Marie Dressler

Marie Dressler

Birthday: 1868-11-09

Place of Birth: Cobourg, Ontario, Canada

Biography: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Marie Dressler (born Leila Marie Koerber, November 9, 1868 – July 28, 1934) was a Canadian-American stage and screen actress, comedian, and early silent film and Depression-era film star. Successful on stage in vaudeville and comic operas, she was also successful in film. Leaving home at the age of 14, Dressler built a career on stage in traveling theatre troupes, where she learned to appreciate her talent in making people laugh. In 1892 she started a career on Broadway that lasted into the 1920s, performing comedic roles that allowed her to improvise to get laughs. From one of her successful Broadway roles, she played the titular role in the first full-length screen comedy, Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914), opposite Charlie Chaplin and Mabel Normand. She made several shorts, but mostly worked in New York City on stage. Her career declined in the 1920s. In 1927, Dressler returned to films at the age of 59 and experienced a remarkable string of successes. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1930–31 for Min and Bill and was named the top film star for 1932 and 1933. Marie Dressler died of cancer in 1934.

Movies

Tillie's Punctured Romance
Tillie's Punctured Romance

A womanizing city man meets Tillie in the country. When he sees that her father has a very large ban...

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The Hollywood Revue of 1929
The Hollywood Revue of 1929

An all-star revue featuring MGM contract players....

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Anna Christie
Anna Christie

Old sailor Chris Christofferson eagerly awaits the arrival of his grown daughter Anna, whom he sent ...

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Dinner at Eight
Dinner at Eight

An ambitious New York socialite plans an extravagant dinner party as her businessman husband, Oliver...

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The Patsy
The Patsy

An awkward teenager hopelessly in love with her older sister's boyfriend tries to make him notice he...

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Min and Bill
Min and Bill

Min, the owner of a dockside hotel, is forced to make difficult decisions about the future of Nancy,...

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Tugboat Annie
Tugboat Annie

Tugboat, the Narcissus, is owned and captained by Annie Brennan, and among her crew are her alcoholi...

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The Divine Lady
The Divine Lady

Lady Hamilton's love affair with Admiral Horatio Nelson rocks the British Empire....

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Emma
Emma

After decades of raising the motherless Smith children, housekeeper Emma Thatcher is faced with rese...

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Hollywood: The Dream Factory
Hollywood: The Dream Factory

A documentary about the glorious history of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios and its decline leading to t...

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The March of Time
The March of Time

Unfinished pre-Code era film consisting of three sections with past performers from the stage and th...

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Let Us Be Gay
Let Us Be Gay

A housewife divorces her self-centered husband. Years later, she attends a party where her ex is pur...

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The Vagabond Lover
The Vagabond Lover

A zany musical about an amateur musician in search of work who impersonates a big band leader....

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Chasing Rainbows
Chasing Rainbows

The road-show troupe of a top Broadway show go cross-country while taking the audience along on the ...

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Politics
Politics

A widow's decision to run for mayor kicks off a battle of the sexes in a small town....

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One Romantic Night
One Romantic Night

A princess is forced to choose between a charming tutor and a rakish prince....

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The Girl Said No
The Girl Said No

A comedy romance in which breezy Haines, as a young lady killer, tries to capture the heart of Hyams...

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Tillie Wakes Up
Tillie Wakes Up

Tillie and her neighbor Mr. Pipkins are both distraught over their respective marriages. One day, th...

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Copyright Comedies and More
Copyright Comedies and More

A compilation of thirteen rare silent films digitized by the Library of Congress, selected for the 2...

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Screen Snapshots (Series 22, No. 10)
Screen Snapshots (Series 22, No. 10)

The edition of Screen Snapshots celebrates 25 years of production. It looks at the content of editio...

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Screen Snapshots (Series 25, No. 1): 25th Anniversary
Screen Snapshots (Series 25, No. 1): 25th Anniversary

A look back at 25 years of Columbia's series of newsreels chronicling the film industry and the live...

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Reducing
Reducing

Culture shock bombards a woman and her family when they leave their hick town to help her sister out...

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Prosperity
Prosperity

Longtime friends become feuding mothers-in-law when their children marry....

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The Christmas Party
The Christmas Party

In this holiday short, Jackie Cooper wants to throw a Christmas party for his friends on his footbal...

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The Joy Girl
The Joy Girl

Though she loves one man, an ambitious Palm Beach girl marries another, whom she thinks is rich. He ...

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Caught Short
Caught Short

Landladies Polly Smith and Marie Jones, who operate boardinghouses on the same side of the street, a...

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Tillie's Tomato Surprise
Tillie's Tomato Surprise

Tillie Todd gifts her wealthy Aunt Sally a dime-store tomato pincushion, falsely claiming it’s handm...

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Going Hollywood
Going Hollywood

The film tells the story of Sylvia, a French teacher at an all-girl school, who wants to find love. ...

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Broadway to Hollywood
Broadway to Hollywood

In this through-the-years saga about a show business family, the fame of husband and wife vaudeville...

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Bringing Up Father
Bringing Up Father

The wealthy Jiggs is tired of being left out of the swanky parties thrown by his social-climbing wif...

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Christopher Bean
Christopher Bean

When the painter Christopher Bean dies, some unscrupulous art dealers try to get several of his pain...

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That's Entertainment! III
That's Entertainment! III

Some of MGM'S musical stars review the studios history of musicals. From The Hollywood Revue of 1929...

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Cavalcade of the Academy Awards
Cavalcade of the Academy Awards

This 1940 presentation features highlights of earlier (1928 onward) Oscar ceremonies including Shirl...

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Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?

Period music, film clips and newsreel footage combined into a visual exploration of the American ent...

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That's Entertainment, Part II
That's Entertainment, Part II

Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire present more golden moments from the MGM film library, this time includi...

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Dangerous Females
Dangerous Females

Roommates panic and plan when they hear a radio report of a murderer loose in their neighborhood....

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Breakfast at Sunrise
Breakfast at Sunrise

While plotting together to win back their lovers, the rich Madeleine and the penniless Pierre fall f...

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Actors' Fund Field Day
Actors' Fund Field Day

It's more fun than a barrel of monkeys. Regular village "cut-ups" are those actor chaps and actresse...

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The Callahans and the Murphys
The Callahans and the Murphys

The story of two feuding Irish immigrant families living in a tenement....

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The Big Parade of Comedy
The Big Parade of Comedy

Film clips highlight the funniest scenes and brightest comic stars in MGM's history....

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The Scrub Lady
The Scrub Lady

Tilly is a scrub woman in a munitions factory....

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All in Good Fun
All in Good Fun

Bob Monkhouse introduces the golden age of slapstick comedy....

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Showbiz Ballyhoo
Showbiz Ballyhoo

Rare footage reveals how stars were created and motion pictures sold, and how the the advent of soun...

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Anniversary
Anniversary

Here you will see Marie Dressler, Mary Pickford, Norma Shearer, Walter Huston and a host of other Ca...

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