Marie Dressler

MAIN

Recommend (0)

•

Comments (0)

BIRTHDAY

November 09, 1869

Coburg, Ontario, Canada

DIED

July 28, 1934

RECENT CREDITS

That's Entertainment! III (FILM) May. 6, 1994

Wisecracks (FILM) Sep. 29, 1993

Dinner at Eight (FILM) Jan. 1, 1933

Anna Christie (FILM) Jan. 1, 1930

Tillie's Punctured Romance (FILM) Jan. 1, 1914

View all Marie Dressler Credits

BIOGRAPHY

Expand Full Bio

Bulky, homely comedienne with large eyes and a bulldog expression, a lovable, popular vaudeville and stage star long before she made her film debut in Mack Sennett's screen version of her stage hit "Tillie's Punctured Romance" (1914), co-starring Charles Chaplin. Dressler appeared sporadically in silent films thereafter but did not have significant success. Dressler gained film stardom and immense popularity, however, with several commanding yet warm performances in the early 1930s as both understanding, faded dowagers ("Dinner at Eight" 1933, "Emma" 1932) and slovenly but good-hearted proletarian types ("Tugboat Annie" 1933). Her partner in the latter was her most frequent male co-star, Wallace Beery, with whom she could easily keep up in the roughhousing department, Dressler was also paired with neurasthenic comedian Polly Moran for knockabout antics in films including "Caught Short" (1930), "Reducing" (1931) and "Prosperity" (1932). She won an Oscar as a sacrificing waterfront hanger-on in "Min and Bill" (1930) opposite Beery, and motion pictures exhibitors voted her Hollywood's most popular star in both 1932 and 1933. The unlikely yet uniquely endearing 65 year-old movie star, though, succumbed to cancer in 1934.

Collapse Full Bio