Betty Lee's Marie Dressler: The Unlikeliest Star PDF

" She used to be homely, obese, and over the hill, yet there has been a time while Marie Dressler outdrew such cinema intercourse symbols as Garbo, Dietrich, and Harlow. To motion picture audiences pain the hardships of the nice melancholy, she was once Everywoman, and within the early Thirties her fascinating mix of pathos and comedy packed motion picture theaters in all places. within the early days of the century, Dressler was once continuously within the headlines. She took up the reason for the "ponies" within the refrain strains, incomes them higher pay and merits. She performed in productions prepared to elevate cash for the women's suffrage circulation. and through international battle I she claimed she offered extra liberty bonds than the other person within the usa. Dressler used to be an astute observer of public temper and flavor. while she used to be fortunate adequate to discover paintings within the newly minted Hollywood talkies, she grabbed the brass ring with fierce enthusiasm, even making 3 motion pictures within the 12 months prior to her loss of life, while she was once so unwell she needed to leisure among scenes on a settee simply out of digicam diversity. The two-hundred-pound actress's awesome level presence captivated audiences although her roles weren't Hollywood beauties. She performed difficult, useful characters similar to the previous wharf rat in Anna Christie (1930), the waterfront innkeeper in Min and invoice (1931) -- for which she received the Academy Award for top actress -- the getting older housekeeper in Emma (1932), and the name position in Tugboat Annie (1933). She spoke truthfully to her audiences, and humans within the comforting darkness of the Depression-era motion picture theaters embraced her as one among themselves.