Mae Questel
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Notes
Questel's recording of "On the Good Ship Lollipop" as sung by Betty Boop sold more than two million copies in the 1930s.
She reportedly once told an interviewer that the voice of Olive Oyl was an attempt to imitate the actress ZaSu Pitts.
Biography
Petite, with a high-pitched, rounded voice, Mae Questel was the voice behind such cartoon figures as Betty Boop, Olive Oyl and Little Audry. At age 17, the Bronx-born singer-actress won a talent contest mimicking the then-popular baby-voiced entertainer Helen Kane. An agent immediately signed Questel and before long she was appearing on the vaudeville circuit as a singer and impressionist, imitating performers from Fanny Brice to Maurice Chevalier. In 1931, Max Fleischer signed her to provide the vocals for the Kane-inspired cartoon figure Betty Boop. Over an eight year period, Questel provided the sweetly saucy child-like tones for Betty (and the animators incorporated many of Questel's mannerisms) in more than 100 shorts, including "Boop-Oop-a-Doop" (1932), "Snow White" (1933) and the Oscar-nominated "Riding the Rails" (1938). The bob-haired, saucer-eyed Betty Boop became a popular phenomenon, spawning everything from dolls to playing cards to candy to a syndicated comic strip. The provocative character, noted for her short skirts and flirtatious manner, came under fire from women's clubs in the late 1930s. Partly due to that pressure and partly because the series' popularity was waning due to changing tastes, Fleischer ended the Betty Boop shorts in 1939 with "Yip, Yip Yippy!." Beginning in 1933, Fleischer had also tapped Questel to lend her talents to the character of Olive Oyl in the Popeye cartoons, more than 450 of which were produced. (In the series, Questel also gave voice to Swee'pea.) During her long career as a voice actor, she also lent her distinctive abilities to such cartoon figures as Winky Dink, Little Audry and Casper, the Friendly Ghost.
Questel also found time to act on stage and in the occasional film, primarily in character parts. She created the role of Mrs. Rubin in the 1959 stage production of "A Majority of One" and reprised it in the 1961 film version. In "Funny Girl" (1968), Questel was one of the Lower East Side neighbors of Fanny Brice. Perhaps her best screen role was as Woody Allen's domineering mother in his "Oedipus Wrecks" segment of "New York Stories" (1989). On TV, she appeared on panel shows and soap operas, but was perhaps best recalled as a commercial spokesperson for Playtex, Folger's Coffee and especially, as Aunt Bluebell in numerous advertisements for Scott Paper.
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Music (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Cast (Short)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1925
Won singing contest at the RKO Fordham Theatre as the girl who sounded most like the popular singer Helen Kane (date approximate)
1930
Played the Palace Theatre
1931
First voiced the animated character Betty Boop
1932
Performed on the radio show "Betty Boop's Frolics"
1933
Began voicing the character of Olive Oyl in the Popeye cartoons
1939
Final Boop cartoon "Yip, Yip Yippy!"
1946
Provided the voice of "Little Audry" for the radio series
1948
Was a panelist on the audience participation program "Stop Me If You Heard This One" (NBC)
1959
Created the role of Mrs Rubin onstage in "A Majority of One"
1961
Reprised her stage role in the film version of "A Majority of One"
1968
Had featured role in the film version of "Funny Girl"
1973
Featured on the short-lived sitcom "The Corner Bar" (ABC)
1973
Reprised Betty Boop for a syndicated cartoon series
1983
Sang the song "Chamelon Days" on the soundtrack to Woody Allen's film "Zelig"
1988
Voiced Betty Boop in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit"
1989
Cast as Woody Allen's mother in the "Oedipus Wrecks" segment of "New York Stories"
1989
Final feature, "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation"
Videos
Trailer
Family
Companions
Bibliography
Notes
Questel's recording of "On the Good Ship Lollipop" as sung by Betty Boop sold more than two million copies in the 1930s.
She reportedly once told an interviewer that the voice of Olive Oyl was an attempt to imitate the actress ZaSu Pitts.
