Maria Ouspenskaya

Ouspenskaya died from a stroke several days after receiving severe burns in a house fire, which she had caused by falling asleep while smoking a cigarette. Questel died from Alzheimer's Disease. Despite her two Academy Award nominations her later films were inferior productions such as Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943) and Tarzan and the Amazons (1945). She made her first on-screen appearance in the 1960s, and was widely seen as one of Fanny Brice's card-playing friends in Funny Girl (1968), and also appeared in Zelig, New York Stories (1985) and her final film appearance in Christmas Vacation (1989). She provided the voice for her old character Betty Boop who made a cameo appearance in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988). Her other successes included The Rains Came (1939), Waterloo Bridge (1940), The Mortal Storm (1940), and Kings Row (1942). She based her vocal style on the actress ZaSu Pitts ultimately playing the role for more than twenty years. She received a second nomination in 1939 for her role in Love Affair. From the mid 1930s Questel also provided the voice for Olive Oyl in the Popeye animated shorts.

Her first Hollywood role, in Dodsworth (1936) brought her a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. During the 1930s she released a recording of "On The Good Ship Lollypop" which sold more than 2 million copies. Although she had appeared in a few Russian silent films many years earlier, Ouspenskaya had avoided making a career in film, until the financial hardship of her school forced her to consider the possibilities of film to help her build her finances. From 1930 until 1939 Questel provided the voice of Betty Boop in more than 150 animated shorts. One of Ouspenskaya's students at the school during this period was the then unknown teenager, Anne Baxter. Questel's "Boop-a-doop" routine was exactly what Fleischer had been looking for. She performed regularly on Broadway over the next decade, and in 1929 she founded the School of Dramatic Art in New York. She was seen by Max Fleischer who was looking for an actress to provide the voice for his Betty Boop character.

The Moscow Art Theatre travelled widely throughout Europe and when it arrived in New York in 1922 she decided to remain. Born in New York, New York, Questel won a talent contest at the age of 17, and began performing on vaudeville. A member of the Moscow Art Theatre, she was directed by Konstantin Stanislavski, and for the remainder of her life advocated and taught his method. Mae Questel (September 13, 1908 - January 4, 1998) was an American actress. Born in Tula, Russia, Ouspenskaya studied singing in Warsaw and acting in Moscow and performed extensively in Russian theater. Maria Ouspenskaya (July 29, 1876 - December 3, 1949) was a Russian born actress who achieved success as an stage actress as a young woman in Russia, and as an elderly woman in Hollywood films.