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| Birth Name(s) : Mary Jane West |
Date of Birth: August 17, 1893 |
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| Profession:
Actor |
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Full Mae West Biography
| Mae West was born in Brooklyn, New York to "Battling Jack" West and Matilda Doelger. She began her career as a child star in vaudeville, and later went on to write her own plays, including "SEX" for which she was arrested. Though her first movie role was a small part in the 1932 film "Night After Night", her scene has become famous. A coat check girl exclaims, "Goodness! What lovely diamonds!", after seeing Mae's jewlery. Mae replies, "Goodness had nothing to do with it". Her next film, in which she starred, was in 1933. "She Done Him Wrong" was based on her earlier and very popular play, "Diamond Lil". Mae West went on to write and star in seven more films, including "My Little Chickadee", with W. C. Fields. Her last movie was "Sextette" in 1978, two years before her death, which also came from a play. |
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Additional Mae West Biography
Mae West (August 17, 1893 – November 22, 1980) was an American actress, playwright, screenwriter, and sex symbol.
Famous for her bawdy double entendres, West made a name for herself in vaudeville and on the legitimate stage in New York before moving to Hollywood to become a comedian, actress and writer in the motion picture industry.
When her cinematic career ended, she continued to perform on stage, in Las Vegas, in the United Kingdom, on radio and television, and recorded Rock and Roll albums.
Her father was a prizefighter known as "Battlin' Jack West" who later worked as a police officer. He was later a detective who ran his own agency. Her mother was a former corset and fashion model.
The family was Protestant, despite her Jewish mother, who was a Bavarian German immigrant, her Roman Catholic paternal grandmother, who was Irish, as well as other relations who were Roman Catholic and made their disapproval of her career obvious, including the woman who helped deliver West.
In 1932, West was offered a motion picture contract by Paramount. She signed and went to Hollywood to appear in Night After Night starring George Raft. Upon her arrival, she moved into an apartment in the Ravenswood at 570 North Rossmore Avenue, not far from the studio on Melrose. She maintained a residence at the Ravenswood, her preferred abode, for the rest of her life, although she also owned a beach house and a ranch in the San Fernando Valley.Mae West's signature
Five years later, she starred opposite W.C. Fields in My Little Chickadee (1940) at Universal. West and Fields, who were both accustomed to working with supporting players and not as co-stars, did not get along and she would not tolerate his drinking. According to legend, the only way Fields and West could be in the same scene was to film them separately and then splice the film together. My Little Chickadee was a huge box office success and outgrossed all other W.C. Fields movies. Universal was delighted with its success and offered West two more movies to star with Fields, but she refused, citing the difficulty of working with Fields.
Other famous West quips include:
- "A hard man is good to find."
- "His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork."
- "Several times."
- "Why don't you come on up and see me sometime, when I got nothin' on but the radio?"
- "Good girls go to heaven, but bad girls get to go everywhere."
- "Sex is like bridge. If you don't have a good partner, you'd better have a good hand."
- "My left leg is Christmas and my right leg is New Year's. Why don't you visit me between the holidays?"
- "Goodness had nothin' to do with it, dearie."
West was married on April 11, 1911, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Frank Wallace, a fellow vaudevillian whom she first met in 1909. She was 17, he was 21. In 1935, Wallace showed up in Hollywood with a marriage certificate seeking a share of "their" community property. An affidavit was also uncovered that West gave in 1927, during the Sex trial, in which she had declared herself married.
When Billy Wilder offered West the role of Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, she refused and pronounced herself offended at being asked to play a "has-been," similar to the responses he received from Mary Pickford, Greta Garbo, and Pola Negri. Ultimately the more amenable Gloria Swanson was cast in the role.
After a 26-year absence from motion pictures, she appeared in the role as Leticia Van Allen in Gore Vidal's Myra Breckinridge (1970) with John Huston, Raquel Welch, Rex Reed, Farrah Fawcett, and Tom Selleck in a small part. This movie failed at the box office, despite the popularity of both Vidal's original satirical novel and the presence of Raquel Welch in the title role. Vidal and co-star Rex Reed publically disavowed the film and the director, Michael Sarne. The devastating critical responses damaged Sarne's then-hot career. Some regard the film as a camp classic, however, due to its sex change theme. It has had multiple releases on DVD and VHS.
To promote the film, West made many personal appearances to an enthusiastic audiences. In New York, fans were held back by a large number of policemen, including those on horseback, who were there to control the crowd. One fan was led away by police who proclaimed, "I touched Mae West...I touched Mae West!" College students held up signs saying "Mae West Fan Club."
tv guide.com: "Mae West, on whose play it is based ... made a big mistake by coming out of retirement to do this turkey."
Miss West continued seeing personally to her fan mail and actually corresponded with many of her fans. She listed her phone number in the Los Angeles directory and "Rona Barrett's Hollywood" magazine published her number so her fans could "call her up and see her sometime!"
In Quebec, a May West (by Vachon) is a popular round dessert cake with cream filling and a thin shell of dark chocolate.
- A Mae West Hold is a term used to describe a U.S. Senatorial procedure that in effect stops a bill dead in its tracks, usually in secret. The Mae West version of the Senate hold occurs when the senator behind the objection is open to negotiation, inviting the author to “come up and see me sometime.” |
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| When caught between two evils I generally pick the one I've never tried before. |
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