Career Highlights

Actor Credits



Literature/Publicity

Books Authored

Goodness Had Nothing to Do with It [1959]
Biography (Print)

Mae West: An Icon in Black and White (Jill Watts) [2003]

Becoming Mae West (Emily Worth Leider) [2000]

Mae West: Empress of Sex (Maurice Leonard) [1992]
 

Mae West Biography

Mae West was an American screen legend and erotic icon famous for her voluptuous figure, sexy innuendos, and irrepressible wit. A free thinking and independent woman far ahead of her time, West expressed herself boldly, both sexually and creatively. She famously surrounded herself with handsome muscle men, both onscreen and off, and accrued a long list of famous and powerful lovers. Notably, West was one of the first female American playwrights, and actresses, to demand and receive creative control over her work. West’s creative expression encompassed nearly every facet of the entertainment spectrum including theatre and screenwriting, film, radio, television, and audio recording. And with a career spanning some 80+ years, she holds the further distinction of having performed both vaudeville and rock and roll. As a cultural icon she is immortalized by imitators, biographers, and even an assortment of snacks and devices bearing her name. Her trademark phrases have been translated into numerous languages, including Mandarin, Mongolian, Norwegian, and Lithuanian.

She was born Mary Jane West on August 17, 1893 in Brooklyn, New York. Her father, the bare knuckles prizefighter Battlin’ Jack West, was a native New Yorker from the lower east side. A heavy smoker and drinker, he turned to violence when thwarted. Her mother, "Tillie", was a former corset and fashion model, and frustrated actress, who had immigrated to America from Germany with her parents. Curiously, although Mae West always claimed that Tillie was Jewish, records show that the family listed their religion as Lutheran upon arrival in America. West’s paternal grandmother had also immigrated as a child -- an Irish Catholic, she married Mae’s paternal grandfather, John Edwin, while only 12 years old. Edwin’s own ancestry remains enigmatic. But according to West biographer Jill Watts, he may have been a light-skinned African American who passed for white.

Arising from this milieu of adversity, Mae learned early on that her unusual talent and good looks were an advantage that just might leverage her into a better life – if she played it smart. Encouraged by her mother, she used her sexuality to build alliances with, or dominate, nearly every man who crossed her path. And she learned to view marriage as a double edged institution – one that offered legal protection and social acceptance, but which robbed women of their independence and sexual freedom. According to most sources she took refuge in marriage just once, with fellow actor and lover Frank Wallace. When she tired of Wallace, and discovered she was not pregnant as feared, she ended the relationship. She neglected to file for divorce however, and Wallace showed up years later, in 1937, with marriage certificate in hand to receive a share of West’s ample earnings. She may have been simultaneously married to musician Guido Deiro, divorcing him in 1920. West allegedly used the alias Catherine Mae Belle West when marrying Deiro to avoid bigamy charges.

While West’s attitudes toward men were heavily influenced by her mother so was her choice of career. Tillie West had once longed to follow in the footsteps of idol Lillian Russell, even having her portrait painted in such way as to highlight a certain resemblance. She started Mae off in show business as early as age 5, according to some reports, and by age 7 Mae had won the gold medal in a talent show, with Tillie billing her as "Baby Mae". By age 12 she was ap

Biography Credit: www.nndb.com/people/828/000031735/
 

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Trivia

Biography

Distinctive Features
her hour glass figure
Measurements
Bust: 38" -  Waist: 4-"  Hips: 38"
Friends and Family
John Edwin West [Brother] :: Katie [Sister] :: Mildred Katharina West [Sister] :: Matilda Decker Doelger [Mother] :: John West [Father] (a featherweight prizefighter)

Trivia and Quotes

Quotes
  • "Few men know how to kiss well. Fortunately, I`ve always had time to teach them."
  • "I always save one boyfriend for a rainy day...and another in case it doesn`t rain."
  • "I freely chose the kind of life I led because I was convinced that a woman has as much right as a man to live the way she does if she does no actual harm to society."
  • "I generally avoid temptation unless I can`t resist it."
  • "Men are easy to get but hard to keep."
  • "Sex is an emotion in motion."
  • "The man I don`t like doesn`t exist."
  • "To err is human, but it feels divine."
  • "Why don`t you come sometime and see me? I`m home every evening...Come up, and I`ll tell your fortune."
  • "A hard man is good to find."
  • "Good girls go to heaven. Bad girls go everywhere else".
  • "I believe in censorship. After all, I made a fortune out of it."
  • "Is that a gun in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?"
  • "It`s better to be looked over, than overlooked."
  • "It`s not the man in your life that counts. It`s the life in your man."
  • "Marriage is a great institution. I`m not ready for an institution."
  • "Ten men waiting for me at the door? Send one of them home, I`m tired."
  • "When I`m good, I`m very good. But when I`m bad, I`m better."
  • "When women go wrong, men go right after them!"
    Trivia
  • Died apparently of natural causes in the wake of a mild stroke she suffered three months prior that left her speech impaired. Also suffered from diabetes the last 15 years of her life.
  • Her parents converted to Protestantism, although her mother was, by heritage, a Jewish Bavarian-German and her father was born Irish-Catholic.
  • Once when she reached New Haven with a new risqué act, the management discharged Miss West. Disappointed Yale students rioted and wrecked the theater.
  • One of the first women to consistently write the movies she starred in.
  • Turned down a role in Elvis Presley film Roustabout (1964) which went to Barbara Stanwyck.
  • Was not a smoker or a drinker.
  • According to actor Tony Curtis, her famous walk originated while beginning her career as a stage actress. Special six-inch platforms were attached to her shoes to increase the height of her stage presence. Her walk literally was "one foot at a time."
  • Appears on sleeve of The Beatles "Sgt Pepper`s Lonely Hearts Club Band". West at first declined to be pictured on the cover ("What would I be doing in a lonely hearts club?!"), but reconsidered when the Beatles sent her a handwritten personal request.
  • At one point, her chauffeur was Jerry Orbach (who is best known for playing Detective Lennie Briscoe on all four "Law & Order" series and "Homicide: Life on the Street" (1993)).
  • Credited with single-handedly saving debt-ridden Paramount from bankruptcy in the early 1930s.
  • During World War II, Navy and Army pilots and crewman in the Pacific, named their inflatable life vests after Mae West supposedly because of her well-endowed attributes. The term "Mae West" for a life-vest continues to this day.
  • Former Beatle Ringo Starr appeared with West in Sextette (1978). He was unpleasantly surprised at first, at all the attention given her on the set (usually reserved for pop stars like The Beatles), but came to admire West during the shoot, and praised her afterwards.
  • Is sometimes credited with originating the Shimmy (a once-popular dance).
  • She was famous for her morning enemas, which she claimed made her skin like silk and left her "smelling sweet at both ends". On the set of her last film Sextette (1978), co-star Tony Curtis claimed that she was given an enema after being made up, at approximately 11 AM in the morning, as the last step of her preparations before going before the camera.
  • She was with George Raft in both her first (Night After Night (1932)) and last (Sextette (1978)) film.
  • Was banned from NBC radio after a guest appearance in 1937 with Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy loaded with flirtation and double-entendres. She returned to NBC radio as a guest on the Perry Como show in 1949.
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