Marjorie Lee Eaton (February 5, 1901 – April 21, 1986) was an American painter, photographer and character actress.
Initially trained as an architect, Marjorie Eaton went on to become a renowned artist and character actress whose career spanded from 1946-1981. Eaton was born on February 5, 1901 in San Francisco, California, USA as Marjorie Lee Eaton. As an actress, she was known for Mary Poppins (1964), That Forsyte Woman (1949) and Zombies of Mora Tau (1957). Prior to entering the film industry, Eaton was member of the Taos artist colony where she painted the majority of her notable works. Her contributions to the Art world include "Taos Ceremony". circa 1928 and "Taos Man seated".
In 1979, aged 78, Eaton filmed a scene for the second Star Wars film, The Empire Strikes Back, in which she portrayed the role of Emperor Palpatine, under heavy makeup. She was one of two actresses that shot the scene with the makeup, the other being Elaine Baker (wife of makeup artist Rick Baker). The final character had superimposed chimpanzee eyes and was voiced by Clive Revill. Neither woman received on-screen credit, and sources disagree about which actress appears in the final film. When the film was released on DVD in 2004, the scene was re-shot with Ian McDiarmid, who played Emperor Palpatine in all of the other films in which the character appears.
In March 1986, Eaton suffered a stroke. On April 21, 1986, she died at her childhood home in Palo Alto surrounded by two nieces and a nephew by marriage. After the memorial services, her cremated ashes were scattered in two places: half over the property where she grew up and half in Taos where she spent years as an artist.
