Marie
Dressler: A Biography
McFarland, 1999, paperback 2006
In
the early 1930s, Marie Dressler (1868-1934) was the most loved movie
star in the world. Under the careful guidance of Louis B. Mayer and
Irving Thalberg at MGM, she soared to late life stardom with a string
of hits including Anna Christie, Tugboat Annie, Dinner
at Eight, and Min and Bill, which won her the Best Actress
Academy Award. But she was then past 60, large and ungainly, and had
the self-described face of a "mud fence." How did she become
the darling of the movie world? Her earthy warmth, well-practiced humor,
and fantastic charisma were sweet medicine for audiences devastated
by the Depression. This book explores in striking detail the full span
of her life, taking in her lesser known earlier career, her ever-changing
professional fortunes, failed marriage, and romantic attachments to
men and women. From her modest birth in Cobourg, Ontario, she became
a Gilded Age pioneer of vaudeville and musical revue, appearing with
fabled names such as Lillian Russell, Weber & Fields, Eddie Foy,
and Anna Held, later starring with Charlie Chaplin in Tillie's Punctured
Romance (1914), widely considered the first ever feature length
film comedy. She fought for women's suffrage, co-founded Broadway's
first actors' union, and toured the country selling bonds during World
War I. Marie Dressler: A Biography is the product of international
archival research and interviews with her last surviving co-stars, friends,
and care givers. It brings to life a fascinating woman of her time,
and one of the greatest entertainers the stage and screen have ever
seen.
Praise for Marie Dressler: A Biography
"Queen
Marie Dressler gets the royal treatment from the meticulous research
and dedication to his subject that biographer Matthew Kennedy presents
. . . . Kennedy’s emphasis is on the rich and phenomenal career
of this grand dame of comedy and tragedy via interviews from surviving
friends, co-stars and colleagues." —Silents Majority
On-Line Journal
"Written with flair and impressively researched, it eloquently
conveys the mixture of laughter and tears which marked the comedienne’s
art and life . . . . It’s a remarkable story, and Mr. Kennedy
describes all of its facets in elegant, eloquent prose . . . . This
is one of the finest McFarland books of recent years.” —Past
Times
"Bullseye! . . . this book finally does this fabulous star justice
with comprehensive research on her now-obscured early life; loving,
intelligent coverage of all her extant films; savvy, well-written documentation
of her stage career; and endlessly perceptive reconstruction of what
Dressler was like as a human being. Catching Dressler in a rare showing
of her films Emma and Tugboat Annie in San Francisco
some years back and espying a notice that his biography was being written,
I spent years anticipating it, and was never disappointed in the slightest.
Truly a bravura performance—Dressler lives again.” —John
McWhorter, author of The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language
"A must for any film buff's shelf.” —David Perry, KALW
Radio, 91.7 FM San Francisco
"With loads of pictures, programs and such on view this new book
is quite a treasure.” —Rapport
The Fall and Rise of Marie Dressler by Dan Callahan
"As the talkies and the Depression hit Hollywood practically simultaneously,
an old vaudeville trouper named Marie Dressler found the greatest triumph
of her spotty career. (read
more)
Read Alternative Film Guide's Q&A with Biographer Matthew Kennedy
Read
The
Evening Class Interview - Film Highlights of Marie Dressler
