Minta Durfee

Acting

Minta Durfee

Born — Died

1889-09-30 — 1975-09-09

Place of birth

Los Angeles, California, USA

Known for

Acting

Credits

61 titles

Known for

This Is Your Life poster
6.5

This Is Your Life is an American television documentary series broadcast on NBC, originally hosted by its producer, Ralph Edwards from 1952 to 1961. In the show, the host surprises a guest, and proceeds to take them through their life in front of an audience, including special guest appearances by colleagues, friends and family. Edwards revived the show in 1971-72, while Joseph Campanella hosted a version in 1983. Edwards returned for some specials in the late 1980s, before his death in 2005. The show originated as a radio show on NBC Radio airing from 1948 to 1952.

This Is Your Life

1952

Witness for the Prosecution poster
8.2

An ailing barrister is thrust back into the courtroom in what becomes one of the most unusual and eventful murder cases of the lawyer's career when he finds himself defending a man being tried for the murder of a socialite.

Witness for the Prosecution

1957

Around the World in 80 Days poster
6.7

Based on the famous book by Jules Verne the movie follows Phileas Fogg on his journey around the world. Which has to be completed within 80 days, a very short period for those days.

Around the World in 80 Days

1956

Funny Girl poster
7.1

The life of famed 1930s comedienne Fanny Brice, from her early days in the Jewish slums of New York, to the height of her career with the Ziegfeld Follies, as well as her marriage to the rakish gambler Nick Arnstein.

Funny Girl

1968

The Unsinkable Molly Brown poster
5.7

The buoyant Molly Brown has survived the first crisis of her life—a flood. Sixteen years later she sets out to make her way in the world. She assures the Leadville saloon keeper that she can sing and play the piano, and learns quickly. Soon she marries Johnny Brown, who in a few years will be able to replace the original cigar wrapper wedding ring with a replica in gold and gemstones. The Browns head for Europe and bring a few crowned heads back to Denver for a party that turns into a ballroom brawl. Molly goes to Europe alone, returning on the Titanic. She didn't survive a flood as a baby for the story to end here.

The Unsinkable Molly Brown

1964

They Shoot Horses, Don't They? poster
7.6

In the midst of the Great Depression, manipulative emcee Rocky enlists contestants for a dance marathon offering a $1,500 cash prize. Among them are a failed actress, a middle-aged sailor, a delusional blonde and a pregnant girl.

They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

1969

Film credits

1960s · 6 titles

Funny Girl poster
7.1

The life of famed 1930s comedienne Fanny Brice, from her early days in the Jewish slums of New York, to the height of her career with the Ziegfeld Follies, as well as her marriage to the rakish gambler Nick Arnstein.

Funny Girl

1968

The Unsinkable Molly Brown poster
5.7

The buoyant Molly Brown has survived the first crisis of her life—a flood. Sixteen years later she sets out to make her way in the world. She assures the Leadville saloon keeper that she can sing and play the piano, and learns quickly. Soon she marries Johnny Brown, who in a few years will be able to replace the original cigar wrapper wedding ring with a replica in gold and gemstones. The Browns head for Europe and bring a few crowned heads back to Denver for a party that turns into a ballroom brawl. Molly goes to Europe alone, returning on the Titanic. She didn't survive a flood as a baby for the story to end here.

The Unsinkable Molly Brown

1964

They Shoot Horses, Don't They? poster
7.6

In the midst of the Great Depression, manipulative emcee Rocky enlists contestants for a dance marathon offering a $1,500 cash prize. Among them are a failed actress, a middle-aged sailor, a delusional blonde and a pregnant girl.

They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

1969

The Power poster
6.3

One by one members of a special project team are being killed by telekinesis - the ability to move things with the power of the mind alone. The race is on to determine which of the remaining team members is the murderer and to stop them.

The Power

1968

Fate Is the Hunter poster
6.5

An airline executive refuses to believe that pilot error, by his friend, caused a fatal crash and persists in looking for another reason.

Fate Is the Hunter

1964

The Notorious Landlady poster
6.8

An American junior diplomat in London rents a house from, and falls in love with, a woman suspected of murder.

The Notorious Landlady

1962

1950s · 9 titles

Witness for the Prosecution poster
8.2

An ailing barrister is thrust back into the courtroom in what becomes one of the most unusual and eventful murder cases of the lawyer's career when he finds himself defending a man being tried for the murder of a socialite.

Witness for the Prosecution

1957

Around the World in 80 Days poster
6.7

Based on the famous book by Jules Verne the movie follows Phileas Fogg on his journey around the world. Which has to be completed within 80 days, a very short period for those days.

