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Marie Dressler:

the unlikeliest star
Front Cover
0 Reviews
University Press of Kentucky, 1997 - Biography & Autobiography - 318 pages

" She was homely, overweight, and over the hill, but there was a time when Marie Dressler outdrew such cinema sex symbols as Garbo, Dietrich, and Harlow. To movie audiences suffering the hardships of the Great Depression, she was Everywoman, and in the early 1930s her charming mixture of pathos and comedy packed movie theaters everywhere. In the early days of the century, Dressler was constantly in the headlines. She took up the cause of the "ponies" in the chorus lines, earning them better pay and benefits. She played in productions organized to raise money for the women's suffrage movement. And during World War I she claimed she sold more liberty bonds than any other individual in the United States. Dressler was an astute observer of public mood and taste. When she was lucky enough to find work in the newly minted Hollywood talkies, she grabbed the brass ring with fierce enthusiasm, even making three films in the year before her death, when she was so sick she had to rest between scenes on a sofa just out of camera range. The two-hundred-pound actress's remarkable stage presence captivated audiences even though her roles were not Hollywood beauties. She played tough, practical characters such as the old wharf rat in Anna Christie (1930), the waterfront innkeeper in Min and Bill (1931) -- for which she won the Academy Award for best actress -- the aging housekeeper in Emma (1932), and the title role in Tugboat Annie (1933). She spoke honestly to her audiences, and troubled people in the comforting darkness of the Depression-era movie theaters embraced her as one of themselves.

  

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Selected pages

Contents

Birthday Wishes
1
First Taste of Drama
4
On the Road
13
Champion of the Underdog
23
Entrepreneurial Spirit
37
Theatrical Aristocrat
49
Sunny Jim
60
The Working Girl
73
Queen Marie
169
The Little Doctor
183
The Treatment
197
Prosperity
210
Gods Exhibit A to the World
222
Mayers Marathon
235
And to All Goodnight
246
Flutter of Doubt
257

The Height of Her Power
86
Marie Dresslers Merry Gambol
96
Mixups and Movies
109
War Work
121
Striking for the Ponies
133
Maries Nightmare
145
Door to the Future
157
Marie Dressler Filmography
270
Notes
275
Bibliography
300
Acknowledgments
304
Index
305
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Marie Dressler: the unlikeliest star
Marie Dressler: the unlikeliest star
Betty Lee
Snippet view - 1997

Common terms and phrases

actors actress Angeles Anna Christie appeared asked audience autobiography Bill Boss Broadway called cast Chaplin Charles chorus City Claire Dubrey Cobourg comedy contract dance decided Dinner at Eight dollars a week Dressler and Dalton Dressler never Dubrey Dubrey's Emma enjoyed Equity eventually fact fans film Frances Marion Garbo George Girl Glover Hollywood insisted Irving Thalberg Jim Dalton Joe Weber knew Koerber Lady later Lew Fields Lionel Barrymore Mamie Cox manager Marie Dressler Marie's Mayer memoir Merry Gambol MGM's Miss Dressler motion picture movie night Norma Shearer opera performance play Polly Moran producer remembered reported role script Sennett serum Shubert stage star story studio Sunny Jim tell Thalberg theatre theatrical thousand dollars Tillie Tillie's Nightmare Tillie's Punctured Romance tion tour Tugboat Annie vaudeville Walker Wallace Beery wanted Weber and Fields woman wrote York young

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From Google Scholar

Queen of the Movies: Marie Dressler and" Politics"
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References from web pages

Marie Dressler
For more on Marie Dressler, we recommend the book MARIE DRESSLER: THE UNLIKELIEST STAR by Betty Lee, which can be found at this link to Amazon.com ...
silentladies.com/ PDressler.html

All about Oscar
Additional Reading. Betty Lee, Marie Dressler: The Unlikeliest Star (1997). © 2008 Encyclopędia Britannica, Inc.
www.britannica.com/ oscar/ print?articleId=31186& fullArticle=true& tocId=9031186

Marie Dressler - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
One was entitled: Marie Dressler: The Unlikeliest Star by Ontario resident and writer Betty Lee. The other was by Matthew Kennedy, and is the more ...
en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Marie_Dressler

Page Title
Marie Dressler: The Unlikeliest Star by Betty Lee. Marie Dressler: The Life Story of an Ugly Duckling by Marie Dressler. Jimmy Durante: Schnozzola by Gene ...
vaudeville.org/ index_files/ Page1508.htm

Marie Dresler
W 1990 roku wydane zostały dwie publikacje poświęcone życiu i karierze aktorki: "Marie Dressler: The Unlikeliest Star" autorstwa Betty Lee i druga bardziej ...
www.polonialife.ca/ kobiety_mdresler.htm

Dr Henry William Frauenthal - Titanic Biographies - Encyclopedia ...
Betty Lee (1997) Marie Dressler, The Unlikeliest Star. University of Kentucky Press. Credits Phillip Gowan, USA Jeffrey Kern, USA Hans J. Wollstein, Denmark ...
www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/ biography/ 121/

CANADA'S DAUGHTERS, AMERICA'S SWEETHEARTS: THE CAREERS OF CANADIAN ...
Marie Dressler: The Unlikeliest Star. Lexington, Kentucky: U of Kentucky P, 1997. Leslie, Amy. Some Players. qtd in William C. Young, Famous Actors and ...
www.lib.unb.ca/ Texts/ TRIC/ bin/ get.cgi?directory=Vol20_2/ & filename=Sperdakos.html

Bio
entitled: Marie Dressler: The Unlikeliest Star by Ontario resident and writer Betty Lee. The other was by Matthew Kennedy, and is the more ...
www.mariedressler.com/ Bio.html

HKFA
Marie Dressler the unlikeliest star /. Call #: 927.9143 LEE. Subjects, Dressler, Marie, 1869-1934. Actors -- United States -- Biography. ...
ipac.hkfa.lcsd.gov.hk/ ipac20/ ipac.jsp?session=1206V1R1043G3.584& profile=hkfa& uri=link=3100026@!65367@!3100024@!31000...

Marie Dressler
Marie Dressler [ Home ] [ Alexis Smith ] [ Beatrice Lillie ] [ Blair Brown ] [ Bruce mcculloch ] [ Carole Laure ] [ Carrie-Anne Moss ] [ Catherine O'Hara ...
canadianactors.info/ marie_dressler.htm

Bibliographic information

QR code for Marie Dressler
TitleMarie Dressler: the unlikeliest star
AuthorBetty Lee
Editionillustrated
PublisherUniversity Press of Kentucky, 1997
ISBN0813126703, 9780813126708
Length318 pages
Subjects ›  › 

Biography & Autobiography / Entertainment & Performing Arts
Performing Arts / Film & Video / History & Criticism
  
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