Born: 17 August 1893, United States
Died: 22 November 1980
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Mary Jane West, Mary Wallace
The following is republished from the Library of Congress. This piece falls under under public domain, as copyright does not apply to “any work of the U.S. Government” where “a work prepared by an officer or employee of the U.S. Government as part of that person’s official duties” (See, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 105).
1893, Aug. 17 Born Mary Jane West, New York, N.Y.
1905 Began performing professionally
1911 Married Frank Wallace (divorced 1943). Appeared on Broadway in A La Broadway
1926 Wrote, produced, and directed the Broadway show, Sex,which led to her arrest for obscenity
1928 Diamond Lil became a Broadway hit
1932 Offered a motion picture contract by Paramount Pictures
1933 Co-starred on screen with Cary Grant in I’m No Angel
1936 Starred in Klondike Annie
1937 Starred in Every Day’s a Holidaywith Randolph Scott
1940 Starred opposite W. C. Fields on screen in My Little Chickadee
1943 Starred in The Heat’s On
1959 Published Goodness Had Nothing to Do with It; Autobiography. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: PrenticeHall
1970 Appeared in screen version of Myra Breckinridge
1978 Returned to the screen for a final time in Sextette
1980, Nov. 22 Died, Los Angeles, Calif.