Around the World in 80 Days

1956

Auntie Mame poster
7.0

Mame Dennis, a progressive and independent woman of the 1920s, is left to care for her nephew Patrick after his wealthy father dies. Conflict ensues when the executor of the father's estate objects to the aunt's lifestyle and tries to force her to send Patrick to prep school.

Auntie Mame

1958

Illegal poster
6.5

A hugely successful DA goes into private practice after sending a man to the chair -- only to find out later he was innocent. Now the drunken attorney only seems to represent criminals and low lifes.

Illegal

1955

An Affair to Remember poster
7.4

A couple falls in love and agrees to meet in six months at the Empire State Building - but will it happen?

An Affair to Remember

1957

Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? poster
6.8

To save his career, an ad man wants a sex symbol to endorse a lipstick but in exchange, she wants him to pretend to be her lover.

Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?

1957

The Buster Keaton Story poster
5.2

An inaccurate retelling of the life of silent filmmaker and comedian Buster Keaton.

The Buster Keaton Story

1957

Hollywood or Bust poster
6.2

The last movie with Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin together, is a satire of the life in Hollywood. Steve Wiley is a deceiver who cheats Malcolm Smith when he wins a car, claiming that he won it too. Trying to steal the car, Steve tells Malcolm that he lives in Hollywood, next to Anita Ekberg's. When Malcom hears that, they both set out for Hollywood and the adventure begins...

Hollywood or Bust

1956

The Sound and the Fury poster
6.8

The once-prominent Compson family of Jefferson, Miss., has been reduced to near-penury by generations of alcoholism and sin. Levelheaded Jason struggles to keep the family together, but his teenage stepsister, Quentin, chafes against his strictures. When Quentin's estranged mother reappears in town, and carnival worker Charles attempts to seduce the virginal teen, the family may finally be headed for complete collapse.

The Sound and the Fury

1959

1940s · 7 titles

The Devil and Miss Jones poster
7.6

The wealthiest man in the world, John P. Merrick, is a private person who likes to stay anonymous. One of his many assets is Neeley's Department Store. There is labor unrest at the store, and the employees' anger is directed at him, who they hang in effigy outside the store despite not knowing what he looks like. Merrick, not happy at what he sees going on, decides to mete out the rabble-rousers. So he goes undercover as a sales clerk in the shoe department.

The Devil and Miss Jones

1941

The Man with Nine Lives poster
6.3

Dr. Leon Kravaal develops a potential cure for cancer, which involves freezing the patient. But an experiment goes awry when authorities believe Kravaal has killed a patient. Kravaal freezes the officials, along with himself. Years later, they are discovered and revived in hopes that Kravaal can indeed complete his cure. But human greed and weakness compound to disrupt the project.

The Man with Nine Lives

1940

The Man Who Returned to Life poster
7.2

An accused killer is granted a reprieve when his victim returns to town in the flesh after an eight-year absence.

The Man Who Returned to Life

1942

The Chance of a Lifetime poster
6.7

A mad scramble for stolen loot ensues after Boston Blackie has prisoners released for work in a wartime defence plant.

The Chance of a Lifetime

1943

Rollin' Home to Texas poster
9.0

This one starts differently but, in the end, it is another version of Robert Emmett Tansey's oft-used plot of "employing bad guys as good guys to help the good-good guys capture the bad-bad guys." The warden of the Desert Wells Penitentiary asks Tex Reed and Slim to check the series of bank robberies which have been committed by escaped convicts. Lockwood, head of an opposing political machine, is behind the escapes and robberies, and the escapes are being planned by Red, a convict. Tex trails the next escapee but the hang shoots the man before Tex can question him. Jimmy, brother of Tex's girl friend Mary, is set up, by the gang, to be killed while robbing a bank by Carter who will collect a reward for shooting him. Jimmy is wounded but not killed and Tex arrests him to keep him safe. The gang now wants to get rid of Tex, so they send Red, dressed as a prison guard, with a fake message from the Warden for Tex.

Rollin' Home to Texas

1940

No artwork available
5.6

Radio singing star, Eve Porter, wants a vacation during her show's summer hiatus, but her manager and press have booked her for additional work. She refuses and goes to Las Vegas. When she finds them there hunting her down, she manages to escape them by hiding in the car of a newspaper reporter. She comes out of hiding while he is driving, but everything she says is misconstrued, making him believe that she is a recently-escaped convict, "The Singing Widow". He plans to use this as a story to get back into the good graces of his editor. Through some comic mishaps, he learns who she really is. He then decides to take her back to Hollywood to collect the reward for her return. But now love has entered the mix, and must be resolved with his job and her engagement to another.

Eve Knew Her Apples

1945

The Miracle Kid poster
5.5

A young boxer finds his life turned upside down when he meets with sudden success in the ring.

