Mae West

First performed at church functions as a 5-year-old and was enrolled in dance school at age 7. By 13, she was performing professionally in vaudeville. Secretly married fellow entertainer Frank Wallace at 17 but soon after, distanced herself from the relationship. She filed for divorce 30 years later when a reporter uncovered the marriage.  Was arrested in 1927 on obscenity charges for the Broadway production of Sex, which she wrote, directed and starred in. Eight months later she was arrested… Show more again for the same reasons during the run of  The Pleasure Man . Her fondness for diamonds sparked the creation of a successful show centering on her most memorable character, Diamond Lil. Signed on with Paramount Pictures in 1932 for her first feature film, Night After Night . Followed that with the box-office smashes She Done Him Wrong  and I'm No Angel, both featuring, at her suggestion, Cary Grant. Though she's often associated with W.C. Fields, My Little Chickadee (1940) is the only film they made together. Known for many quips and double entendres, among them, "Is that a pistol in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?" Published her autobiography, Goodness Had Nothing to Do With It,  in 1959. After a 26-year break from acting, she returned to acting in Myra Breckinridge (1970); at age 85, she starred in Sextette (1978). ~ Rovi

Show less