Marie Prevost

After having performed in 105 films Marie Prevost has now been honored with a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6201 Hollywood Blvd. Questel died from Alzheimer's Disease. Her body was not discovered for days, and the police report stated that her pet dachshund "had chewed up her arms and legs in a futile attempt to awaken her." Her pauper's burial place is unknown. 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). At the age of 38, almost penniless, and living alone in a rundown apartment house, Marie Prevost died of alcoholism and malnutrition. She based her vocal style on the actress ZaSu Pitts ultimately playing the role for more than twenty years. The downward spiral became greatly aggravated when her weight problems forced her into repeated crash dieting in order to keep whatever bit part a movie studio offered. From the mid 1930s Questel also provided the voice for Olive Oyl in the Popeye animated shorts.

By 1934, she had no work at all and her financial situation deteriorated dramatically. During the 1930s she released a recording of "On The Good Ship Lollypop" which sold more than 2 million copies. As a result of all this, her income declined and her growing dependency on alcohol added to her weight problems. From 1930 until 1939 Questel provided the voice of Betty Boop in more than 150 animated shorts. By the 1930s she was working less and less being offered only secondary parts, frequently in humiliating roles as a cheap-talking floozy. Questel's "Boop-a-doop" routine was exactly what Fleischer had been looking for. However, her depression caused her to binge on food resulting in significant weight gain. She was seen by Max Fleischer who was looking for an actress to provide the voice for his Betty Boop character.

She tried to get past her personal torment by burying herself in her work, becoming one of the busiest actresses of the day, starring in numerous roles as the temptingly beautiful seductress who in the end was always the honorable heroine. Born in New York, New York, Questel won a talent contest at the age of 17, and began performing on vaudeville. Devastated, the loss of her only remaining parent led to an addiction to alcohol and to Marie Prevost's own ultimate destruction. Mae Questel (September 13, 1908 - January 4, 1998) was an American actress. While her mother was traveling in Florida with actress Vera Steadman and another Canadian friend, Hollywood studio owner, Al Christie, an automobile accident took her mother's life. But, just when her career was blossoming, tragedy struck her family again in 1926.

This impressive performance, praised by the New York Times, resulted in Lubitsch casting her in Three Women in 1924 and in Kiss Me Again the following year. Of her performance as the beautiful seductress, Ernst Lubitsch said that she was one of the few actresses in Hollywood who knew how to underplay comedy to achieve the maximum effect. Her performance brought good reviews and director Ernst Lubitsch chose her for a major role opposite Adolphe Menjou in The Marriage Circle. Scott Fitzgerald story, The Beautiful and the Damned.

It was there that she got her first big break appearing in a standout role in the F. At Universal, Marie Prevost was still relegated to light comedies and after making only eight films she left to sign with Warner Brothers in 1922. Placed in numerous minor comedic roles as the sexy, innocent young girl, she worked in several films for Sennett's studio until 1921 when she signed with Universal Studios. Himself from a small town outside Montreal, Mack Sennett dubbed her as the exotic French girl, adding Mary Dunn to his collection of bathing beauties under the stage name of Marie Prevost.

While working as a secretary, the girl applied and obtained an acting job at the Hollywood studio owned by Mack Sennett. Following the early death of her beloved father, she moved with her mother and sister to Los Angeles, California. Born Mary Bickford Dunn in Sarnia, Ontario, she was educated in a Catholic convent school in Montreal, Quebec. Marie Prevost (November 8, 1898 - January 23, 1937) was an actress of the early days of cinema.

Ten Laps To Go - (1937) - (Her final film). Tango - (1936 ). Hands Across the Table - (1935). Keystone Hotel - (1935).

The Eleventh Commandment - (1933). Parole Girl - (1933). Strange Marriage - (1932). Hell Divers - (1931).

Slightly Married - (1932). Reckless Living - (1931). The Good Bad Girl - (1931). The Runaround - (1931).

War Nurse - (1930). Sweethearts on Parade - (1930). Ladies of Leisure - (1930). Party Girl - (1930).

The Sideshow - (1930). The Flying Fool - (1929 ). Godless Girl - (1929). Rush Hour - (1928).

A Blonde for a Night - (1928). The Girl in the Pullman - (1927). Getting Gertie's Garter - (1927). The Rush Hour - (1927).

Getting Gertie's Garter - (1927). Up In Mabel's Room - (1926). Kiss Me Again - (1925). The Marriage Circle - (1924).

Three Women - (1924). The Beautiful and the Damned - (1923). Red Lights - (1922). Her Night of Nights - (1922).

Kissed - (1922). The Crossroads of New York - (1922). Don't Get Personal - (1922). A Parisian Scandal - (1921).

Princess Virtue - (1921). Nobody's Fool - (1921). Love, Honor and Behave - (1920). Down on the Farm - (1920).

When Love is Blind - (1919). Yankee Doodle in Berlin - (1919). The Village Chestnut - (1918). Hide and Seek Detectives - (1918).

His Hidden Purpose - (1918). His Smothered Love - (1918). She Loved Him Plenty - (1918). Her Nature Dance - (1917).

Two Crooks - (1917).