Mae Questel
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| Mae Questel | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 13, 1908 Bronx, New York City |
| Died | January 4, 1998 (age 89) New York City |
Mae Questel (September 13, 1908 – January 4, 1998) was an American actress and vocal artist.
Born Mae Kwestel in New York City, she won a talent contest at the age of 17, and began performing in vaudeville. She was seen by animator Max Fleischer, who was looking for an actress to provide the voice for his Betty Boop character. Questel's "Boop-boop-a-doop" routine, done in a style similar to that of the song's originator, Helen Kane, while at the same time evoking something of the naughty allure of film star Clara Bow, was exactly what Fleischer wanted. From 1931 until 1939, Questel provided the voice of Betty Boop in more than 150 animated shorts. During the 1930s she released a recording of "On the Good Ship Lollipop" which sold more than 2 million copies.
From the mid 1930s Questel also provided the voice for Olive Oyl in the Popeye animated shorts. She based Olive's nasal vocal style on that of the legendary character actress ZaSu Pitts, and ultimately played the role for more than twenty years. Questel refused to move to Miami, Florida when Fleischer Studios relocated there in 1938. Margie Hines was the voice of Olive Oyl during the Miami years. Questel returned as the voice of Olive Oyl when Paramount Pictures moved the former Fleischer Studios which became Famous Studios back to New York City. She filled Jack Mercer's shoes as Popeye when Mercer was temporarily drawn into war service. She voiced Little Lulu and Little Audrey in their respective animated shorts. In the 1950s, she was the voice to the title character of the interactive, and pioneering, Saturday-morning cartoon series Winky Dink and You.
Questel's Broadway theatre credits included A Majority of One, Enter Laughing, and Bajour.
Questel appeared onscreen in the 1930's as herself, the most noted being in a 1933 "Hollywood on Parade" short. After she finishes a musical number Bela Lugosi enters in his Dracula costume and says "You have Booped your Last Boop!" before carrying her off. She made her first dramatic appearance in the 1960s and was seen as one of Fanny Brice's mother's card-playing friends at the start of Funny Girl (1968). She appeared in Zelig (1983) and as a celestial apparition in New York Stories (1989).
When Hanna-Barbera began making new Popeye cartoons for television in the 1970's, Questel had to audition for the role of Olive Oyl, and lost out to another voice-over actress. Questel's final film appearance was as Aunt Bethany in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989); Questel was nineteen years older than actor William Hickey, who played her husband in that movie. She provided the voice for Betty Boop in a cameo appearance in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). She achieved perhaps her greatest visibility in television commercials for various household products, most notably as "Aunt Bluebell", pitching Scott Towels.
Questel had a withered arm; in her on-camera film appearances, she was usually photographed with elbows bent and both hands at her waist or holding an object in the crook of her elbow to make it less obvious that one arm was shorter and smaller than the other.
Questel died from complications related to Alzheimer's disease at the age of 89 in New York City.
