Christine Stanley, A.K.A. Helga Morpurgo, Formerly of Sag Harbor, Dies February 24

Christine Stanley, otherwise known as Helga Morpurgo, formerly of Sag Harbor, died of heart failure on February 24 at Albany Medical Center in Albany. She was 87.

Her family had owned a three-story Victorian home on Union Street in Sag Harbor since 1965, where her father, Attilio Giacomo “Jack” Morpurgo, had a medical practice, and her mother, Vilna Jorgen Morpurgo, had an art gallery called Sagg Harbour Arts Center.

In more recent years, Helga Morpurgo, a playwright, and her sister, author Annselm Morpurgo, had lived there while Helga wrote plays and her sister had the Savant Gard Institute. They sold the family home in 2008.

Helga Ida Morpurgo, who later became known as Christine Stanley, was born on April 3, 1935, in Rome, Italy. Her mother, Scandinavian Countess and artist Vilna Jorgen Morpurgo, was born in Oslo, Norway, and is exhibited in collections both in Europe and the United States. Her father, Baron-Dr. Attilio Giacomo (Jack) Morpurgo, was born in Alexandria, Egypt. He became a cardiologist and family doctor. He and his wife met in Rome, Italy, in 1932, where they eventually gave birth to their two daughters. The family had to flee as Holocaust refugees and came to America in 1940.

The Morpurgo family lived in Manhattan and later in Elmhurst, Queens, where Dr. Morpurgo had his medical practice. They eventually moved to Sag Harbor, where they first lived on Main Street, and later bought a house on Union Street, behind the library.

Helga Morpurgo graduated from Manhattan School of Music and went on to study drama at Hunter College. She became a student protege of playwright Lillian Hellman, and later earned a national award for her plays, with Hellman’s sponsorship.

In 1953, Helga Morpurgo married Stanley Greenberg, a high school music teacher. They later divorced in 1975. She moved to Hollywood to pursue playwriting, but following a Los Angeles earthquake she moved back to her family home in Sag Harbor in the late 1980s. She continued to write and produce plays in local theaters, and she wrote freelance articles for the local papers.

She was also a devoted animal activist and life-long vegan, who volunteered at the local shelters on the East End.

Eric Wald of Sag Harbor, the publisher of “The Waldo Tribune,” recalled that she directed and produced his play “Butterfly Man” at the Sag Harbor Inn.

“Chris was a good friend for over 40 years, who also read my plays at Canio’s Books,” he said. “She was so sweet, kind, and beautiful.”

In 2011, she moved to Prescott, Arizona, due to health reasons, and lived there until 2019, when she moved to Albany, where she lived until her recent death.

She is survived by her older sister, Annselm Lnvm Morpurgo, also known as Artemis Smith, and a cousin, Augusto Morpurgo.

Her sister said, “Although we were almost always at buttheads, we never stopped loving each other and defending each other against the world.”

A memorial service will be held at Oakland Cemetery on April 3, at 2 p.m., which would have been her 88th birthday.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons (arfhamptons.org), or the Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Rescue Center in Hampton Bays (wildliferescuecenter.org).