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Why do we love Mae?
She studied dance as a child and by the time she was 14, she was billed as "The Baby Vamp" for her performances on stage. Her films, She Done Him Wrong (1933) and I'm No Angel (1933) were said to be responsible for the Motion Picture Production Code which regulated what content could be shown or said in pictures. A woman way ahead of her time and so much more than the "Dirty Blonde," Mae West was a brilliant writer best known for her ability to turn a seemingly innocent phrase into a sexual innuendo, skillfully skewering the sexual mores of her time. One of the most quoted stars of the silver screen, she crafted a character that is often imitated but never equaled.
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Biography:
Born - August 17, 1893
Brooklyn, New York
Died - November 22, 1980
Hollywood, Calif.
Achievements:
- Wrote several plays, including SEX (1926), which landed her in jail on obscenity charges.
- Had a huge success on Broadway in 1928 with the play Diamond Lil.
- Her film She Done Him Wrong (based on her play, Diamond Lil) was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar in 1933.
- In 1935 she was the highest-paid woman in America.
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In her own words -- The trend setter:
"More people saw me than saw Napoleon, Lincoln and Cleopatra. I was better known than Einstein and Picasso. ... I changed the fashion of two continents. The style of the Gay Nineties became the rage ... women were trying to walk and talk like me. Women became more
sex-conscious - sex was out in the open and fun. |
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