Lily Lodge

Lily Lodge (April 12, 1930 – August 7, 2021) was an American actress, acting coach, and etiquette consultant born in New York, New York. A member of the prominent Lodge family, she was the daughter of John Davis Lodge, a career diplomat who also served as Governor of Connecticut, and Francesca Braggiotti, an Italian dancer and actress. Her uncle was vice-presidential candidate Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. Lodge was married to James Lewis Marcus, who served as New York City Water Commissioner under Mayor Lindsay, and the couple had two sons, George and James Lewis Marcus Jr. She died on August 7, 2021, at the age of 91.

Lodge's stage career brought her to Broadway between 1953 and 1955, where she appeared in four productions: The Skin of Our Teeth, The Wisteria Trees, What Every Woman Knows, and Cyrano de Bergerac. Her screen work spanned several decades, beginning with an uncredited role as Lily in the 1933 pre-code literary adaptation Little Women. She later appeared in an episode of Play of the Week in 1960 and played the role of Olga in an episode of Naked City in 1963. Her film credits also include Say Yes in 1986, in which she played a New York Woman, and Mona Lisa Smile in 2003, where she portrayed a House Matron.

Beyond performing, Lodge built a substantial career behind the scenes. She served as an acting coach on the 2013 film adaptation of The Great Gatsby and worked as an etiquette consultant on The Age of Innocence, released in 1993, and Kate & Leopold, released in 2001. As co-founder and director of the Actors Conservatory in New York City, she developed actors through the use of sense memory, working with performers including Alec Baldwin and Brooke Shields.