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Born 1893 in Kings County, New York, American actress, singer, playwright, screenwriter, comedian, and sex symbol Mae West had her entertainment career spanned seven decades. She was known for her lighthearted, bawdy double entendres and breezy sexual independence.
West was active in vaudeville and on the stage in New York City before moving to Hollywood to become a comedian, actress, and writer in the motion picture industry, as well as appearing on radio and television. She often used a husky contralto voice and was one of the more 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, making comedy out of conventional mores, and the Depression-era audience admired her for it.
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