Interesting Facts about Actress Marie Dressler

Search engine giant Google celebrates the 152nd birthday of a Canadian-American stage and screen actress, comedian, and early silent film and Depression-period film star Marie Dressler with Doodle on November 9, 2020.

Here’s a look at the life and work of actress Marie Dressler.

Personal

• Birth name: Leila Marie Koerber
• Birthdate: November 9, 1868
• Birthplace: Cobourg, Ontario, Canada
• Died on: July 28, 1934 (aged 65)
• Death place: Santa Barbara, California, U.S.
• Father name: Alexander Rudolph Koerber
• Mother name: Anna Henderson
• Sun Sign: Scorpio
• Nationality: American, Canadian
• Famous As: Actress
• Notable Films:
  • The Patsy (1928)
  • Anna Christie (1930)
  • Min and Bill (1930)
  • Emma (1932)
  • Dinner at Eight (1933)
• Notable awards:
  • Academy Award for Best Actress in 1931
  • Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960

Interesting Facts about Marie Dressler

• Marie Dressler was born as Leila Marie Koerber on November 9, 1868, in Cobourg, Ontario, Canada, to Alexander Rudolph Koerber and Anna Henderson. Both her parents were musicians. She had an elder sister named Bonita Louise Koerber.

• Youthful Marie Dressler assimilated the passion for music from her parents. She would often go with her dad to St Peter’s Anglican Church where he worked as an organist. On certain days, she would likewise play out the organ and sing.

• Marie Dressler’s family was consistently in a hurry, moving from one community to the next until they, at last, settled in the United States where her dad worked as a piano teacher in Bay City, Michigan, Findlay, Ohio, and Saignaw.

• Marie’s stint with acting started as early as five years old. Her first-since forever performance was that of a Cupid for a church theatrical in Lindsay, Ontario. Following this, she acted in a few amateur productions a lot to the disappointment of her parents who hated her acting career.

• Her earliest introduction to stage and acting had set a significant enormous impact on the mind of Young Marie who planned to become an actor. Seeking after her fantasy, she ventured out from home at 14 years old to join the Nevada Stock Company. It was during this time that she embraced her stage name, Marie Dressler after her dad communicated his issue with her using the family name Koerber.

• Marie Dressler’s time in the Nevada Stock Company was a broad learning period. She cleaned her acting abilities by learning the subtleties of the profession. During her time in Nevada Stock Company, Dressler traveled oftentimes, as the plays that the organization produced were generally for the American Midwest audience.

• Dressler’s debut on stage came as a chorale chorus girl named Cigarette for the play ‘Under Two Flags’. For the following three years, she stayed with the group representing a few plays before she left the equivalent to join the Robert Grau Opera Company.

• After some time with Robert Grau Opera Company, Marie Dressler joined the Starr Opera Company as an individual from the chorus. She twice supplanted ordinary actress and took up lead roles, as Katisha in ‘The Mikado’ and as Princess Flametta for an 1887 production.

• Marie Dressler left Starr Opera Company and quickly rejoined her parents in Saignaw. Notwithstanding, she was called to join Bennett and Moulton Opera Company. For the following three years, she was on the road again, playing roles of light opera for the organization. She stayed with the organization until 1891.

• In 1891, Marie Dressler moved to Chicago where she was projected in two productions, ‘Little Robinson Crusoe’ and ‘The Tar and the Tartar’. She at that point moved to New York City. Next year she made her debut on Broadway at the Fifth Avenue Theater in ‘Waldemar, the Robber of the Rhine’. The show went on for just five weeks.

• Following her presentation, Marie Dressler featured in different plays and shows including ‘Princess Nicotine’, ‘1492 Up To Date’, ‘Girofle-Girofla’, ‘A Stag Party’, and ‘A Hero despite Himself’.

• In 1896, Marie Dressler got her initially featuring role as Flo in ‘The Lady Slaver’ at the Casino Theater on Broadway. The show was hugely victorious. Her jolly expressions, seriocomic responses, and double-takes were praised by the audience.

• Dressler quit the production on its tour to Colorado and rather joined Rich and Harris travel agency. She got back to Broadway in ‘Hotel Topsy Turvy’ and ‘The Man in the Moon’

• In 1900, Marie Dressler formed her own theater group yet it became bankrupt after the disappointment of its debut production, ‘Miss Prinnt’.

• In 1904, Marie Dressler signed an agreement with the Weber and Fields Music Hall management. She played lead roles in plays ‘Higgeldy Piggeldy’ and ‘Twiddle Twaddle’.

• In 1907, Dressler initially met her future spouse James Henry ‘Jim’ Dalton. The two moved to London wherein she performed at the Palace Theater of Varieties. Simultaneously, she endeavored to concoct the modified production of ‘Higgeldy Piggeldy’. The show was a calamity and left Dressler broke for the second time in a row. She came back to New York and reestablished herself as a Broadway actor.

