfield was predeceased by her brother in 2024 and by William Horsey, her husband of 26 years, in 1993.