Natalie Kalmus (1883-1965) played a key role in the development and promotion of the Technicolor film process.

Kalmus was born Natalie Mabelle Dunfee in 1883 (some sources say 1878 or 1892) in Norfolk, Virginia, the daughter of George Kayser Dunfee and his wife. As a child, she moved to Boston, Massachusetts, where she spent her youth. Kalmus sometimes worked as a model, but was primarily interested in art, which she studied at Stetson University in Deland, Florida.

Married Herbert Kalmus

On July 23, 1902, Kalmus married Herbert T. Kalmus, the first marriage for both. She continued to pursue her studies in art at the Boston School of Art and Boston's Curry School of Expressionism while her husband obtained his undergraduate degree. He graduated in 1904 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). After his graduation, the couple moved to San Francisco where Herbert Kalmus owned part of the University School and served as principal...