Gloria Willis Shenefelt, 80, actress
deb...@comcast.net
BRISTOL, PA -- Gloria Willis Shenefelt, 80, an actress who appeared at
the Bucks County Playhouse in lead roles from Shakespeare, Arthur
Miller, Tennessee Williams and Thornton Wilder, died Oct. 29 at Lower
Bucks Hospital in Bristol. The cause of death was heart failure,
according to her husband, Arthur B. Shenefelt. As an aspiring actress
of 17, Miss Willis moved to New York from her home in rural Florida to
attend drama school. She soon landed the ingenue lead opposite Richard
Basehart in the 1944 Broadway comedy, "Take It as It Comes" and later
played Off Broadway in the "The Potting Shed," "Her Master's Voice,"
and "A Tenth of an Inch Makes the Difference." In the early 1950s, she
appeared at the Cleveland Playhouse where her frequent roles as leading
lady obliged the playhouse to become an Equity company for the first
time in its history.
Her most extensive work in repertory theater came in the late 60s and
early 70s at the Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, PA, a period when
she also studied with Lee Strasberg in New York. The company's
productions cast her with many leading actors of the day, among them
John Carradine, Dana Andrews, Tom Poston, Frank Converse, and Imogene
Coca. She also appeared in the company's production of Wilder's "Our
Town," when it traveled to the Sybil Thorndike Theatre in Leatherhead,
England.
Her work in stock included may summers at the Totem Pole Players in
Chambersburg, PA, owned by Bill Putch and the actress Jean Stapleton,
and her credits included the role of Martha Washington in the American
Heritage production, "The World Turned Upside Down," which aired on ABC
television.
She is survived by her husband of 57 years, Arthur B. Shenefelt of
Levittown, PA; her son, Michael Shenefelt of New York City; and her
grandson Benjamin A. Shenefelt of Ottowa, Canada.
A life celebration memorial service will take place 11 a.m. Nov 12 at
the Beck-Givnish Funeral Home, 7400 New Falls Road, Levittown, PA.
Contributions in lieu of flowers may be made to the Humane Society of
the United States, National Processing Center, PO Box 52137, Phoenix,
AZ 85072.
Published in The Times, Trenton, on 11/5/2005.