57 Facts About Mae West

Mary Jane "Mae" West was an American actress, singer, comedian, screenwriter, and playwright whose career spanned more than seven decades.

Mary Jane Mae West was born on August 17,1893, in either the Greenpoint or Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, before the consolidation of New York City.

Mae West was delivered at home by her aunt, a midwife.

Mae West was the eldest surviving child of Mathilde Delker West, a corset and fashion model, and John Patrick "Battlin' Jack" West, a former prizefighter who later worked as a "special policeman" and founded a private investigation agency.

Mae West's mother, known as "Tillie" or "Matilda", was a German immigrant from Bavaria, who arrived in 1886 with her siblings and parents, Christiana and Jakob Doelger.

Mae West's parents married in Brooklyn on January 18,1889.

Mae West was five when she first entertained a crowd at a church social, and she began appearing in amateur shows at the age of seven.

Mae West began performing professionally in vaudeville in the Hal Clarendon Stock Company in 1907, at the age of 14.

Mae West's distinctive walk was said to have been inspired or influenced by female impersonators Bert Savoy and Julian Eltinge, who were prominent during the Pansy Craze.

Mae West made her first appearance in a Broadway show in 1911, at age 18, in a revue titled A La Broadway staged by her former dancing teacher, Ned Wayburn.

Mae West continued to build her career in vaudeville, appearing in circuits such as that run by Gus Sun of Ohio.

In 1918, Mae West gained significant attention in the Shubert Brothers revue Sometime, starring opposite Ed Wynn.

The production did not go over well with city officials, who had received complaints from religious groups, and the theater was raided and Mae West arrested along with the cast.

Mae West was taken to the Jefferson Market Court House, where she was prosecuted on morals charges, and on April 19,1927, she was sentenced to 10 days for "corrupting the morals of youth".

Mae West served eight days, with two days off for good behavior, and afterward told reporters that her play was "a work of art".

Mae West expressed the then-modern belief that gay men were women's souls in men's bodies, and said that hitting a gay man was akin to hitting a woman.

Between the late 1920s and early 1930s, Mae West continued to write plays, including The Wicked Age, Pleasure Man, and The Constant Sinner.

In June 1932, after signing a two-month contract with Paramount that provided her a weekly salary of $5,000, Mae West left New York by train for California.

Mae West made her film debut in the role of Maudie Triplett in Night After Night starring George Raft, who had suggested West for the part.

Mae West did not like her small supporting role in the drama at first, but was appeased when she was allowed to rewrite portions of her character's dialogue.

Mae West claimed she spotted Grant at the studio and insisted that he be cast as the male lead.

Mae West hoped they would then not object as much to her other less suggestive lines.

Mae West's following effort, Klondike Annie, dealt, as best it could given the heavy censorship, with religion and hypocrisy.

Around the same time, Mae West played opposite Randolph Scott in Go Mae West, Young Man, adapting Lawrence Riley's Broadway hit Personal Appearance.

Mae West next starred in Every Day's a Holiday for Paramount before their association ended.

Mae West was included in the "Box Office Poison" list published by the Independent Theatre Owners Association.

Mae West only agreed to star as a personal favor to director Gregory Ratoff.

The result was poorly received, and Mae West later cited her frustration with censorship as a key reason for her departure from filmmaking.

On December 12,1937, Mae West appeared in two separate sketches on ventriloquist Edgar Bergen's radio show The Chase and Sanborn Hour.

Mae West did not return to radio until January 1950, when she appeared on an episode of The Chesterfield Supper Club, hosted by Perry Como.

Mae West subsequently continued to perform in venues such as Lou Walters's The Latin Quarter, Broadway, and London.

Mae West revived her 1928 play Diamond Lil in 1949, returning it to Broadway.

Mae West was later offered additional film roles, including Vera Simpson opposite Frank Sinatra in the 1957 musical Pal Joey, which she declined, with the part going to Rita Hayworth.

Mae West turned down a role in Roustabout alongside Elvis Presley, which was played by Barbara Stanwyck.

Mae West rejected offers from Federico Fellini to appear in both Juliet of the Spirits and Satyricon.

On March 26,1958, Mae West appeared at the live televised Academy Awards and performed the song "Baby, It's Cold Outside" with Rock Hudson, which received a standing ovation.

Mae West made several television appearances to promote the book, including on The Dean Martin Variety Show in 1959 and The Red Skelton Show in 1960.

Mae West recorded a lengthy interview for Person to Person with Charles Collingwood in 1959, which was ultimately not broadcast; CBS executives reportedly felt viewers were not prepared to see a nude marble statue of West that appeared in the segment.

Mae West's recording career began in the early 1930s with releases of songs from her films on 78 rpm records.

Mae West recorded novelty songs such as "Santa, Come Up to See Me", featured on the album Wild Christmas, which was later reissued in 1980 as Mae in December.

In 1966, she released the rock-and-roll album Way Out Mae West, followed in 1972 by Great Balls of Fire, which included covers of songs by The Doors and tracks written by English songwriter-producer Ian Whitcomb.

Mae West's likeness was used on the front cover of the Beatles' 1967 album Sgt.

Mae West managed her own stage acts and invested in real estate, including property in Van Nuys, Los Angeles.

Mae West was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1560 Vine Street for her work in film and was later inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame for her contributions to stage performance.

Mae West was known for her distinctive appearance, often characterized by figure-hugging, floor-length gowns with low necklines.

Mae West was married on April 11,1911, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Frank Szatkus, whose stage name was Frank Wallace, a fellow vaudevillian whom she met in 1909.

Mae West kept the marriage a secret, but a filing clerk discovered the certificate in 1935 and alerted the press.

At first, Mae West denied the marriage but admitted it in July 1937 in response to a legal interrogatory.

Mae West obtained a divorce on July 21,1942, during which Wallace withdrew his request for separate maintenance, and West testified that they had lived together for only "several weeks".

In 1913, Mae West met Guido Deiro, an Italian-born vaudeville star and accordionist.

In 1916, Mae West began a relationship with James Timony, an attorney and her manager.

Mae West was romantically linked to Owney Madden, owner of the Cotton Club.

Mae West remained close to her family throughout her life and was especially affected by her mother's death in 1930.

Mae West moved into the penthouse at The Ravenswood in Hollywood that year, remaining there until her death.

Mae West later brought her father, sister, and brother to Hollywood and supported them.

Mae West had a relationship with boxer Gorilla Jones.

Mae West was 30 years her junior and remained with her until her death.