NAME: Mae West
BORN: 17/08/1893
BIRTH PLACE: New York, USA
DIED: 22/11/1980


BIOGRAPHY

Mae West was the daughter of a boxer and a corset model, who became a vaudevillian at the age of fourteen. At thirty three, in 1926, she wrote, produced and directed a Broadway show called 'Sex', and landed in jail on obscenity charges. Her next play, ,Drag', was banned on Broadway because it dealt with homosexuality.

After wowing Broadway in 'Diamond Lil', she signed with Paramount in 1932 and moved to Hollywood. Her risque 1930s comedies were ground-breaking, in terms of both sexual content and roles for women.

Her films included 'Night After Night' and 'She Done Him Wrong', which was the film version of 'Diamond Lil', and broke all existing box-office records, credited with saving Paramount from having to sell out to its rival, MGM.

Some people claim the Hays censorship code of 1934 was brought about almost singlehandedly by Mae West. If so, she gave Hays a run for his money in 'I'm No Angel', 'Belle Of The Nineties', and and 'Klondike Annie'.

Despite her perseverance, however, she was bucking a huge political and movie-making machine by going up against Hays. Her roles were made tamer, leading her to abandon Hollywood. Of the nine movies she made before her retreat, she shared writer's credit for five of them.

West spent the rest of her life producing, writing, and starring in plays and musical revues. She did not return to the silver screen for decades, finally making a brief appearance in 'Myra Brenkenridge' in 1970. Once again, she enjoyed total creative control over her part. Her last film was released in 1978, 'Sextette', when she was eighty five years old.

But by then, she was suffering from memory loss, which impaired her famous delivery and caused her dialogue to seem stilted.

Mae West died on 22nd November 1980.