Marie Dressler - ©Theda Bara

The actress I highlight in this post is Marie Dressler, originally from Broadway, she was one of the first Oscar winners and one of the best Canadian actresses who stood out in Hollywood.

Dressler’s first film role was in 1910, when she was 42 years old, at the newly founded Keystone Studios in Edendale, California, United States, where she acted in silent films until 1914.

The actress won the Oscar for best actress in 1931, for her performance in the film: “Min and Bill” (from the same year), in the main role “Min Divot”.

Marie Dressler remained the oldest person to win the Academy Award for Best Actress for exactly five decades, until she was surpassed by Katharine Hepburn (1907-), at the 1982 ceremony, when she received the Best Actress award at age 74, in the film: “On Golden Pond” (1981). After Jessica Tandy (1909-), he won the Oscar in 1990, for the excellent film: “Driving Miss Daisy” (1989), aged 80, and in 2021, with the victory of Frances McDormand (1957-), aged 63 years and 10 months, in the film: “Nomadland” (2020), Marie Dressler is today the fourth oldest actress to receive the Oscar for Best Actress, however, she is still the oldest actress to be awarded at the category and one of only three Oscar winners for Best Actress in the 19th century, alongside Mary Pickford (1892-1979) and Shirley Booth (1898-1992).

Dressler has his star on the Los Angeles Walk of Fame, at 1731 Vine Street, in the Cinema category.

Marie Dressler was born in Cobourg, Canada, on November 9, 1868 and died of cancer, in Santa Barbara, California, United States, on July 28, 1934, aged 65.

Dressler was married to the American theatrical agent George William Applehoff Hoppert (1861-1929), from 1894 to 1896, a marriage that lasted only two years, as the actress, amid an inflexible schedule, only found time to divorce George Hoppert, at the wedding which she herself called: “The rudest and most ill-conceived mime of my life!” - After this personal disappointment, she never married again.