Marie Dressler Biography

Fast Facts

• First appeared in a local community play at the age of 5, in which she played a cherub
• Joined the Nevada Travelling Stock Company when she was 14 years old and later joined the Robert Grau Opera Company as a member of the chorus
• Made her screen acting debut in the film "Tillie's Punctured Romance" in 1914
• Quote: "Audiences don't laugh because they want to, but because they can't help it․ It takes years of study and thought to learn how to demand that laugh․"
• After several years of touring with stock companies, she made her Broadway debut as Cunigone in "The Robber of the Rhine" in 1892
• Best known for her role as Carlotta Vance in "Dinner at Eight" and as Min in "Min and Bill․"
• Wrote and directed the short film "Fired" in 1917 and wrote and produced another, "The Agonies of Agnes," in 1918, and also appeared in both films
• Became the first woman to appear on the cover of Time magazine in August 1933