• In 1909 and 1910, Marie Dressler recorded for Edison Records. She next performed for a flop play, ‘Tillie’s Nightmare’ in Albany, Chicago, Kansas City, and Philadelphia. Just before the show opened on Broadway, Dressler modified the show by installing a few changes. ‘Tillie’s Nightmare’ became a tremendous hit and magnum opus of Dressler’s stage career.

• In 1919, Marie Dressler was named President of the then recently formed Chorus Equity Association. After a few flop shows, Dressler got back to the vaudeville stage with the Schubert Organization.

• In 1922, Marie Dressler went on an extended trip to Europe yet failed to sell a film script in that. She got back to New York however battled continually because of an absence of work. After several performances to a great extent, in 1926, Dressler showed up on Broadway as part of an Old-Timers’ bill at the Palace Theater.

• In 1925, Dressler retired from show business after several disappointments. In any case, her retirement didn’t keep going long as she came back to representing Allan Dwan’s ‘The Jot Girl’. The film patched up the soul of Dressler who was oppressed by her failures.

• Aside from theater, Marie Dressler made her appearance felt on the big screen too. She made her presentation on a big screen with the feature film, ‘Tillie’s Punctured Romance’. The film depended on Dressler’s hit show ‘Tillie’s Nightmare’. The film was a significant hit and was followed by two sequels and different comedies.

• Marie Dressler’s rebound as an actor was supported by the help of Frances Marion, a screenwriter for MGM studio. It was on his request to Irving Thalberg, MGM boss, that Dressler packed away a role in a rowdy silent comedy, ‘The Callahans and the Murphys’ in 1927. The film was a big hit and it launched Dressler’s career once more.

• Following her stint in ‘The Callahans and the Murphys’, Marie Dressler next showed up in a small role in the first national film, ‘Breakfast at Sunrise’. Afterward, she was projected close by Moran in ‘Bringing up Father’.

• In 1928, Marie Dressler attempted the role of a fluttery mother to Marion Davies and Jane Winston in the MGM production, ‘The Patsy’. The film was a significant hit.

• Hollywood’s transformation to talkies from silent movies gave Marie Dressler better chances. In 1930, upon Marion’s influence, Thalberg gave Dressler the role of Marthy in the film ‘Anna Christie’. Her remarkable ability was quickly perceived as she was commended both by the pundits and the audience. Her greatness on screen picked up her an agreement with MGM.

• Marie Dressler became the hot star of MGM and a box office attraction. She featured in a few comedy films and genuine flicks. Discussing the latter, she was combined inverse Wallace Berry in ‘Min and Bill’. Her heavenly performance in the film helped her bag the Academy Award for Best Actress. She was nominated once more in 1932 for her starring role in ‘Emma’.

• In 1933, Marie Dressler featured in four movies including, ‘Going Hollywood’, ‘Dinner at Eight’, ‘Tugboat Annie’, and ‘Christopher Bean’. The fantasy recovery of her career met with an amazing end in 1934 when she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Ignorant of her terminal affliction, Dressler kept on acting showing up in more than forty movies. She made her most prominent success during the last years of her life.

• Marie Dressler’s most encouraging work came when she featured in the dinner successful play, ‘Tillie’s Nightmare’. The play was an excellent hit and became the magnum opus of Dressler’s early stage career. It was adapted into a film ‘Tillie’s Punctured Romance’ and its sequels.

• Her career experienced a revival in the late 1920s when Marie Dressler was projected in MGM films. During this time, she belted out hits after hits in all sorts, directly from comedy to serious drama. Her best piece accompanied the 1930 film, ‘Min and Bill’ for which she won an Academy Award.

• Marie Dressler was twice nominated for an Academy Award in the category of Best Actress in her career, winning it once for ‘Min and Bill’, in 1931.

• Marie Dressler has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1731 Vine Street.

• Marie Dressler was twice married in her lifetime. The first was to George Hoeppert, an American resident, in 1899. The marriage gave Dressler American citizenship. The association, notwithstanding, didn’t last and the two parted ways.

• In 1907, Marie Dressler first met Maine businessman, James Henry ‘Jim’ Dalton. The next year the couple wedded in Europe. The marriage lasted till Dalton’s death in 1921.

• Following Dalton’s death, Marie Dressler moved in with a companion Nella Webb. In 1929, she moved to Los Angeles and later to Beverly Hills. During her last years, she lived with her maid Mamie and the latter’s husband, Jerry.

• Exactly when Marie Dressler’s career had been resuscitated and she tasted magnanimous accomplishment in films, Dressler was diagnosed with terminal cancer. She breathed her last on July 28, 1934, at 65 years old in Santa Barbara, California.

• Her home in Cobourg, Ontario, known as Marie Dressler House was changed over into a restaurant in 1937. It stayed operational until 1989. A fire harmed it totally after which it was reestablished as an office of the Cobourg Chamber of Commerce. It today works as a museum.

• Marie Dressler’s contribution to the film industry, Canada Post as part of its ‘Canada in Hollywood’ series, issued a postage stamp on June 30, 2008, honoring Marie Dressler.

• On November 9, 2020, Google celebrates Marie Dressler’s 152nd Birthday with Google Doodle.