Gene Tierney

In 1944 she appeared in what became her most famous role, that of the murder victim and title character in Laura. She also starred in her own Las Vegas stage show surrounded by muscle men and singing to delighted crowds. Her popularity began to peak with her role in 1943's Heaven Can Wait. Among her stage performances was the title role in Catherine Was Great on Broadway. The following year she was extremely busy, making The Shanghai Gesture, Sundown, Tobacco Road and Belle Starr. She remained active during the ensuing years. Her first movie was in 1940 in Hudson's Bay, and later that year, she starred in The Return of Frank James. West appeared in her last movie during the studio age with The Heat's On (1943) for Columbia.

By 1939, she was on Broadway; her wealthy father set up a corporation to help fund her pursuit of an acting career. She denied ever marrying him, and records showed she had never lived with him, but she still found it necessary to seek a legal divorce. Born in Brooklyn, New York and schooled in Switzerland, she was acclaimed as one of the beauties of her day. She was apparently married April 11, 1911 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Frank Wallace, a fellow Vaudevillian, who in 1942 showed up with a marriage certificate. Gene Eliza Tierney (November 19, 1920 - November 6, 1991) was an American film actress. During World War II, allied soldiers called their inflatable life jackets "Mae Wests" from its resemblance to her curvaceous torso. Fields in My Little Chickadee at Universal.

Then, in 1940 she starred opposite W.C. West starred in eight movies for Paramount before their association came to an end. Her answer was to increase the double-entendre, saying phrases with risqué connotations that could also be taken to mean something else. In 1934, the Hays Office emerged to enforce censorship of movies and her scripts began to be heavily edited.

The movie was a huge success and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. She brought Diamond Lil, now Lady Lou, to the screen in She Done Him Wrong (1933), personally selecting Cary Grant for the male lead, a role that made him a star. In her first scene, a coat check girl exclaimed, "Goodness, what lovely diamonds." West became an instant sensation when she replied, "Goodness had nothing to do with it, dearie.". At first, she did not like her small role in Night After Night, but was appeased when she was allowed to rewrite her lines.

She maintained a residence there for the rest of her life. Upon arrival, she moved into an apartment in the Ravenswood at 570 North Rossmore Avenue, not far from the movie studio on Melrose Avenue. She signed and went to Hollywood to appear in the motion picture Night After Night starring George Raft. In 1932, she was offered a contract by Paramount Pictures.

It enjoyed an enduring popularity and West would successfully revive it many times through the course of her career. The show struck box-office gold and heralded the brazen blonde to new heights of fame. For her next adventure into theatre she had a Broadway hit, Diamond Lil (1928), about a racy, easygoing lady of the 1890s. If they did not get shut down for indecency, they closed because of slow ticket sales.

Her productions were plagued by controversy and other problems, however. She continued to write plays, including The Wicked Age, Pleasure Man and The Constant Sinner. It was a success, but audiences had to go to New Jersey to see it because it was banned from Broadway. Her second play was about homosexuality and was titled The Drag.

When she regained her freedom she set to work on her next creative effort. You're hitting a woman.". She regarded the freedom to talk about sex as a basic human rights issue; she was also an early advocate of gay rights, pleading against police brutality against homosexuals by saying "A homosexual is a woman's soul in a man's body. She served eight days, with two days off for good behavior.

While incarcerated on Welfare Island, she was allowed to wear her silk panties instead of the scratchy prison issue. She was prosecuted on morals charges and, on April 19, 1927, was sentenced to ten days in jail for public obscenity. The theatre was raided and West was arrested along with everyone else in the cast. The notorious production did not go over well with city officials, however.

Though critics hated the show, ticket sales were good. Her first starring role on Broadway was in a play titled Sex, which was also written, produced and directed by West. Eventually, she started writing her own risqué plays using the pen name Jane Mast. By the time she was twelve she was doing burlesque under the name "The Baby Vamp." Though she had not yet grown into her generous curves, the slinky, dark-haired Mae was already raising eyebrows with a lascivious "shimmy" dance.

Mae West started performing in vaudeville at the age of five. Her younger sister and brother were Mildred West, called Beverly, and John Edwin West. She was born Mary Jane West in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of John Patrick West and Matilda Delker Doelger. Mae West (August 17, 1893–November 22, 1980) was an American actress.

Marlo Manners. Sextette (1978) (Crown International Pictures) .. Leticia Van Allen. Myra Breckinridge (1970) (20th Century Fox) ..

Fay Lawrence. The Heat's On (1943) (Columbia) .. Flower Belle Lee. My Little Chickadee (1940) (Universal) ..

Peaches O'Day. Every Day's A Holiday (1938) (Paramount) .. Mavis Arden. Go West, Young Man (1936) (Paramount) ..

The Frisco Doll (Rose Carlton). Klondike Annie (1936) (Paramount) .. Cleo Bordon. Goin' To Town (1935) (Paramount) ..

Ruby Carter. Belle Of The Nineties (1934) (Paramount) .. Tira. I'm No Angel (1933) (Paramount) ..

Lady Lou. She Done Him Wrong (1933) (Paramount) .. Maudie Triplett. Night After Night (1932) (Paramount) ..