The Miracle Kid

1941

1910s · 35 titles

Tillie's Punctured Romance poster
6.2

A womanizing city man meets Tillie in the country. When he sees that her father has a very large bankroll for his workers, he persuades her to elope with him.

Tillie's Punctured Romance

1914

The Alarm poster
NR

A Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle & Mabel Normand comedy short. The film is considered lost.

The Alarm

1914

The Face on the Barroom Floor poster
5.4

A painter turned tramp (Chaplin), devastated by losing the woman he was courting as a wealthy man, finds himself drunk and getting drunker by the minute with some sailors at a bar until he's literally falling down. He keeps futilely trying to draw the woman's picture on the floor with a piece of chalk until he finally passes out cold (or perhaps dies, as in the poem) at the end of the film.

The Face on the Barroom Floor

1914

Making a Living poster
5.7

A swindler scams a newspaper reporter-photographer and then, not realizing where the man is employed, applies for a job at his newspaper.

Making a Living

1914

The Masquerader poster
5.7

Charlie plays an actor who bungles several scenes and is kicked out. He returns convincingly dressed as a lady and charms the director, but Charlie never makes it into the film.

The Masquerader

1914

Bright Lights poster
NR

The manager of a small town hotel installs a cabaret in an attempt to achieve the standard set by restaurants in the large cities. His effort is ludicrous because of the fact that his talent is all recruited from the help in the hotel. Roscoe, the cook, is forced to appear in a dress suit and when Al St. John appears from the bar there is a lively rivalry between the two for the applause of the crowd. Mabel, the waitress, vies with a professional dancer from the city. Into this setting comes William Jefferson, a polished sharper, who takes the innocent Mabel by storm.

Bright Lights

1916

Caught in a Cabaret poster
5.8

Charlie is a clumsy waiter in a cheap cabaret, suffering the strict orders from his boss. He meets a pretty girl in the park and tries to impress her by pretending to be an ambassador. Unfortunately she has a jealous fiancé.

Caught in a Cabaret

1914

Tango Tangles poster
5.2

In a dance hall, two members of the orchestra and a tipsy dancer fight over the hat check girl.

Tango Tangles

1914

The Knockout poster
5.8

To show his girl how brave he is, Pug challenges the champion to a fight. Charlie referees, trying to avoid contact with the two monsters.

The Knockout

1914

Fatty and Minnie He-Haw poster
5.3

Fatty steals a ride on a train, discovered, and put off in the middle of nowhere. He stumbles along over the hot desert and finally passes out. A very plump Indian woman finds him and takes him to her tepee, woos him and finally, in desperation, Fatty agrees to marry her. While the tribe is preparing for the marriage ceremony, Fatty attempts to escape but is caught.

Fatty and Minnie He-Haw

1914

His Wife's Mistake poster
5.2

Roscoe begins work on his new job as janitor of the Shortacre Building in New York. While performing his duties he enters the offices of a broker, I. Steele. The broker is out, but his wife, who knows that her husband expects a rich customer in with a check for $10,000 to close an option, mistakes Roscoe for this Mr. R.U. Stout of Showme, Missouri. Thinking to be of assistance to her husband in his business, Mrs. Steele is very affable and finally invites the supposed Mr. Stout to go to luncheon with her. Steele returns with the necessary papers and is told by his office boy that his wife has gone to a gay café with the new janitor.

His Wife's Mistake

1916

Mabel at the Wheel poster
5.8

A villain, competing with his rival's race car, kidnaps the rival before the race. Mabel decides to take the wheel in his place.

Mabel at the Wheel

1914

Fatty’s Chance Acquaintance poster
5.5

Fatty and his domineering wife visit the park, where they encounter a pair of pickpockets.

Fatty’s Chance Acquaintance

1915

A Flirt's Mistake poster
5.3

When Fatty Arbuckle accidentally hits on the rajah, he declares, "Death to all flirts!" and hijinks ensue.

A Flirt's Mistake

1914

Cruel, Cruel Love poster
5.2

This early Chaplin film has him playing a character quite different from the Tramp for which he would become famous. He is a rich, upper-class gentleman whose romance is endangered when his girlfriend oversees him being embraced by a maid. Chaplin's romantic interest in this film, Minta Durfee, was the wife of fellow Keystone actor, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle.

Cruel, Cruel Love

1914

The Rounders poster
6.1

Two drunks fight with their wives and then go out and get even drunker.

The Rounders

1914

Fatty's Magic Pants poster
5.5

'Fatty' is looking forward to attending a formal occasion. But in order to go, he has to be properly dressed, and he encounters unexpected difficulties in getting himself ready.

