Mae West (born Mary Jane West; August , â€" November , ) was an
American actress, singer, playwright, screenwriter, comedian, and sex
symbol whose entertainment career spanned seven decades. She was known
for her lighthearted, bawdy double entendres and breezy sexual
independence, and often used a husky contralto voice. She was active
in vaudeville and on stage in New York City before moving to Los
Angeles to pursue a career in the film industry.West was one of the
most controversial movie stars of her day; she encountered many
problems, especially censorship. She once quipped, "I believe in
censorship. I made a fortune out of it." She bucked the system by
making comedy out of conventional mores, and the Depression-era
audience admired her for it. When her film career ended, she wrote
books and plays, and continued to perform in Las Vegas and the United
Kingdom, on radio and television, and recorded rock 'n roll albums. In
, the American Film Institute posthumously voted West the th greatest
female screen legend of classic American cinema.Mary Jane West was
born on August , , in Brooklyn (either Greenpoint or Bushwick, before
New York City was consolidated in ). She was delivered at home by an
aunt who was a midwife. She was the eldest surviving child of John
Patrick West and Mathilde "Tillie" (later Matilda) Delker (originally
Doelger; later Americanized to "Delker" or "Dilker"). Tillie and her
five siblings emigrated with their parents, Jakob (â€") and Christiana
(â€"; née Brüning) Doelger from Bavaria in . West's parents married
on January , , in Brooklyn, to the pleasure of the groom's parents and
the displeasure of the bride's, and raised their children as
Protestants, although John West was of mixed Catholicâ€"Protestant
descent.
American actress, singer, playwright, screenwriter, comedian, and sex
symbol whose entertainment career spanned seven decades. She was known
for her lighthearted, bawdy double entendres and breezy sexual
independence, and often used a husky contralto voice. She was active
in vaudeville and on stage in New York City before moving to Los
Angeles to pursue a career in the film industry.West was one of the
most controversial movie stars of her day; she encountered many
problems, especially censorship. She once quipped, "I believe in
censorship. I made a fortune out of it." She bucked the system by
making comedy out of conventional mores, and the Depression-era
audience admired her for it. When her film career ended, she wrote
books and plays, and continued to perform in Las Vegas and the United
Kingdom, on radio and television, and recorded rock 'n roll albums. In
, the American Film Institute posthumously voted West the th greatest
female screen legend of classic American cinema.Mary Jane West was
born on August , , in Brooklyn (either Greenpoint or Bushwick, before
New York City was consolidated in ). She was delivered at home by an
aunt who was a midwife. She was the eldest surviving child of John
Patrick West and Mathilde "Tillie" (later Matilda) Delker (originally
Doelger; later Americanized to "Delker" or "Dilker"). Tillie and her
five siblings emigrated with their parents, Jakob (â€") and Christiana
(â€"; née Brüning) Doelger from Bavaria in . West's parents married
on January , , in Brooklyn, to the pleasure of the groom's parents and
the displeasure of the bride's, and raised their children as
Protestants, although John West was of mixed Catholicâ€"Protestant
descent.
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