Rose Marie
Birthday: 15 August 1923, New York City, New York, USA
Birth Name: Rose Marie Mazetta
Rose Marie is a legend of show business with a career stretching over 80 years since her debut as her self in a Vitaphone musical short that appeared on the bill with The Jazz Singer (1927) at its pre ...Show More
[on Jimmy Durante] Oh! That man was the love of my life! Love of my life! I'm not an impersonator, I Show more
[on Jimmy Durante] Oh! That man was the love of my life! Love of my life! I'm not an impersonator, I never was, but in my act I used to do a little bit of a Durante in a song. It got [more and more popular]. His wife said I did the best Durante of all. In fact, I ended up having to do a whole song as Durante in my act. I used to go to Jimmy and say, "How do I do this?" He taught me how to do him with the proper inflections and how to move my hands. He had a certain way of talking. I graveled my voice a little more and it got to the point where I had to do full numbers about Jimmy Durante--"I'm in Love with Jimmy Durante" and "I Wish I Could Sing Like Jimmy Durante". It was a whole series of numbers that I did in my act. I had to go to Jimmy all the time. He even taught me how to play the piano like him. Hide
[at age 80, when asked if she planned to retire] I've been in show business my whole life. Why start Show more
[at age 80, when asked if she planned to retire] I've been in show business my whole life. Why start something new now? Hide
[on Milton Berle] Milton was a genius and Milton could not explain what he wanted or how he wanted i Show more
[on Milton Berle] Milton was a genius and Milton could not explain what he wanted or how he wanted it. He'd get all mixed-up. For instance, he was doing his television show and he said to the conductor Victor Young, "I want a G chord here." My husband told me this. My husband was a musician in the band. Victor Young said, "Okay, gentlemen. Give me a G chord." They went, "Tah-dah!" Milton flew over to Victor and practically killed him. "I said a G chord you dumb son of a bitch!" Called him all kinds of names. My husband, who also knew Milton very well, said to Victor Young, "He wants a C chord." So Victor Young said, "All right, gentlemen. Give me a C chord." They went, "Tah-dah!" Milton says, "That's a goddamn G chord! Don't you know what you're doing? That's what I wanted." Hide
[on meeting Candice Bergen] When I did Candice Bergen's show, Murphy Brown (1988), I told her, "I wo Show more
[on meeting Candice Bergen] When I did Candice Bergen's show, Murphy Brown (1988), I told her, "I worked with your father [Edgar Bergen] in vaudeville when he was doing a doctor sketch." She said, "Well, you couldn't have played the nurse--you were too young!" I said, "No, I was headlining. He was the opening act." She didn't care for that too much. Hide
There are no people in show business that I don't know. It's amazing. What I do now is commentary on Show more
There are no people in show business that I don't know. It's amazing. What I do now is commentary on people that are all dead. Nobody remembers! Nobody remembers Sophie Tucker! Nobody remembers . . . Jerry Lester and things like that. People call me, they say, "We're doing a book. Can you do some commentary?" I'm in every book that's coming out! The Three Stooges. There's a whole chapter of me in this new Three Stooges book. Hide
[on Al Jolson] He was mean. He was a lousy man. Very mean and very . . . oh, he was terrible. In fac Show more
[on Al Jolson] He was mean. He was a lousy man. Very mean and very . . . oh, he was terrible. In fact, nobody ever liked him. Hide
[asked about The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961) ending its run after only five years] It was a big mistak Show more
[asked about The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961) ending its run after only five years] It was a big mistake. We could have gone on another two years--in color! Hide
[on working with Edgar Bergen in vaudeville] He was very nice. We became very good friends. I never Show more
[on working with Edgar Bergen in vaudeville] He was very nice. We became very good friends. I never had any trouble with anyone when I was doing vaudeville. All of them, I guess because I was a kid, they all taught me what they did. I learned how to juggle. I learned how to walk on a big ball. I learned how to do trapeze. I was the kid. They used to say, "Come on, let's keep her busy." And they taught me everything. It was a very educational thing for me. Hide
[about meeting Al Jolson in 1927, when she was four years old] They played a couple of shorts at tha Show more
[about meeting Al Jolson in 1927, when she was four years old] They played a couple of shorts at that time that were silent and mine was the only one with sound. It played with The Jazz Singer (1927) at The Wintergarden in New York. It was a phenomenal thing. I went up to Jolson and said, "You were wonderful, Mr. Jolson!" He said, "Get away, you little brat!" He didn't like kids. Hide
Rose Marie's FILMOGRAPHY
as Actor (166)
Rose Marie'S roles
Mrs. Moses
Mrs. Spengler
Eleanor Bluto Biggins
