Born Name:  Mary Jane West

Born Date:  August 17, 1893

Born Place:  Brooklyn, New York

Died Date:  November 22, 1980

Died Place:  Los Angeles, California

Occupations:  Actress, singer, comedian, screenwriter, playwright

Brief Biography:  Mae West was an entertainer whose career spanned seven decades. A legendary sex symbol, she became famous for her breezy sexual independence and bawdy, double entendre-laced humor, turning social conventions upside down with her sharp wit and contralto voice.

Early Career (1890s–1920s):
She began performing in vaudeville at age 14. She started writing her own stage plays in the 1920s, including the highly controversial hit play Sex (1926), which led to her brief arrest.
Hollywood Stardom (1930s): West made her screen debut in Night After Night (1932) and quickly became Hollywood's highest-paid woman. She starred in and wrote iconic films like She Done Him Wrong (1933) and I'm No Angel (1933).
Later Years: She transitioned to radio, Las Vegas revues, and even recorded rock and roll albums in her 70s, remaining an enduring pop culture and camp icon.

Famous Catchphrases:
West wrote many of her own memorable one-liners, including:
"Come up and see me sometime."
"Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?"
"A good man is hard to find, but a hard man is even better."
"Between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before."