Google honors Oscar winning actress Marie Dressler on her 152nd birthday

Happy Birthday Marie Dressler!!!

Google today dedicates a beautiful doodle to Marie Dressler on her 152^nd birthday. She was an Oscar winning Canadian-American stage and screen actress, comedian, and early silent film and Depression-era film star.

Marie Dressler is widely considered one of the most significant actors of early-1930s film. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1931.

Marie Dressler (born Leila Marie Koerber) was born on November 9, 1868 at Cobourg in Ontario. Her father was a music teacher in Cobourg and the organist at St. Peter's Anglican Church, where as a child Marie would sing and assist in operating the organ. According to her, the family regularly moved from community to community during her childhood.

Marie Dressler’s family moved to the US where Alexander Koerber is known to have worked as a piano teacher in the late 1870s and early 1880s in Bay City and Saginaw as well as Findlay, Ohio. Her first known acting appearance, when she was five, was as Cupid in a church theatrical performance in Lindsay, Ontario. esidents of the towns where the Koerbers lived recalled Dressler acting in many amateur productions.

Marie Dressler began acting with stock companies by the age of 14. Over the following years, Dressler showcased her comedic chops in vaudeville, burlesque, and revue performances and ascended from local theater all the way to Broadway musicals.

In 1892, Marie Dressler made her debut on Broadway at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in Waldemar, the Robber of the Rhine, which only lasted five weeks. She had hoped to become an operatic diva or tragedienne, but the writer of Waldemar, Maurice Barrymore, convinced her to accept that her best success was in comedy roles.

Marie Dressler landed her first starring role in 1896 as Flo in George Lederer's production of The Lady Slavey at the Casino Theatre on Broadway, co-starring British dancer Dan Daly. It was a great success, playing for two years at the Casino. Dressler became known for her hilarious facial expressions, seriocomic reactions, and double takes. With her large, strong body, she could improvise routines in which she would carry Daly, to the delight of the audience.

Marie Dressler’s rich stage voice proved a perfect fit for the “talkie” films that came along in the late ‘20s. She delivered a show-stealing performance in the 1930 drama “Anna Christie,” and the following year, her talent was recognized at the highest level when she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in the 1930 film “Min and Bill.”

Marie Dressler died of cancer on July 28, 1934 at the age of 65. She left an estate worth $310,000, the bulk left to her sister Bonita.

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