Dusay has appeared

in both TV and movies

By Preston Knight -- Daily Staff Writer

WINCHESTER — Even if you have no clue what Marj Dusay does, or has done for a living, and what she might do for fun, you could venture an educated guess when you first meet her.

Her presence may give you the idea that she knows how to face a camera, which would be true, since she has starred in plays, commercials, movies and television shows, most notably as Alexandra Spaulding on "Guiding Light." And her attitude could lend you to picture her indulging in the occasional drink, which is fact as well, like when she celebrated her Kansas Jayhawks' national basketball title last month with a bottle of cabernet.

But even if you knew those things and other tidbits of Dusay's life, which brought her to be a part of the 81st Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival, it is unlikely you would have randomly uncovered her crowning athletic achievement — she once shot a round of golf 2-under par.

"It was a cold day in Phoenix," Dusay said of her feat from the early 1980s.

She has been invited to play in numerous celebrity golf tournaments in the past because of things she has done away from the course. Dusay grew up in Kansas and married her childhood sweetheart. Both went to the University of Kansas, where Dusay started to model once she graduated. The couple then left for New York City, where she joined a modeling agency there.

Dusay's career progressed in New York. She studied radio speech, shooting many commercials, and then went on to theater.

"Most young kids start in theater," Dusay said. "I've done everything bass-ackwards."

She moved to Los Angeles and became involved in improvisational comedy, television and movies. Dusay's list of stars she has worked with — Richard Dreyfuss, Gregory Peck and Clint Eastwood, to name a few — is so long that when she recounts them the name Elvis Presley doesn't even come up early. She played a waitress in the movie "Clambake."

"It's been a fun time," Dusay said.

Her most notable work comes as a soap star, which includes time on "All My Children," "Days of Our Lives" and "Dallas." Dusay, who now is trying to be a writer, has won a daytime Emmy and several awards from Soap Opera Digest for her soap work.

It's not what every little girl from Russell, Kansas, achieves, but, she said, it's not impossible for any young person to succeed as she has.

"Life takes you places," Dusay said.

On Friday, it was Apple Blossom. A friend invited Dusay, she said, and the timing was perfect. She said she has been stuck in New York and needed to get away.

"What a beautiful opportunity," Dusay said.

And where she started to eventually get here is not something you would guess. It's the first thing, though, Dusay will say you need to know about her.

"I'm a little girl from Kansas," she said.

* Contact Preston Knight at pknight@nvdaily.com