BIO

Marie Dressler was born Leila Marie Koerber in Cobourg, Ontario, Canada in 1868.   Her parents were both musicians.

A singer by training, Dressler found her comedic side and gravitated to vaudeville.   She made her Broadway debut in a musical comedy in 1897, at the age of 29.   Dressler continued building her stage career in New York with Broadway revues and vaudeville performances.   She appeared in 19 productions through 1923, including directing and performing in the hit A Mix-up (1914-1915).   She also recorded for Edison Records in 1909 and 1910.

In 1914, her friend, producer/director Mack Sennett, convinced her to star in her first film, based on her 1910 stage play Tillie's Nightmare, opposite Keystone film comedian Charles Chaplin. The film, Tillie’s Punctured Romance, was a hit and additional sequels were made.

In 1919, during the Actors' Equity strike in New York city, the Chorus Equity Association was formed and voted Dressler its first president.   In retaliation, the Producing Managers' Association blacklisted her and she found it impossible to get an acting job on Broadway after 1923.

Dressler left for Hollywood in 1927 and re-ignited her film career. She was paired with Wallace Beery in Min and Bill (1930) and won the Academy Award for Actress.   The film was a success and Dressler vaulted to become Hollywood’s top box office attraction for the next two years.   She co-starred that same year with Greta Garbo in her first ‘talking picture’, Anna Christie.

She was nominated for another Actress Academy Award for her role in 1932’s Emma.

Dressler married George Hoeppert in 1894.   They had one child and were quickly divorced in 1896.

Dressler was diagnosed with terminal cancer, in 1933, near the height of her fame.   She died in Santa Barbara, California, in 1934, at the age of 66.

Additional Broadway stage history is available at:

Additional biographical information is available at:

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