Marie Dressler was a Canadian-American actress and comedian who ruled the stage and the screen for six decades. She was only fourteen when she left home to make a career in acting. The steely determination and strong will helped her sustain the steep rise and fall in her acting career which she braved with her talent and skill. A fighter in truest sense, Dressler built her career on stage working in travelling theatre troupes. It was in 1892 that she got her share of luck as she made her debut in Broadway. Dressler’s first grand success came with ‘Tillie’s Nightmare’. The show was a major hit and established her reputation as an actor. It was also adapted for big screen as ‘Tillie’s Punctured Romance’ and its sequels. The 1920s marked the decline in Dressler’s career. Just when people wrote her off, a revival of sorts happened. Dressler made a comeback with the MGM film, ‘The Callahans and the Murphys’. Unbelievable as it may seem to be, Dressler’s reinstated her career at the age of 59. What followed was a string of successful flicks that augmented her name and fame. She also won an Academy Award for Best Actress for ‘Min and Bill’. As startling as it may seem, her career came to an abrupt end when she was diagnosed with cancer.
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Birth Place
Cobourg, Ontario, Canada
Nationality
American, Canadian
Also Known As
Leila Marie Koerber
Place Of Death
Santa Barbara, California, U.S.
Father
Alexander Rudolph Koerber
Spouse(s)
George Hoeppert (m. 1899–1906), James Henry Dalton (m. 1908–21)
Siblings
Bonita Louise Koerber