Fatty's Magic Pants

1914

Twenty Minutes of Love poster
5.7

Charlie is hanging around in the park, finding problems with a jealous suitor, a man who thinks that Charlie has robbed him a watch, a policeman and even a little boy, all because our friend can't stop snooping.

Twenty Minutes of Love

1914

Fatty Joins the Force poster
5.3

Fatty rescues the daughter of the police commisioner and is given a job as an officer as a reward, but its not all its cracked up to be!

Fatty Joins the Force

1913

No artwork available
NR

The Under-Sheriff is a 1914 movie starring Roscoe Arbuckle and George Nichols.

The Under-Sheriff

1914

Fatty at San Diego poster
NR

Fatty induces wife to let him take a day off to go to the celebration at San Diego. He has a wonderful time, flirting with the girls, breaking up a parade, fighting the police force and falling into the fountain with him, escapes, and with the crowd after him, leaps into the river. Here he rescues a little boy and becomes a hero. He goes home to wife in a bedraggled condition, tells of rescue and is set upon a pedestal. Wife, as a reward, takes him to the movies at night and sees husband flirting and fighting in the fountain, where some enterprising cameraman caught him. That explaining, as she thought, the bedraggled state in which he arrived home, she turns and beats him all the way home.

Fatty at San Diego

1913

Zip, the Dodger poster
NR

Zip is a young man whose job is to dodge baseballs at a resort concession. To impress a young lady under a parasol he gets a friend to substitute for him while he pretends to be a young man of leisure. Trouble starts when the girl happens along later and discovers what Zip's job really is.

Zip, the Dodger

1914

No artwork available
10.0

Wine is a 1913 movie starring Roscoe Arbuckle and Ford Sterling.

Wine

1913

No artwork available
NR

Fatty's Gift is a 1914 Comedy short.

Fatty's Gift

1914

Love, Speed and Thrills poster
5.0

After Walrus has been shot, Ambrose takes him into his house. When Ambrose sees Walrus flirting with his wife he leaves. When Walrus runs away with Mrs. Ambrose, Ambrose gets on a horse to save her. The Keystone Kops are also after Walrus.

Love, Speed and Thrills

1915

That Little Band Of Gold poster
5.1

A happy young couple become engaged, and soon afterwards they are married. But after their marriage, the husband begins to stay out carousing with his friends, leaving his wife at home with her mother. Then, when the three of them go to the opera together, the husband spots one of his friends in another box. Soon the domestic difficulties reach their peak.

That Little Band Of Gold

1915

Fatty and the Broadway Stars poster
NR

Fatty and the Broadway Stars is a 1915 American short comedy film directed by and starring Fatty Arbuckle.

Fatty and the Broadway Stars

1915

The Star Boarder poster
5.2

A fun-loving little boy's magic lantern show exposes some indiscreet moments between his landlady mother and her star boarder.

The Star Boarder

1914

A Bird's a Bird poster
5.0

Mr. Walrus needs a turkey for Thanksgiving dinner with his in-laws but his plans keep going awry.

A Bird's a Bird

1915

No artwork available
NR

Screwball slapstick with Fatty and Minta mixed up in zany adventures.

A Suspended Ordeal

1914

No artwork available
NR

Charlie is trying to impress Minnie, who is interested in another fellow, but having trouble with his flirting, so he goes to see a 'Trouble Mender'. The trouble mender-a man who spends his time moving through sliding panels, materializing hillbilly henchmen and himself-comes up with a radical solution, he will kill him. No more life, no more problems! But then Minnie throws over the other guy and Charlie must find a way out of his bargain!

Love and Bullets

1914

No artwork available
NR

A short comedy in which two lovers post their letters in a box in a tree. The old man gets wise and sets a snare, by which he catches Fatty's hand. The girl releases the snare and Fatty hooks the old man by the leg.

Lovers' Post Office

1914

Fickle Fatty's Fall poster
NR

Fickle Fatty's Fall is a 1914 Comedy short.

Fickle Fatty's Fall

1915

The Cabaret poster
8.0

Helene, who dances in a Greenwich Village cabaret accompanied on the violin by her grandfather, loses her job after his death. She then is hired as a portrait model by four artists--Jaffrey Darrel, Ned Lorrimer, Dick Turner and Stanley Sargent--all of whom become fascinated with her. Helene leaves the Village when Ned's jealousy disrupts the camaraderie of the quartet and becomes a stage star. Meanwhile, all of the artists have attained success except Jaffrey, who refuses to taint his art with commercialism.

The Cabaret

1918

A Film Johnnie poster
5.5

The Tramp, a film Johnnie (someone who loiters near theaters or studios to meet stars or get a job), attempts to meet his favorite movie actress at the Keystone Studio, but does not win friends there.

A Film Johnnie

1914

Series credits