Mae West was born in Brooklyn New York on August 17,1893. She began acting as young child. she had decided to pursue a career in show business at a young age. She received her first break when she was part of the Shubert Brother revue Sometime and played opposite Ed Wynn. The first play she starred in was called Sex which she wrote and producted.
The bawdy personality and comic persona of Mae West made her a star in the Hollywood of the 1930's with her appearance in films such as Night After Night, She Done Him Wrong, and My Little Chickadee. Though she seemed to epitomize aggressive vulgarity, audiences loved her. It was only the changing tide of Hollywood movie mores that halted her movie career in 1939.
In the 1940's West returned to the stage starring in a number of shows. She even did a show in Las Vegas
Mae West remained an undeniable American original and found renewed fame in the decade and a half before her death. In 1978 at the age of 86 she starred in her final film Sextette. She died in 1980 after suffering a stroke.