Mae West is an American actress, playwright, screenwriter, singer, and sex icon who has worked in the entertainment industry for over seven decades. Moreover, Mae West is popular for her carefree sexual freedom and humorous bawdy double entendres, which she often delivered in a husky contralto voice.
Early life
Marry Jane West best known as Mae West was born on 17th August 1893, in Brooklyn, New York, the United States of America. At the age of 87, she pass away and was a citizen of the United States. In addition, she has a zodiac sign of Leo and she belongs to mixed ethnicity of German American, British American, and Irish American descent. She was also nicknamed Queen of the World. Moreover, she was the daughter of John Patrick West (father) and Mathilde Delker (mother). She has two siblings, John Edwin West Jr and Mildred Katherine West. Her father was a prizefighter who went on to create his private investigative agency after serving as a “special police officer.” Her mother was a former model and aspiring actress who was forced to abandon her acting ambitions due to family pressure.
Mae began performing on stage and in cabaret when she was five. She was never interested in education since she was too busy performing. She studied dance as a kid and was dubbed “The Baby Vamp” for her theatrical performances by the age of 14.
Death
Mae West suffered a serious accident when getting out of bed in August 1980. She was sent to Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles, where examinations revealed she had had a stroke. With a diabetic reaction to the formula in her feeding tube, her recovery was challenging. She had a second stroke on September 18, 1980, which paralyzed much of her right side. She suffered pneumonia after that. Her health appeared to be stabilizing, but her overall prognosis was positive, and she was discharged to her home to recover. She died at the age of 87 on November 22, 1980, in Hollywood, California, after suffering a series of strokes.
Professional career
Stage career and Broadway star
At the age of 14, Mae West began her professional career in vaudeville with the Hal Clarendon Stock Company. During her early career, she went by the stage name “Baby Mae” and the identity “Jane Mast.” Her Broadway début was in the 1911 revue ‘A La Broadway,’ which was produced by her old dance teacher, Ned Wayburn. Although the play was a failure, Mae’s talents were recognized. Over the next few years, she appeared in several other plays, acquiring a reputation as a sex symbol for her risqué performances.
Caption: Mae West posing for a photo (Source: The Movie Database)
She started writing her plays as well. She wrote, produced, and directed ‘Sex,’ a play in which she also appeared, in 1926. Due to the controversial nature of the subject, the play was a commercial success, but it drew the attention of municipal officials, who raided the theater and detained the performers, including Mae West. Because of the media coverage of the incident, she became even more popular after her release. She followed up ‘Sex’ with ‘The Drag,’ another highly controversial play about homosexuality since she was one of the first supporters of gay rights.
Movies
As a theater actress, she was hugely successful and came to the attention of filmmakers. Even though she was almost 40 years old, she was offered a motion film contract by Paramount Pictures in 1932. She made her film debut in George Raft’s ‘Night After Night.’ She made her film debut in the criminal comedy ‘She Done Him Wrong’ in 1933, alongside Cary Grant in one of his early appearances. The next year, she starred with Grant in ‘I’m No Angel,’ which was also a big success.
Radio appearances and autobiography
Along with her film career, she experimented in radio, appearing in two distinct segments on Edgar Bergen’s radio show ‘The Chase and Sanborn Hour.’ Her radio shows were full of sexually suggestive innuendos, which outraged conservatives, especially Catholics, who believed she was vulgar and dirty. Her radio career suffered as a result. Her film career began to decrease in the 1940s, and she had to work extra hard to secure important roles. During the decade, she only starred in two films: ‘My Little Chickadee’ (1940) and ‘The Heat’s On’ (1943).
In the 1950s, she appeared in a few plays and even had her own Las Vegas stage performance, where she performed while surrounded by bodybuilders. The show was a huge success, and it lasted three years. In 1959, she published her autobiography, ‘Goodness Had Nothing To Do With It,’ which became a bestseller.
As a singer and television appearances
Mae began her singing career in the 1960s, releasing albums such as ‘WC Fields His Only Recording Plus 8 Songs by Mae West’ (1960), ‘Way Out West,’ (1966), and ‘Wild Christmas’ (1967). She also appeared on television on occasion. By the 1970s, her movie career had all but ended. Her final film roles were in ‘Myra Breckinridge’ (1970) and ‘Sextette’ (1978).
Awards and Net worth
This actress has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1560 Vine Street in Hollywood. In appreciation of her contributions to the theater, she inducts into the American Theater Hall of Fame.
At the time of her death, her net worth estimates around $20 million which she earned from his theatrical and movie roles.
Relationship Status
Caption: Mae West with her boyfriend Paul Novak (Source: Fragrantica)
When Mae West was 17 years old, she married Frank Wallace, a fellow vaudevillian. However, the pair kept their marriage a secret for a long time and divorced legally in 1942. In 1913, Mae met and began a passionate relationship with Italian-born vaudevillian Guido Deiro. In 1916, the couple divorced. This actress also had affairs with other men, including attorney James Timony. She was in a relationship with Chester Rybinski till the time of her death. Chester was one of the muscle-men in her Las Vegas stage show, who was 30 years her junior. Later, Chester went under the name Paul Novak.
Body measurements and Social media
This actress stands 4 feet 11 inches tall with weighs around 57 kg. Moreover, this popular film star has blue eyes with blonde hair, and her body measurement is 35-24-35 inches.
Caption: Mae West posing for a photo(Source: Vogue)
Because there were no advanced social media and communication tools during Mae’s time, she is not on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.
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